[Elecraft] Legal Limit With FT8

[Rick Tavan]

I must be missing something. FTn isn't like CW or SSB where the loudest
station often wins in a pileup. If you have enough FTn signal to be decoded
reliably, say -10 or better, how does more power enhance your chances of
getting through? WSJT-X chooses whom to answer based on a "first decoded"
algorithm that I don't fully understand but it doesn't seem to be based on
signal strength. I often get multiple callers and the loudest one often
isn't selected. I'm surprised Joe didn't point that out - it's his mode,
after all. But maybe there's something I don't understand.

FTn are modes in which the standard FCC guidance to use the "minimum power
required" seems to make sense. I set power based on incoming signal
strengths. With my antennas, 40W usually gets through to anyone -15 or
better, often to -20. If most signals are weaker or if a station "calls CQ
in my face," I QSY to another tone that might be clear on its end and/or go
up to 80W. I turned on the amp at 200W one time when I was decoding a new
one only sporadically and expected I would also be weak. Got it. ;-)

/Rick N6XI

On Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 8:04 PM Richard <FlatHat at comcast.net> wrote:

> I had a discussion about this sort of madness with Joe Taylor, creator of
> FT8 and WSJT-X. Here's what he had to say about it:
>
> "Hi Richard,
>
> "Yes, it's annoying when people engage in a QRO arms race to make more
> QSOs or make them more quickly with FT8. Using high power is one thing when
> conditions demand it, as with some 160 m DX paths, for example. It's quite
> another thing when high power is not required to make the QSO, but only to
> help you get through first.
>
> "However, it has always been thus, and there's not much anyone can do
> about it. As a general rule it's often useful to move up above 2500 Hz or
> so, audio frequency. Or even to set your dial frequency 1 kHz higher than
> the default for a band.
>
> "We are also thinking about suggesting a "QRP FT8 sub-band" in which power
> should be limited to 10 W (say).
>
>         "-- 73, Joe, K1JT"
>
> Richard
> W4KBX
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-- 
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Rick Tavan
Truckee and Saratoga, CA