The FT8 digital mode has big uptake

[VK4ADC]

The FT8 digital mode has big uptake

 Until now there has been only anecdotal evidence that FT8 introduced in 2017 had been adopted by many on our bands.

 The weak signal text mode has certainly taken over from the previous JT65, which had been favoured.

 It is safe to say that the adoption of FT8 has been phenomenally fast.

 The WIA Statistician Marc VK3OHM in analysing the award system data says about 20 per cent of all QSOs in 2017 were in the FT8 mode.

 The WIA does not issue DXCC on the basis of FT8 mode alone. QSO using FT8 mode would contribute to the "Digital" mode of DXCC.

 However, Marc VK3OHM finds there are 7 people who have achieved 100+ DXCC entities using the FT8 mode only.

 (Jim Linton VK3PC)

From text edition for JAN 21 2018 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA : http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/

Also in MP3 edition of news available at: http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2018-01-21.mp3

[VK4ADC]

I have been having a 'play' with FT8 on and off over the last few days and have a few comments about it..

Yes, it is an effective and relatively easy mode to work.  An audio interface box plus stable HF (or VHF etc) rig is about all you need - plus the WSJT-X software - plus (ideally) a CAT or CIV control to the Yaesu or Icom radio {respectively}.

After a minimal amount of setting up, you can be on air on FT8, and there are LOTS of stations worldwide looking for FT8 mode contacts on HF.  A quick flick across the main frequencies on 40, 30, 20, 17 and even 15 metres shows a lot happening at any point in time.

That means it is easy and probably attractive to newbies and old timers alike, once they get used to the screens. The middle-of -the-roaders maybe not so much.

The adverse effect of FT8 is that it requires minimal skills and provides minimum in the way of a challenge. Click on a DX callsign on screen, click on the Tx<--Rx button to make sure you are using the same 'frequency', click Enable Tx and it all more-or-less happens for you.  Working that 'rare-ish DX' takes no effort.

I think that you have to make it challenging if you want any awards to be meaningful. A few FT8 button pressses over a few days can qualify you for USA's WAS award, and the above posting mentions DXCC purely on FT8. In about 1.5 hours this afternoon, I worked about 15 different countries in Europe. A challenge ? Not really.

My interest in FT8 will probably decline in a matter of months, if not weeks. I operated on the VHF, UHF and microwave bands for years because that was challenging. Funnily enough, I have never applied for the DXCC even though I qualified for it many, many years ago (about 30-35 or more...), and that was challenging back then.

My suggestion to others: retain that microphone or CW key - and use that instead..

[VK4WDM]

I have been having a 'play' with FT8 on and off over the last few days and have a few comments about it..

Yes, it is an effective and relatively easy mode to work.  An audio interface box plus stable HF (or VHF etc) rig is about all you need - plus the WSJT-X software - plus (ideally) a CAT or CIV control to the Yaesu or Icom radio {respectively}.

After a minimal amount of setting up, you can be on air on FT8, and there are LOTS of stations worldwide looking for FT8 mode contacts on HF.  A quick flick across the main frequencies on 40, 30, 20, 17 and even 15 metres shows a lot happening at any point in time.

That means it is easy and probably attractive to newbies and old timers alike, once they get used to the screens. The middle-of -the-roaders maybe not so much.

The adverse effect of FT8 is that it requires minimal skills and provides minimum in the way of a challenge. Click on a DX callsign on screen, click on the Tx<--Rx button to make sure you are using the same 'frequency', click Enable Tx and it all more-or-less happens for you.  Working that 'rare-ish DX' takes no effort.

I think that you have to make it challenging if you want any awards to be meaningful. A few FT8 button pressses over a few days can qualify you for USA's WAS award, and the above posting mentions DXCC purely on FT8. In about 1.5 hours this afternoon, I worked about 15 different countries in Europe. A challenge ? Not really.

My interest in FT8 will probably decline in a matter of months, if not weeks. I operated on the VHF, UHF and microwave bands for years because that was challenging. Funnily enough, I have never applied for the DXCC even though I qualified for it many, many years ago (about 30-35 or more...), and that was challenging back then.

My suggestion to others: retain that microphone or CW key - and use that instead..

I agree FT8 is very "soulless" but it has ensured that activity remains high even when conditions are poor. I am still working stations on 10m and sometimes 6m where I have not had any SSB or CW QSOsfor months.  I also use digital signals as a indicator of open paths and when I see the signal strengths increasing it is time to start a careful hunt on CW or SSB.  This is much more evident on JT65 which is, IMO, must better at weak signal detection.

My guess is that once the SS go up and conditions on HF improve there will be a big migration back to SSB and CW

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK4ADC]

Well I am still playing with FT8 at the moment but it was hard to tell which stations I had already worked. Once gone from screen, there is no immediate way to back-check.

I didn't want to keep working the same stations so set about creating a free Windows-based Log File Viewer utility for WSJT-X.  

