Digital Modes Have Already Won

As we begin a new year it is traditional to look ahead and to look back on the year that was. I have a forthcoming article about the year past and my station plan for the new year, but in this one I'd like to take a broader view. In particular, the spectacular migration to digital modes on HF.

Let's consider factors that are contributing to the migration:

• No code licensing: CW is a vanishing art. Other than contest weekends and DXpeditions there is little to be found on the bands. When you do find stations to work, they are the same ones you worked yesterday. Which brings us to the next point.
• Less interest in communication: I rarely use the radio to communicate. If I want to talk to someone I text, email or call them on the phone. Years ago friends would arrange skeds or use nets to talk. Commercial long distance services were expensive decades ago! Quick QSOs that stick to the minimum exchange are becoming the norm, inside and outside of contests.
• Stations are smaller: New and young hams are less likely to install towers and yagis. Indeed, many mainly operate portable, leading to the popularity of POTA. Unable to do CW, many find that SSB is difficult with small stations (up to 100 watts plus wire antennas). Concurrently, elderly hams are downsizing and need to get by with small stations as well. 
• Convenience: Digital modes are easy. Connect a USB cable between your rig and PC, download free software, spend a few minutes on configuration and you're ready to go. Watch the signals decode, click on one and work them. The QSO can be automatically uploaded to LOTW and similar services. If you want to know more about the person on the other end of the QSO the software will take you to their web page (usually QRZ.com).
• Easier DX: From smaller stations DX can be reliably worked using digital modes. From all indications, hams young and old, new licensees and old timers, continue to enjoy DXing. Listen to the popular FT8 frequencies and you will be amazed at the DX available that is rarely heard on the traditional modes. Work southeast Asia from eastern North America on 80 meters? Sure! Try that on CW in 2026 and you will be disappointed.

Whatever your opinions about digital modes the migration is undeniable. In preparation for this article I tuned the rig to 80 meters one evening and took the following pictures. The first is the FT8 window at 3573 kHz. The second is a waterfall display of 3500 to 3550 kHz (CW segment) on my Icom 7610. They were taken just one minute apart.

The people have spoken: all hail the new mode king!

If you're active on the bands you already know. The picture is a little better when you compare to SSB rather than CW, but the magnitude of the difference remains huge. The ratio of digital to conventional mode QSOs is at least 5:1 (noted by several QSO matching services), contest weekends excepted. DXpeditions are spending an increasing portion of their limited time on digital modes since that's what people want. They say so when they donate their money.

Many of my generation, along with older hams and some that are younger, are not happy with the change. Griping from the curmudgeon crowd is frequent but growing quieter. They are aging out of the hobby (dying, to be blunt about it) or joining the migration by embracing digital. They know where the activity is and they are attracted to it like everybody else.

The call signs of many older hams are frequently seen on FT8 where they find the DX pickings to be good and the computer-assisted mode easy on aging bodies and senses. Like me they may first try CW when they walk into the shack each day and then, perhaps reluctantly, check out what happening on FT8. We're in a technical hobby so it is no surprise that they (we) have little difficulty adapting to the technology. 

With a big signal I can usually get answers to my CQs on CW and SSB when there is propagation. I work many new stations though it's mostly those I've worked before, whether on that band or another. The calls are always familiar. Listen every day and you'll notice that the same few stations are CQing on CW, and when they're answered it's the same stations. Routines like this foster friendships but we can too easily dig ourselves into a repetitive rut. Where's the fun in that? 

Those of my generation you see on FT8 typically fall into one of the following categories, at least based on my experience and observation:

• Filling band-slots for the DXCC Challenge award, FFMA (on 6 meters), DXCC Honor Roll, 5B WAC, 5B DXCC, and similar difficult and therefore prestigious awards.
• Increasing the success rate for working long path on the low bands into Asia and other points on the other side of the globe from us (North America). Signals are terribly weak but workable more often and for longer on digital modes. This is most common on 80 and 160 meters.
• Running robots day in and day out, flipping from one band to another, working everything that moves. The ethics of robots is debatable. I strongly dislike them because they pester me and they occupy valuable spectrum in the narrow 3 kHz windows currently in wide use. Others feel the more the merrier, so if stations work the robot surely both win.
• I notice many stations I remember from past contests but no longer see them contesting today. I guess that as we grow older contests become more of a physical challenge and many choose to "retire" to digital. Older hams that downsize may be disappointed by their relatively poor contest performance and find solace in a mode that is friendly to small stations. 

Above is another view of CW versus FT8. It was taken during the morning of the first weekend of 2026 when 12 meters was open to Europe. CW activity is above average due to the WWA activity in early January. There is still no comparison. 

Of course there are many newly licensed hams that have almost exclusively operated digital. As noted above, they don't know the code and SSB is difficult with a wire in a tree. Unlike when I was young, new hams typically don't have towers nor do they want them. Amplifiers are less common than small QRP rigs that they can take for POTA outings.

