[ADXA] FT8 Automatic Operation - Yes it is happening

[John Evans]

All,

Okay, I just can't keep quite much longer about FT8 and automatic
operation....   Sorry....

First off if you go to the Source Forge Web Site and either read or
subscribe to one of the development blogs for WSJT-X you will see that one
thread has about 750 to 800 posts concerning the automatic operation.
There are other threads concerning automatic operation of FT8.

All of the Source Code, User Interface and Library Calls are all Open
Source.   You can download the distribution for your favorite Operating
System and have at it.   There are a few different versions and
distributions running around that allow fully automatic operation of FT8.
One dude was posting his version on either e-bay or e-ham that allowed
automatic operation of FT8, he was charging.   The Admins left the post but
removed the download link.

So for the ones that do not know how to re-enable the "Enable Transmit"
button after a successful QSO there are the other options that many folks
are using.   They use one of the many keyboard macro programs.   You just
put the software into the "Learn Mode" work a dude in WSJT-X and save the
script.   Then you load-up the software and run the saved script.

In a effort to curb this hack the development released a test version (RC
Version) that moved the "Log QSO" window to a random place on the screen
and would sometimes exchange the "Cancel" and "OK" Buttons.   This was
known as the "Whack-A-Mole" version where you had to look for the "OK"
Button to log a QSO.   Many testers complained about this.   The
development team has several other tricks in their bag to try and
circumvent the script kitty method of Automatic FT8 operation.

There are a lot more folks running Automatic FT8 that you would guess.
There was one SV dude that was fully automatic until the protocol was
changed in version 2.0 a while back.   Many of the simple keyboard macro
programs are not very robust.  If you suspect a station is not following
the rules, just turn off your auto-sequence mode and pick a previous TX
Message in the protocol exchange.  Do they do not recover or go back to
calling CQ.

Many folks are using some of the commercial test and exercise programs that
developers use exercise their programs for days on end.   Such as data
entry programs.  You set up the test environment and the profile program
will run your program for a month continuous if you wish.   The same
programs are what folks are using to run FT8 in the automatic mode.

Sorry, just could not resist...  it is happening...

-John
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