Hello David,

You exactly named it!

FT8 to my understanding was also (but not only) developed as weak signal mode for either QRP stations or propagations with low signal values such as multi hop sporadic E. It has already made possible many interesting contacts such as my own 2 m tropo QSO with CU3EQ last year which I had never even dreamed of, so unreal even the thought was.

Sadly FT8 has now become a standard mode for simple QSOs around the corner with high signals strengths. It is like driving a Ferrari always in first gear. And even worse: everything happens on one frequency plus/minus some Hertz. Particularly on 2 m this results in a chaotic QRM situation during band openings. If you live in a rather good VHF QTH such as mine (where very much to the dislike of my xyl the house was 2nd priority, after the topographic situation) you have S9 signals all the time on 144.174. So weak DX is getting buried just like you described this on 50 MHz. I?m sure that was the reason I did not complete with D41CV last year on Sporadic E as when I finally copied him calling me the skip moved away shortly after. I?m certain he had been calling me for a while already.

Sometimes I feel like we are back in the 1960s with fixed crystal frequencies only. Enough with wining?.what can we do to get the people at least use a bigger area for FT8 on 2 m, 144,160 ? 144,180 MHz for instance? The same of course applies for 50 MHz. 

And the threat from the commercial ?vultures? being keen to take frequencies away from us will always get higher with time?What do we answer when they say ?You only need 10 kHz altogether because the rest of the band is empty.? Being Frequency Manager with DARC on ITU and CEPT meetings I have more than once heard that question already, partly as a joke but partly meant serious.

vy 73 Bernd DF2ZC