15 Things I've Learned About FT8 

Hi Howard! Thanks for the feedback and taking the time to watch the video. Yes, with WSPR, I fear that in the stampede to FT8 that WSPR may have been forgotten. I'm currently using it to test both tx and rx on two new antennas. Really handy. Cheers mate. Rob VK3BVW

WSPR is very valuable in probing propagation before being able to switch to FT8 or even voice for a contact

Thanks for checking out the video, Erich. 73, Rob VK3BVW

Agreed! The RF gain makes a huge difference to success in hearing FT8 signals. Thanks for your observations.

Thanks for your comments, Eddy. I picked up two new countries this week, so I'm not quite bored with it yet! 😉😁 Mixing FT8 with other aspects of this vast hobby has helped me maintain my interest, especially with the higher freqs opening up. Had some nice FT8 contacts into Japan and Sth Korea several weeks back on 6m - not bad from here at the bottom of SE Australia! And no 6m beam either! Sadly, my CW skills are abysmal, so I steer clear of that. Cheers, mate! Rob VK3BVW

Thanks, Paul. Best wishes.

Thanks for your kind feedback, Tom. With your WSPR comment, I can tell that you actually watched right to the end! Well done!! hahaha, 73, Rob.

Rob, thanks for your generous comments and feedback. Much appreciated. Good luck in getting started with FT8. Being so close to Europe and North America, you should be able to make plenty of QSOs on your multiband vertical. 73, the other Rob! VK3BVW

Yep! Good observation, John! Cheers, Rob VK3BVW

Sarla Sharma I’m glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching. Rob VK3BVW

Great to hear you are monitoring WSPR signals when not using the rig. Good stuff. The more monitors we have, the more useful is the information collected on propagation and antenna effectiveness. Thanks.

Hahaha. Yeh, well when I made this video, FT8 was not old news at the time! ;-) Not very many people on JS8CALL......at least not from what I can hear from the bottom of southeastern Australia. And I enjoy quick QSOs with no fuss or waffle talk. :-) I might take another look at JS8CALL again and see if it has grown in popularity since I last looked. 73, Rob VK3BVW

@@RobVK3BVW Activity is definitely increasing on JS8 , looking at PSK Reporter now at 10:40 am UTC I see some activity from your part of the world to USA and into Europe. It's a fun mode and you don't have to talk to people if you don't want to. It can be ran in Auto mode just like FT8.

Thanks, Jack. See you on the bands! Rob VK3BVW

Thanks, Thomas. I liked your comment on the "seemingly propagation independent mode". Indeed, it can be somewhat deceptive and "seemingly". However, the laws of physics and such still apply! A few nights ago, I heard another VK calling "CQ Europe" on 80m using FT8. The time in Europe was around midday!! Needless to say, he never got a reply. He is the definition of a true optimist! Thanks for watching. 73, Rob VK3BVW

Hi Corey. Thanks for your feedback and comments. Much appreciated. FT8 is such a great mode for those of us without "super stations" running multi-band beams on towers at 100 feet, etc. Although the video is more than four years old now, I think I'm pretty happy with the advice there. Although I don't seem to need the notch filter tip - I suspect that may be of more help to those with many other hams living in close proximity. Down here in the lower southeastern part of Australia, there are not many local hams and the population is more spread out. If you hear/see me on the air, please give me a call! All the best, Corey. - Rob VK3BVW

Thanks "RedStick"! Good luck and hope to work you on FT8 - Rob VK3BVW

Thanks for your feedback, Michael. Best wishes, Rob VK3BVW

Thanks for your feedback, Tim. Good luck with your FT8 DX. Rob VK3BVW

Hi Kevin. Thanks for taking the time to watch the video. 73 and good DX to you, my friend! Rob VK3BVW

Thanks David. Good luck and good DX! Rob

Thanks for your feedback, glad you enjoyed the video. Dave Casler has done a good video on WSPR. Check it out at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HvHFV244Wxg.html 73, Rob VK3BVW

Klaus, great to hear from you! How is your health these days? Wishing you the best, Rob.

dear friend Rob, it goes better and I have limited time for DX with my newest toy, it is a tube receiver called HAMMARLUND SPR-600 :::: to listen with such a RX is a timetravel back to the 1960ies...... I am satisfied. With best wishes, K.

@@Funk-DX Very good to hear, Klaus. Have lots of fun with your new toy. Sounds wonderful!

Thanks Dave. I haven't had much luck with JS8, not many guys using that here. I also like the speed of FT8 as I'm not fussed about chatting. My philosophy is "A quick QSO is a good QSO"! :-) But to each his own. Good luck with the shack redesign. 73 de Rob VK3BVW

Hi Roger. Yes, I have tried GridTracker on a few occasions and still have it on my computer. It certainly has some useful features.

Thanks so much, Rob. 73 de Rob VK3BVW

Pleasure. I hope to see you on the screen soon.

