The joys of 2m FT8

There can be little doubt that FT8 has transformed amateur radio.

Some would say this has led to a further decline in the use of CW and SSB. FT8 is definitely not a chatting mode, but it does work with weak signals and is great for short DX QSOs even with very modest stations. It also only occupies 50Hz of spectrum. All activity on any band is within a few kilohertz and there are plenty of people monitoring. I watch PSKreporter maps to see where I am being spotted. Every day I get a pleasant surprise!

In my own case on 2m, every day I get spotted by stations at double (or more) of the range I can work on SSB. Some reports are at ranges I could never even dream about.

Also, these days my voice is poor, so FT8 well suits my operating. I regret the decline in casual chats, but monitoring the FT8 watering holes on any band certainly improves the chances of being copied. Personally I like FT8.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/vuhf/2m-ft8