Wow!
That’s taken a while.
Back in August 2017 I set myself a challenge to work DXCC on 17m using just FT8. At the time, I described it as ‘the new FT8 mode’ and it really was in its infancy back then. I completed that challenge in March 2018 and then quietly set myself another one, to get to 150 entities worked on 17m FT8. I’ve been plodding along, keeping an eye out for new slots ever since then.
This evening I worked Curacao which took me to 150 DXCC entities worked using just FT8 on 17m. I don’t just operate FT8 and including other modes, I’m up to 198 entities worked on 17m.
This is a map showing all the stations I’ve worked using FT8 on 17m using my main callsign.
The next logical step would be 200 but as I’ve not worked that many using all modes, I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way to chase that challenge.
An interesting statistic to look at is the countries I’ve worked the most on 17m using FT8.
Not surprisingly, Russia and the United States are the top two but who would have expected Japan to be the third highest with over 120 QSOs.