[ADXA] FT8 Automatic Operation - Yes it is happening - GOOD THOUGHT PROCESS

[HamOP]

All I can say is that this is one “excellent” summary, John. Instead of a software  variable and complex program to tell me if a CW, SSB or RTTY encounter is a valid QSO or not, I rely on my brain to hear, speak, type, etc and apply the brief acceptable replies we have used for decades and 99% of us understand. 
TU again.
San YY

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: John Evans
Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2019 6:21 PM
To: ADXA at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ADXA] FT8 Automatic Operation - Yes it is happening

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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