Hi Ted. No TS-440 there. It's the look-alike R5000 receiver. :-) - Rob VK3BVW

Hi Chris. Thanks for taking the time to check out the video. Let's get the easy question out of the way first! The logbook is MacLoggerDX, and obviously for Apple computers. It works very well, has heaps of features and the support from the software author is first class. It's more expensive than other Mac logging software out there, but worth it. Now, to the 1 in 10 QSO strike rate: Your success on FT8 or any other mode will depend on your station setup. Antennas are important and power does help. I have only wire antennas at low heights and I run between 5 and 40 w most of the time. I also have a big hill running to the northwest and west of me that makes transmitting to that part of the world damn near impossible. So my strike rate is probably similar to yours. In addition, Australia is well away from the action than you northern hemisphere guys have. I can imagine that the bands are VERY busy in your part of the world with European and Nth American activity. So perhaps you have greater interference problems that would make it difficult to get a signal through? Good luck, Chris, and thanks for stopping by. 73, Rob VK3BVW

Rob Wagner ,TU for your introduces WSPR . I will use it for my setup.There are many logging softwares for digital mode. This is hobby so you may chose any software as your like. N1MM and Loggere32 are default for wsjtx-x. Any softwares use UDP method are available. JTAlert helps you to use much more logging softwares. 73,de JE1BTJ.

Good luck with your study!

Thanks, Philip. Hope to work you on FT8 one day.

Thanks for your comments. Good stuff! Best of luck with your DX from Alaska!

Hi Dirk. Check your computer sound card. The input volume on the card needs to be less than half scale. You don't need much audio going in to get excellent results. Too much audio produces problems and overload in the sound card and the software. That should fix the problem. 73 Rob VK3BVW

@@RobVK3BVW Hi Rob thanks for the advice. The soundcard was complete open so the problem is solved now. We're ready to go. Thanks again Rob ,73 Dirk PA1BD

@@DirkPA1BD Great! I'm glad you got it fixed, Dirk. I look forward to working you on the bands. Rob VK3BVW

Jonathan - Since making the video back in March, I have continued to experiment trying to reproduce what some others have been able to do with registering no ALC at all in their FT8 transmissions. I have now been able to do this with the following settings: On the Mac - the Audio Devices window - USB Audio CODEC at 0dB (or close to that!) On the FTDX3000 - Menu 076 - Mic gain is between 7 and 9. The power output is set to 100w. In the FT8 window - Control the Pwr slider (RH-side) to set the desired power out. The above settings mean that the ALC meter will NOT be activated. However, I find that the ALC meter readings change as the rig warms up (say after 5 min). Don't ask me why....I have no idea, but several people in one of the FTDX3K forums have mentioned this exact same ALC characteristic as well. It can also change from band to band. Having said all of the above, I have monitored my signal both with and without ALC action, and there appears to be no difference in quality of modulation....as far as I can tell. As I said in the video, at least for my rig, some ALC does not appear to incur any distortion in my signal. On one occasion, just for an experiment, I pushed the ALC to flat-out, but still I could not detect any distorted modulation in my signal. So, I suspect the above settings will vary from rig, brand to brand, etc. Actually, I should update the previous video for 3K/Mac users like ourselves, as someone else may find my settings of help. Thanks for checking out the video, Jonathan. Vy 73, Rob VK3BVW

I turn out the audio drive until the ALC does not react at all (ICOM 7300). On the other hand, my ICOM 735 does not have a "sharp" threshold of ALC and any signal at all produces at least a small ALC deviation. There's actually a calibration on screen in that case that signifies *overdrive* and that's what to avoid; up to that point really it is just a power meter. If the ALC reacts, it changes the shape of the RF envelope and that's ungood. Not bad, just not helpful and driving it to the ALC kicks in doesn't go much for you. What is important to FT8 and any digital mode is CLEAN signal. You don't need power, it needs spectral purity.

Thanks

Ikea. They had the exact dimensions I needed.

Mark, thanks so much for your kind words. 73, Rob

Hi Thomas! The video mic is made by Rode. A great Aussie company with a global reputation! :-)

@@yarrarangesphotographicsoc9881 Thank you. It sounds very good!! 73 and all the best!

Whoops!! I replied to you Thomas using one of my other RU-vid accounts. 😂 oh well. Cheers from me Rob and the Yarra Ranges Photographic Society. 😁

Sure. No problems.

Thanks Dean. Best wishes for 2020. Rob

Thanks for taking the time to watch the video, Marty. And thanks also for your lovely QSL card, too. Much appreciated! 73, Rob

Cheers, John.

Awwww, geez! I knew that! What was I thinking??!! Well spotted....at least I know you watched the video to the end, hehehe. Oh well, can't change it now. Thanks, RolyRJ.

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OLIVIA is great....until I want to make a QSO. All I hear are crickets!

@@RobVK3BVW Yeah, same with psk31. They all migrated to Zombie-8. It would be great if at least some hams got back to a regular digital communication mode. If Joe Taylor re-released psk31 in his own name and called it JT-31, or Oliva as JoeTaylor 500-16, all everybody would go there and be amazing at the new weak signal technology and we would all be communicating again.

@@danluzurriaga6035 I like the signal efficiency idea but want keyboard to keyboard contacts not complete automation. What’s the point? Anyone working on a way to do high speed data transfers on HF? Digital voice on hf still around?

Although internet is convenient for facilitating accurate time synchronisation, which is necessary. Alternatively, GPS can be used to keep a real time clock honest or in the absence of an RTC, such as with the Raspberry Pi.

Hi Scott. Thanks for the QSO and for checking out the video. All the best for Xmas and the NY. Rob VK3BVW