At Fish n Chips Cheap Ham Lunch Club (we share an order across 3 hams) and order a single X large coffee to share to keep it cheap they confessed:
>We are operating on FT8 right now while we break bread (flashing the biggest grin ever!)
How so?
>The auto robot mode on FT8
So this is an unattended station operating without AI but use of software controls? Don’t you need to be Advanced for that? I think you may be in violation.
>Yeah, its awesome. It just fills my log with contacts even when I am watching TV with my partner
Partner? Sorry what is that Partner. I hear that all the time ? that’s not morse code…… Aren’t you married?
>So I find this mode fascinating and has really got me back into the hobby again. I spend a lot of time listening to nets so this is interesting to me.
Yeah, its gotten very interesting as I see many Freebanders are also using FT8. There was some guy in Belgium sending SSTV on 27.580 and I caught the bottom third of the transmission so couldn’t get his Freeband callsign or number. Do you listen to the OMISS net on 7185? (How do I know?)
>Yes I do every night and I enjoy that. I heard a guy from PEI and everyone wanted to work him.
Do you check in to that net as they are always looking for VE3s? It could be fun
>Oh NO I would never check in to the net
Your killing me here as you just said you never Chicken into the net.
>Hold on let me ask the counter staff for some more Tartar sauce
So guys I was floored the other day when Ten opened up and there was all kinds of EU signals coming in and I made a bunch of contacts with a vertical with 10 watts. Just like the old days in CB when we had 12 watts and a Hustler antenna in the car. Cycle 25 is hear
>What frequency is that I would love to listen
Try 28.400 and then looking at the waterfall you can move the mouse to the drip and click. If you have a Drake TR4cw then move the dial left or right until you hear a signal.
I learned 2 things today:
- A partner is a person with whom someone is in a romantic or sexual relationship. The term is often used to refer to individuals who are not married, but who are in a committed relationship. Partners may live together, share financial responsibilities, and support each other emotionally. In some cases, partners may also have legal agreements that define their relationship, such as cohabitation agreements or domestic partnership agreements. The term “partner” is often used in LGBTQ+ communities as a gender-neutral alternative to “husband” or “wife.”. However, many married to the opposite sex are staying to use this term as well due to Identity and Gender ideology shaping everything. The extreme left will tell you this is the way we should explain our marriages to avoid being considered anti-DEI. OK I use partner in a business sense but there is nothing wrong with using wife or husband even if it considered bad politics or incorrect. Who cares about sexuality since its 2024. This is Gender Neutral Language.
2. Some Hams are enjoying the Hobby their own way and they are Happy listening and being a robot .
FT8 has become increasingly popular in amateur radio in recent years, and for a good reason.
This digital mode removes conversation and allows for fast contacts over long distances, even in low power mode and under challenging band conditions.
73s
John
And so it goes in this hobby that has a thousand hobbies even if you sin you will be forgiven by Marconi and Hiram (maybe even Tesla – the ham not the car)
A new study suggests that having one conversation with a friend (Ham) per day can have a significant effect on a person’s mental health. The study published in Communication Research.
However, for some making FT8 contacts in robot mode can be very uplifting. Whatever floats your boat but please wear a life jacket as the water is getting frothy and deep.
ve3ips 