As to why I use FT8 and other digital modes is straight forward and practical:

• 6 meters: I first ventured into digital when almost all the activity on 6 meters migrated to FT8. I soon found that it had undeniable advantages compared to CW and SSB. I began an enthusiastic convert. Other than the occasional VHF contest all my 6 meter operating and monitoring is on FT8.
• 160 meters: On most nights there are very few DX stations to work on top band. As much as I like to see the activity I have little reason to call them. I've worked them many times before. When I call it is just to say hello. The bulk of top band activity is on FT8. Like on 6 meters, long DX paths can be short and marginal -- though more predictable than on 6 -- which favours digital. One sunrise between Christmas and New Year's I worked VK5, VK6 and VK9. At the same time no DX was heard on CW.
• Insurance QSOs with rare countries: If I can only make one QSO with a rare DX entity I don't want it to be digital. My preference is CW first and SSB second. If the DX shows up on FT8 before I've worked them I'll go ahead and work them if I can. That's my insurance contact just in case I fail to work them on CW or SSB. 
• Curiosity: Technology is a great attraction. Digital modes require sophisticated algorithms to have them perform as well as they do. I have played with FT4 and MSK144, just for the fun of seeing how they work and what can be done with them. In time I may use other digital modes if only out of curiosity. The technology underlying digital modes is truly a marvel.

Contests

What about contests? There are digital mode contests, just as there are for other modes. To date they have had only modest success. I can't speak for others but I can tell you what I think.

Contest success (high score) is determined by operator skill, station capability and location. The latter two are common across all modes. It is skill that is where the difference between modes is significant. Digital modes are synchronous which constrains operator agility. Further, algorithmic decoding removes operator copying ability (whether CW or phone) from consideration. 

Where does that leave operator skill? Even when I use FT8 it is often quite boring. The challenge is often just trying to scan the long list of decoded messages to find a station to call. Of course I can auto-respond (and override if I'm quick enough) or program a robot to do it for me, but it is not at all like contesting with conventional modes. It leaves me cold.

It can be better, just look at RTTY. That is also a digital mode. The differences are that it is asynchronous and operator skill is required in manually selecting and collating information from two or more decoders. The SO2R and 2BSIQ challenge is similar to that for CW and SSB. Although I have no interest in RTTY I can understand why other contesters take to it.

There is no fundamental reason why FTx modes must be synchronous. I can easily conceive of ways to make it asynchronous and therefore more interesting for contests. But if that's done, are we merely reinventing RTTY? Perhaps it would be an improvement over RTTY, but one of degree not kind. 

It will be a while yet until digital displaces conventional modes for contesting. Indeed, it may be that CW will become a primarily radiosport mode. For milder forms of radiosport, such as POTA, both digital and CW are popular. This is expected since both are friendly to the low power and small antennas typical of these lightweight portable operations. 

But, how do I feel about it?

Enough about the facts and cataloguing what I and others are currently doing. The important question is whether it is enjoyable or fulfilling? Should I go further with digital?

That question cannot be answered by pontificating. You have to get out there and do it. I've already listed the limited uses I make of digital mode (primarily FT8), so I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and did a little DXing on 3573 kHz. Not new countries -- although I tried that, too -- but just calling DX stations or CQing.

I limited myself to 100 watts to see what can be done without a dominant signal, but with my vertical yagi. That's still a lot more antenna than most have on 80. I worked several Europeans, and one each in South American and Australia. This was just after sunset and then the following sunrise. That's when interesting "gray line" openings occur, including long path to southeast Asia at sunset.

I noted quite a few people I know from contesting and DXing. It seems that they also like to go where the opportunities are. There are quite a few DXers that flip between CW and FT8 during the same openings. We may prefer CW but many are not shy about filling those band-slots any way they can. When the DX is on FT8 you must go there to work them. Many rare DX stations also flip between CW and FT8, often choosing the latter when CW doesn't garner the QSOs. You do what gets the job done.

Back to my experiment. While it was nice to work new DX stations on 80 meter FT8, I can't say that it felt enjoyable. The only time my interest level rose was when I heard a really difficult DX station to work, whether rare, on the other side of the planet, or via an unusual propagation path. A surprising number of DX stations replied to my CQs, and of course many DX that I called didn't appear to hear me. The latter isn't surprising since so many hams live in noisy cities and cannot put up more than simple antennas.

It should also be pointed out that the crowding in the FT8 windows is immense. WSJT-X algorithms are very good at decoding overlapping signals even when the overlap approaches 100%. As activity grows that isn't good enough. It's been almost 5 years since I wrote a speculative article about digital's future evolution yet little has changed. Why don't all modern rigs and operating software support larger windows? We certainly have the technology to do it. Nevertheless the evolution remains very likely in my opinion, though slower than I expected.

Despite my DX focus, quite a few W/VE stations called me. I've noticed that many stations on digital modes will call anyone they haven't worked before, and they will do so regardless of your stated preference: e.g. "CQ DX". Some are robots although most are not. I don't feel guilty not responding to them. 

Where does this leave me? Operating digital modes on HF is a personal decision, not one of right versus wrong. As I've said before: never mistake a personal preference for a universal truth. To do so is to slap a label on your forehead for all to see what you are. You will draw scorn, not converts to your view of the world.

It's likely that I'll increase my HF digital operating as time goes by since that may be where the activity is. My one strong opinion is to stay out of digital contests because skill plays a far lesser role in one's competitiveness; it's regimented by the current technology. Even DX pile up techniques are largely useless since it devalues skill and station building. Of course for many that's the attraction! C'est la vie.