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[VA3VF]

FT8 is not a conversation mode it is a contact mode. FT8Call seems to be loosing popularity.

I don't know if that's the case since I don't use FT8Call, but if it's true, it shows that we hams decide what is 'good' or 'bad'.

That's what FT8 opponents fail to understand. How a mode has been adopted by so many people, so fast, and yet it's 'bad' for the hobby. It may still be a fad, time will tell, but it cannot be deemed a bad development for hamradio while it's popular.

[NJ0EL]

I'm also new to all this. I have been making many contacts on FT8. My script is set up to end with a 73. Whether it's "needed" or not probably doesnt matter to me. I'd say 90% of the time a contact ends in a 73 ( RR73 ) both ways. What I find is when the contact is at the edge of what I can pull out, the final 73 has told me the the contact really did go to completion. If folks set up not to give a 73 and all I get is an RRR, then I wonder, did it really finish.

[K0UA]

IT IS NOT a conversational mode. (shouting intended).  Stop trying to make it one. If I want to have a conversation with another ham, I will use SSB .  Even carrying on "conversations" with your fingers on other digital modes or CW is not for me.  I have done it many times, but I don't have the level of satisfaction that I do when I can actually converse with someone on phone and hear their voice, their inflections and meaning, and emotions.  They can actually laugh without say "hi hi".  Not to mention not wearing out your fingers.

FT8 is for making contacts and working towards personal awards. And it is doing a great job of that and keeping interest in ham radio alive during very trying times of our sunspot minimums.

It's great for people like me, because I can't really interact with other human beings very well. If I had an SSB QSO with anyone they'd probably be horrified and wish I would go to a digital mode anyway. So, I just stay on FT8 so I don't bother other people so much. 

Not everyone is a good conversationalist, and that don't make you bad.  I have been a ham for almost 50 years of  and have had thousands if not tens of thousands of conversations with other hams, but not all of those were great and memorable conversations.  In fact, most probably weren't, but some ended with a great feeling of having really connected with another person on a very personal level. If you can't carry a conversation in a bucket, then so be it.  It is what it is, and you can still enjoy ham radio on a different level.  This is the beauty of ham radio, there is something there for all of us no matter our interests or abilities.

[K0UA]

 

I don't know what a WSPR QSO would be equivalent to

Um... sort of like watching mountain ranges form. 

Just kidding I love playing around with WSPR.  But my goals are different than working FT8 of course.

I like really turning down the power into the milliwatt range and seeing how far it will go at various times during the day/night.