Category Archives: FT8

Joe Taylor’s upcoming FT-4 and the value of bit shaping

Posted on April 24, 2019 by robert

I was watching a video of Joe Taylor giving a presentation at the Fair Lawn Amateur Radio Club (Thanks, Bob W1YRC, for that reference).  Joe started giving some details of his upcoming FT-4 protocol (starts at 15:35 mark).  FT-4 might … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Mode, FT-4, FT8 | Leave a comment

10,000 QSOs in the Log

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Bob Beatty

How appropriate, on the first day of winter, for a non-fan of cold weather, snow & ice, that I should reach QSO #10,000 in my logbook?  My small contribution to the one billion QSOs entered into LotW as of 12/19. … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, FT8, LotW, Operating | Leave a comment

WSJT-X Users MUST Upgrade to Version 2.0.0

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Bob Beatty

I had noticed that my waterfall was showing 20 or more signals that should be decoding, but only a few were.  Nevertheless I continued to work stations for this final month of the International Grid Chase.  I became concerned that … Continue reading →

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Clearing the air on FT8

Posted on December 11, 2018 by robert

I follow a fairly large number of groups that are associated with various aspects of Amateur Radio or Electronics. I’ve seen a lot of discussing pro and con about FT8.  My personal view is that Amateur Radio should be as … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Mode, From the OM, FT8 | Leave a comment

All likely bands completed with VP6D

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Bob Beatty

This morning I picked up VP6D on 30 and 40 meter CW.  While the 30 meter contact came up on DXA quickly, the 40 meter contact took a very long time.  I had read that they were having some network … Continue reading →

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Sure enough – VP6D FT8 QSOs in log

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Bob Beatty

As I mentioned the other day, there appears to be an issue with the DXA.com application failing to show FT8 QSOs as they occur.  I made two the other day, and neither showed up on DXA, but they did show … Continue reading →

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Success with FT8 for VP6D

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Bob Beatty

Yesterday I had four bands on CW plus a SSB contact, so I needed a Digital contact have Ducie Island on all three modes.  VP6D was on 15-meter FT8 today and I worked them around 18:38 UTC.  I hadn’t run … Continue reading →

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Tried WSJT-X in Hound Mode for the first time

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Bob Beatty

Today I heard SO1WS in Western Sahara on 17-meters.  I noticed a very raspy FT-8 signal, and after checking the time offset, it turned out to be So1WS — however upon further review it was apparent that they were running … Continue reading →

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QSO #9,000 in LotW

Posted on May 29, 2018 by robert

Silly, I suppose, but I note almost every accomplishment.  I’m happy to say that today I worked Ron, K4AKK, from Savannah, TN on 15-Meter FT-8.  He found his way into my LotW database as Contact #9,000 (since I started back … Continue reading →

Posted in ARRL, FT8, LotW, Operating | Leave a comment

Six Meters is Rocking

Posted on May 26, 2018 by robert

Each day that I have some time to be on the air, I start by listening to 6-meters for a few minutes.  This month, almost every time I do that, I wind up making a few contacts during a short … Continue reading →

Posted in 6-Meters, FT8 | Leave a comment