KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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FT8: New stats, new operating guide

Posted: 31 Jan 2018 11:30 AM PST
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A couple of weeks ago, Michael, G7VJR, of ClubLog published an analysis of
the contacts that were uploaded to ClubLog in 2017. These are summarized in
the chart below:



This is really fascinating information. As you can see, at the end of the
year, more than 50% of the contacts uploaded to ClubLog were FT8 contacts.

As some of the commenters point out, there probably is some bias in the
data. FT8 operators are more likely to update their contacts than are CW
ragchewers, but even so, the trend—at least in the short term—is obvious.

It will be interesting to see if this FT8 activity can be maintained, or
whether operators will tire of it after a while. What happens when every
FT8 operator achieves DXCC?
New operating guide

To help us all convert over to FT8, Gary, ZL2IFB, has just published his
FT8 operating guide. I havent read it all the way through yet, but I do
like this sidebar:

Some of these tips (such as split operating, tail-ending and using low
power) are contentious and not universally adopted by FT8 users–and that’s
fine. To an extent, we are figuring this stuff out for ourselves as we go
along, which for me is all part of the fun. These tips work for me. Your
situation and preferences may differ. By all means try out different
approaches and do let me know if they work better.

I really do need to read this. As Ive written before, my initial attempts
at FT8 were mediocre at best. Perhaps this will help me be more successful
at FT8.

If you do download and read this guide, dont skip the appendixes. Appendix
A and B dig into some of FT8s technical details. Appendix D discusses some
of the pros and cons of the mode.


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