A bit more info plus a download link is at http://www.vk4adc.com/web/software-proje...log-viewer, but please note that it is early in development so may have some issues to be resolved as yet.

Please notify of any bugs found direct to doug at vk4adc dot com with subject 'WSJTXViewer Bug'.

[VK4BLP]

Looks like a fun mode to get involved in.

Going to have to do a bit more digging and seeing how I can get in to it, and getting some stuff happening on my Kenwood TS-2000. 

[VK5PJ]

a friend used this description last year when taking about FT8, he said it was like "Speed dating"

[VK2EHQ]

ROFL.
I like the description.
Cheers,
Peter VK2EHQ

[VK4BLP]

a friend used this description last year when taking about FT8, he said it was like "Speed dating"

Hahaha... classic.

[VK4ADC]

a friend used this description last year when taking about FT8, he said it was like "Speed dating"

You do know that you can untick the AutoSeq box and then the software becomes manually driven, step by bloody step. No high speed exchanges then .

[VK5PJ]

Hey Doug,
yes I am aware of its capability to be run in manual mode but the friend who made the statement was chasing digital DXCC on a few HF bands and had become obsessed by it... he has since calmed down a bit.

I think he was referring more to the impersonal aspect of the mode and the "wham bam thankyou mam" the contact is done.. at least on JT65 you had time to boil the kettle
Peter.

[VK4AQJ]

"The adverse effect of FT8 is that it requires minimal skills and provides minimum in the way of a challenge. Click on a DX callsign on screen, click on the Tx<--Rx button to make sure you are using the same 'frequency', click Enable Tx and it all more-or-less happens for you.  Working that 'rare-ish DX' takes no effort."

- and therein lies the problem. The WSJT-x software has been painstakingly written so that when you click on a station, your transmit frequency remains the same.  The very last thing you should do is to reply on the same frequency, because it slows down the whole process.   Set your TX frequency for one that is free on your cycle. Operating split avoids inane transmissions like "Nil decode" or "no copy", which waste bandwidth. If you are operating split, there is less likelihood of no decode because you have less incidence of two or more stations replying to your call on the same frequency.  If you transmit "no decode", you are announcing to the world that you are not operating split.  Unfortunately the message has not got through yet, leading to the fact that the FT8 segment is often barely usable on the weekends because operators who are having a play are replying on the same frequency. (Not to mention those who are overdriving and distorting their signal)

If somebody calls me on the same frequency I called on, I usually change my frequency to avoid congestion. on that frequency - A little different to what we're used to on other modes.

If you're planning to have a play with FT8, it's a good idea to read the manual first.  /rant off

[VK4ADC]

Note also that the "Hold TX Freq" box should be ticked once you grab that currently-unused 50Hz bit of spectrum to transmit on.

Another trick is to use the lowest 'available' audio frequency to transmit on because the WSJT-x software scans upward in frequency so replies to others' CQ calls get earlier responses for you when their 'Auto seq' (auto sequencing) box is ticked - as it usually is. Around 500 - 600 - 700 Hz works well as you are above the response knee of the SSB filter....

I have racked up some 660 FT8 QSOs so far and almost all but the very first ones were using split so I heartily agree with the 'split comments' in the previous post.

[VK4BLP]

Sounds like a damn good way to operate.

When I was at Doug's qth I noticed he was running split and as described it made a lot of sense.

[VK4AQJ]

I agree with the comments. It's becoming harder and harder to have a DX QSO as we approach the Solar Minimum and although it's a minimalist QSO, it's no less so than the average CW QSO when working DX stations.  On the odd occasion that we get a coronal hole, I head for the higher frequencies during the morning and late afternoon for that occasional opening on 12m and 10m.  A high A index is not good news for phone operators on 20m, but it's better for FT8 on the higher bands where there is a lot of QSB.

I achieved the DXCC once before under another callsign (and it took me a few years mainly using CW).  I decided to try for DXCC from scratch using digital modes in January last year. I thought it would be a challenge given the poor band conditions. I got my DXCC after three months in April 2017, and I'm now working towards 5 band DXCC and 5 band WAS.  That was mainly on JT65,  but I'm now up to 164 countries  and 3300 confirmed QSOs, mostly on digital modes.  Electronic QSLs via LOTW make it a lot easier. If I had to write out 3300 cards, I'd have a serious case of RSI by now.  

It's called the zombie mode, and I remember once being distracted after calling a station and coming back 10 minutes later to find I had completed a QSO. One of the strangest things that happened was when I had just switched on and was listening on 30metres, when I was called by a PA station out of the blue. Of course I use PSK Reporter, which means that anyone can see what I am hearing. I sent him a text through JT Alert, and confirmed that he had called me after seeing me on PSK Reporter.

There are a few tricks and tactics that work on FT8.  It's also one of the few modes that work to any extent when we have OTH B QRM from China.