Closing in On DXCC: 100 watts and a wire, and FT8
I have worked 103 countries and confirmed 96 on QRZ (90 on LoTW) since I starting chasing DX in November 2020. The ARRL DX Century Club Award for Digital Modes is not far away. The best results have been using FT8, 100 watts and a wire antenna even with these poor band conditions. GridTracker has also been a nice tool to track everything on one screen. Reception reports, grids worked, wanted DXCC, and the very powerful call roster filtering capabilities. I'm building a legal limit amplifier for memorial day but I hope to close this award out before then. A word on transmit power: Yes, most of these contacts have been with 100 watts. The argument has been made 1000 times if FT8 was designed for low power output or for weak signal reception. Reminder that ARRL DX contest rules define lower power as 150w PEP output or less (not QRP - that's typically 5w or less). Yes I've heard the anecdote that 1w FT8= 1000w SSB. I've also heard that Joe Taylor has worked ra