> Every so often I’m tempted to buy a fancy SDR and see what the 2023 version of ham radio is like compared to the 1993 version…
Well, now we have digital modes that can community with SNR levels that CW wouldn't be usable across, allowing people reach most of the globe every day with nothing more than a radio and wire antenna lobbed into a tree.
Though the most commonly used of these new modes, FT8, communicates only ~13 character messages and is mostly only used to exchange signal reports and grid squares. On the plus side, it means you can crank out contacts 24/7 -- there are always other people on the air that you can reach and the signal reports you get w/ it are genuine ones out of the modem not a constant "599". (And since it hardly supports having a conversation, you can make some contacts when you're not feeling up to getting dragged into a conversation)
DX clusters have mostly been replaced by internet spotting (or internet connected DX clusters)-- it's pretty cool that you can call out CQ with CW or a computer-oriented digital mode and immediately get reports from all over the globe.
But there are lot less QSL cards: people digitally sign their logs and submit them to LoTW for matching. I think out of my six thousand or so QSOs this year I've relieved only three cards, though I don't solicit them (and don't send any except when they're requested).