Dennis, W5RZ, reported difficulty with decoding A25CI on 17M FT8.  I’ve got the same issue.  In the morning (12-14Z) A52CI has been relatively strong here on long path.  The multiple streams blend into one “blob” and I have no decodes.  I’ve tried pointing east and west of the direct heading with no change.  I’ve turned AGC off, NB off, etc.  Tried Fast, Normal and Deep decode with no change.  As conditions change and the A25CI signal becomes weaker I start seeing decodes and right before propagation ends I get a decode almost every cycle.  During that time they seem to only hear EU and I haven’t been able to get their attention.  They are in and out right now…just about gone for me (1512Z).  At times they are strong enough for CW but I haven’t seen them on CW yet?

I have A5 on 30 and 15M CW from previous activations.  Just curious if others are seeing this destructive multipath prop?  I think FT4 would work better during the multipath….tone spacing is wider.  You lose a few db of sensitivity but I think the improved decode of FT4 would make up for it.   I’ve seen this multipath on 432 FT8 during my roving activity in VHF contests.  FT4 usually works much better.   

Pat, W5VY