[NLRS] FT8 in the June contest

[Charlie Betz]

Paul,

I tried to stay on sequence with you on FT8 as much as possible because 
otherwise I do experience some de-sensing of the receiver.  But that 
happens with everyone else here too, not just you.  It's not a huge 
problem, but easier to see the weaker signals out there when we are 
TXing the same sequence.  I know that is not always possible though, 
especially when you aren't calling CQ.

I probably ended up spending more time on FT8 than on SSB, because many 
times when I checked the bottom end of the band it was dead or seemed to 
have very little activity.  Sunday afternoon I did get one really good 
run to the northeast on SSB.  In all honesty, in contests I'd prefer 
SSB, because you can make contacts much faster.  On the other hand, with 
FT8 I managed to work quite a few grids closer in that I would normally 
never work.  I probably could have spent more time on SSB than I did, 
but usually had good runs going on FT8 when I was up there, so it was 
hard to tear myself away...

Charlie, N0AKC


On 6/14/2018 01:25 AM, Paul Husby wrote:
>
>
> I was one of JK's TCs (True Contesters), spending time on FT8 when the 
> E-skip was gone, or slow, or just for a break from running 100+ per 
> hour for several hours on SSB & CW.  I would go and cherry-pick new 
> grids on digital.
>
> First, in regard to John's query about QRM on 50.313, I was surprised 
> that it didn't seem to be a serious problem.  It was hard for me to 
> get a sense of what I might be missing, but there always seemed to be 
> plenty of stations that I could decode and work.  N0AKC was also 
> running FT8, most of the afternoon, and Charlie generally pins the 
> meter on my rig at the Farm.  (I have an FT-991 that I was using just 
> for digital, and when I was on SSB/CW, it had no antenna connected, 
> yet it still continuously decoded Charlie as I worked SSB.)  I presume 
> he was lower power on FT8 than SSB, as was I, but I was amazed that it 
> didn't really seem to matter if we were transmitting on the same 
> sequence or opposite sequences when we were both on FT8.  Charlie may 
> have a different take on this?
>
> Marshall, K5QE, had good comments on the VHF reflector.  I kind of 
> noticed, but didn't really think about the fact that your computer is 
> looking for people calling you across all of the 20-some ~100Hz audio 
> "channels" on 50.313.  If you simply double-click on a CQ to answer 
> them, you will go to their "channel" to call them - along with any 
> others that don't use any forethought.  If others are stronger than 
> you, you'll probably wait.  The smart thing to do is to observe the 
> audio spectrum that WSJT is showing you, and pick out a slice that 
> appears quiet.  Set your transmitting audio to that frequency, and 
> click the box to make it hold there.  There may still be others with a 
> better shot at the target station, but at least you aren't in the 
> crowd on his audio frequency.  You will need to check your calling 
> audio freq regularly, during the periods you normally transmit, to 
> make sure you haven't picked up some competition there.
>
> Again, to JK's concern, there certainly has to be a point where things 
> break down, but the mode seems much more robust than I had expected.
>
> To Gregg, and regarding rover use of FT8...  On Saturday I began to 
> think like Gregg, wow, everyone is on FT8.  But of course by Sunday 
> afternoon, when the band opened up for us, it was business as usual on 
> SSB & CW, with as good runs as I ever have to the East Coast.  When 
> the band is poor, I think a good operator who has a less well-equipped 
> station can use FT8 to make up quite a bit of the advantage of a big 
> station.  My sense Saturday was that it is way easier to work stations 
> 200-300 miles out on FT8 than on SSB.  The advantage that I have 
> always had with my antennas and relatively quiet location  seemed to 
> be made up by others on FT8. This could be a real boon for rovers, who 
> struggle the most working groundwave on 6M.
>
> FT8 is certainly a bit of a fad right now.  It's easy and kind of fun, 
> especially compared to sitting on 50.125 when the band is poor.  Now 
> that a bunch more people are on FT8, it will be interesting to see 
> what can be done in typically poor September VHF Contest conditions.  
> FT8 is way too slow when the band is hot, but on the other hand you 
> can watch grid squares scroll by and try to grab the ones you need.  
> The Contest Mode problem will be worked out.  Hopefully, there will 
> also be a better way to deal with Rover and portable callsigns.
>
> FT8 is also a hot way to attract new blood from the HF bands, and we 
> can use all of that we can get!
>
> 73
> Paul W0UC
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