[TVARC] FT8 Contest

[K2PS Pete Stafford]

I had been planning on participating in the Ten-Meter RTTY Contest this
weekend, but it turns out that, despite being listed in WA7BNM's Perpetual
Calendar, it has in fact "been placed on hiatus" for this December.  In its
place, the same contest organizers have set up a brand new contest, strictly
for FT8 contacts.

 

I do plan on getting on this weekend (it starts at 1P Saturday, and ends 7P
Sunday, our local time), and I encourage you FT8 afficionados to give it a
try.

 

Here are the rules: https://www.rttycontesting.com/ft8-roundup/rules/

 

But there are some issues that you'll need to be aware of before you
participate.  Most importantly, you'll need to be running version 2.0 - rc5
or later.  That means that 1.9.1 won't work, nor will rc3 or rc4.  OK, you
say, I'll just upgrade to the latest version.  Well, not so fast.  If you do
upgrade, you will be able to make the required contest exchanges.  But you
will not be able to contact anyone still running a previous version.
According to the documentation, rc4 and earlier v2.0 beta releases will
expire on 11/30, so you may as well upgrade.  The real v2.0 is supposed to
be available by 12/10.  It is not clear to me whether v1.9 will still
function, but if it does, the FT8 universe will be bifurcated, with 1.9 not
being able to talk to 2.0 stations.  Should be frustrating, to say the
least.  When you install rc5, create a separate, "WSJTX rc5," folder for it
during installation so that you'll be easily able to go back to whatever you
had been using earlier.

 

There are also some things you need to do to prepare for the contest that
are outlined here:  https://www.rttycontesting.com/ft8-roundup/preparation/
These instructions are quite detailed and should be easy to follow.  It does
seem to imply that the FT8 Frequencies to be used are not the conventional
ones, but I'm a bit confused as to which frequencies to enter.  I've also
read something about having a Start frequency on the 

Waterfall screen of 2000Hz instead of 200Hz.  If anyone has some insight in
this area, please let us all know.

 

One thing I want to highlight in the preparation is that, in order for the
contest to accurately track your multipliers and stations worked, you must
save off your existing wsjtx_log.adi file, and create a new empty one.
Instructions are included.  I'd guess that after the contest we could merge
them together.

 

I know this has been lengthy, but I guess there was a lot to say!

 

Hope to work you this weekend.  And if things get slow, check out, on either
of those links I sent, the tab titled "Ten-Meter RTTY Contest," and the
Results from 2017.

 

Comments and suggestions welcomed.

 

73, Pete, K2PS

 

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