It’s inevitable. At some point, machines are going to render humans irrelevant. It’s been a recurring theme in science fiction since before I was born (1955), and there are numerous predictions of the Singularity, the point in time when machines will be smarter than human, occurring between 2030 and 2045.
It may happen in amateur radio sooner than we think. A couple of days ago, one of my readers, sent me a link to a blog post by John, AE5X: Automated FT8 “FoxBot” in upcoming DXpedition – confirmed. He wrote:
A DXpedition to Tokelau will take place from 1 to 11 October and it will be your chance to work an FT8 robot operating in Fox/Hound mode.
Stathis SV5DKL has been working on a “FoxBot” for some time now, is listed as a partner to this DXpedition and has confirmed that the DXpedition will be using his FoxBot.
John has since updated this post, noting “The SV5DKL logo has now been removed and the DX team will be in ‘full compliance’ with the mode.” Full compliance meaning following the rules set up by the ARRL DXCC rules.
The ARRL is, of course, against the use of robots. Contacts made via a fully-automated station will not be given DXCC credit. I guess they think that it’s just not fair—at least not fair to all those guys who spent thousands to be able to work those rare ones.
As John says, however, the use of FT8 robots in the future is a certainty. Sooner or later, some DXpedition is going to use an FT8 robot without saying anything about it. How is the ARRL going to know that a DXpedition is using robots if the DXpedition operators don’t tell them?
I’m wondering when some DXpedition is going to give up on SSB and CW altogether. Why bother with those modes when you can make hundreds or thousands more contacts by just operating FT8?
Another thought just occurred to me. If the ARRL gets its way and Techs are awarded HF digital privileges, how long will it take for some enterprising Tech to make the DXCC Honor Roll using FT8 exclusively. Oh, the horror of it! Watch for this in an upcoming blog post. :)