FT8 is not a magic bullet

We talked about this not long ago, but let me frame it from a slightly different angle. If you are following the DXer of the year chase, then you have noticed that a number of chasers have already worked 150 DXCC. Not bad for just two weeks of activity. However, 150 is a magic number: after that many DXCC worked, finding new ones becomes a real challenge. FT8 or not – the number of DXCC is finite with only so many on the air during a calendar year. Actually, there are quite a few stations from rare DXCC who are not active on ‘computer mode’ at all. You can mark my words: at the end of the year, the top three winners will be multi-mode, multi-band chasers, real humans, not an FT robot.

And there is another sphere of amateur radio communication where humans beat robots hands down: contact where signals cross the polar path zone. Such signals are best described as ‘watery, fluttery, auroral and heavily distorted’ often rapidly varying in strength. If digital, such signals are almost impossible to decode by computer. However, if the choice of mode is the old fashioned Morse code, a proficient CW operator would have no problem decoding such a distorted signal by ear. Two brief examples from earlier today.

OX24KING from Greenland, on 17m just above sunrise, Morse code. Probably the most disturbed signal I’ve heard in years. Loud but working US only. Zero chance. To my surprise, Barry, VK2BJ from Sydney managed to grab his attention and after a number of repeats, they completed the QSO. Super impressive. VK2BJ is a bigger station than me, but I felt encouraged. Half an hour later, I made it too. Needless to say, Barry is an excellent CW operator, a veteran, first licensed two years before I was even born! Respect.

The second case of CW superiority: RI1ANE, Progress Base, Antarctica. Ten minute opening, at the best, over the South Pole path. First heard on Sunday, an hour after my sunrise, on 40m CW. The signal was barely recognizable, 339 at the best, heavy European pileup. On Monday, same time, same frequency, but slightly louder, about 449. Called a couple of times, no luck. Today, for a brief couple of minutes, he appeared out of noise 569, and I’ve got him in the log. Not because I was loud, but because he was able to patch together my callsign and signal report, receiving it bit by bit, letter by letter, until he got it. No computer or FT8 can partially decode individual callsign letters and then ‘stitch them together’ like a human brain. And not just letters – a skilled CW operator can make sense even of ‘missing’ data, like a space between letters, or even missing letter elements. Pure magic.

By the way, Igor Taranenko is staying at Progress until the end of May.

And while we are on the subject: check out the WAP programme http://www.waponline.it/ for anything Antarctica amateur radio related. Amazing resource by a team of dedicated Italian operators who have spent decades collecting the data. You’ll be amazed.