[SFDXA] FT8 Accounts for Nearly Two-Thirds of HF Activity - ARRL Letter

[Bill]

FT8 Accounts for Nearly Two-Thirds of HF Activity

Since zooming to prominence after its debut in mid-2017, the popular FT8 
digital protocol has become the mode of choice for some 60% of HF 
operators, according to Club Log's latest activity report 
<https://g7vjr.org/2021/03/club-log-activity-report-2021-update/> 
compiled by Michael Wells, G7VJR. FT8 is one of the protocols in the 
/WSJT-X/ <https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html> suite of 
free programs. Wells says FT8 activity level sits at nearly 85% on 6 
meters. The dramatic FT8 upswing has come at the expense of phone, CW, 
RTTY, PSK, and other modes. Over the same period, the number of FT8 
contacts logged each year per active call sign has continued to climb to 
about 60% between 2015 and 2021, with the most dramatic increase being 
nearly 29% in the past year. The use of all other modes has continued to 
flutter downward since the advent of FT8, which occupies vastly less 
spectrum than the more traditional ham radio operating modes. (Click for 
larger 
image.)<https://g7vjr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/clublog-2016-2021.png>

Between 2015 and 2020, the number of contacts logged per day by Club Log 
users has trended steadily upward, regardless of mode. The report draws 
on data of more than 84,000 logs uploaded to the Club Log site -- some 
730 million contacts in all.

Wells reported that in 2025, the "typical call sign" logged 620 CW 
contacts, 558 SSB contacts, and 372 data (digital) contacts. Five years 
later, the statistics were 500, 300, and 1,700, respectively.

ARRL's Logbook of The World (LoTW) does not typically report this level 
of detail as far as mode usage is concerned, but the statistics 
available certainly confirm FT8's increasing popularity. The rocketing 
usage of FT8 over the past few years may be demonstrated most 
dramatically by a comparison in contacts-by-mode statistics between 
March 2017 and March 2018, when FT8 contact numbers in the hundreds shot 
to some 2.6 million contacts by the following year -- an increase of 
nearly 1 million percent.

 From mid-2019 to mid-2020, FT8 usage appears to have slumped slightly 
to 50% before climbing back to 60%. FT8 usage peaked at just over 65% in 
late 2020 and has held steady at 60 - 65% since.

The same period saw SSB usage dip by 15%, CW activity by 10%, and RTTY 
by 29%. Introduced later, FT4, the contest mode of FT8, also showed an 
initial fast upward trajectory, before steadying at 5 - 8%.

Named after its developers, Steven Franke, K9AN, and Joe Taylor, K1JT, 
FT8 indicates the mode's eight-frequency shift-keying format. Tones are 
spaced at 6.25 Hz, and an FT8 signal occupies just 50 Hz.

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