N6PSE's Blog

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Fun with FT8!

Posted: 18 Jun 2018 08:54 AM PDT
https://n6pse.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/fun-with-ft8/






FT8 has been a really fun new mode for me. One of the many aspects that I
enjoy about FT8 is that it seems to work really well with very little
propagation or otherwise poor conditions.

This past week, there has been a pipeline of propagation to India just
about an hour after our sunrise, on 20 meters. I would not expect this in
late June. This morning, I had a lot of fun as both AP2MQ and JT1BV were
calling CQ via FT8.

FT8 is the great equalizer. It seems to level the playing field where big
or small stations can all participate and make the contacts. Some naysayers
will scoff and say that the computer does all the work but I dont agree
with that. You need to chase the difficult/hard to work stations on FT8
just as you would with CW/SSB. You need to understand and follow the
propagation. You need to have your station configured perfectly to complete
the contact. You need to understand split operation in FT8 and how to
listen off frequency from the DX. If you fail in any one of these areas,
you wont make the contact.

And FT8 is not immune to the other problems that plague SSB/CW. There are
many out of turn callers who continue to call the DX even though he is
replying to you. As it was this morning, I was not able to complete my QSO
with AP2MQ even though he replied to me 7-8 times with a signal report as
others moved onto his frequency to call him. There are continuous callers
who just seem to call a station over and over even as he is replying to and
working others. And what seems more unique to FT8 callers is when you are
calling a rare DX station and then 4-5 guys start calling you on the
frequency you are telling the rare DX station that you are listening on.

Even with these issues, FT8 is still a very fun and productive mode.

What do you think?