FT8 and the death of ham radio as I knew it

If you are an FT8 troll then please just move on, this is not for you.

I've been a Ham radio operator since 1986 so you could say I'm an experienced ham radio operator in comparison to all 'FT8 only' operators. I know that I can get more contacts and get further using FT8.

Q) Why don't I use FT8 all the time then?

There is the potential for an exponential gain in pleasure and satisfaction through using other richer communication modes. I know 'FT8 only' operators will enjoy them more than FT8 because I have experienced FT8 and other modes with all types of setup ranging from simple to contest grade.

Q) Why do I hear other experienced hams using FT8?

They are using them only when conditions necessitate i.e. marginal conditions where you cannot properly hear any desired signals on the band. It's also tempting for an experienced operator to be lazy and switch off the brain and leave the computer to have fun whilst doing something more interesting instead. 

Q) FT8 can hear signals that other modes cannot. I can get further on a very meagre setup due to power, antenna, noise problems. Why therefore wouldn't I use this all the time?

Firstly due to lack of experience 'FT8 only' operators do not understand that if you can hear an FT8 signal with your own ears, you are in the wrong mode. If you can hear FT8, then you will be able to make CW contacts and listen to SSB signals. What percentage of FT8 contacts did you make where you couldn't hear any signal coming back (10%??). Most operators would not use FT8 all the time because compared to other modes its NOT a proper communication mode. A simple report is NOT communication, but 'FT8 only' operators wouldn't know this because most are inexperienced. Believe me an exponential gain is to be had by trying out ANY real communication mode.

Q) When I listen to the SSB or CW portions of the 10m band they are dead, but I can always HEAR FT8.

Join the club. It's frustrating isn't it? If you can HEAR FT8 it means the band is open for all modes. The vast majority of those using FT8 don't know this and through lack of education or shear laziness continue to use a weak signal mode even when conditions are excellent. It's not unusual for me to tune an entire 10m band and hear nothing except a solid 3KHz window of S9 FT8 signals and the entire beacon section bursting S9 with every country in Europe....and for the FT8 smart asses - yes, I did call CQ in both CW and SSB to no avail. Between 1986-2010 this was unheard of. So again take it from experience, FT8 has killed ham radio as I knew it.  

Q) It's a real challenge to get FT8 working correctly and there is a science behind getting good results

Bollocks. Most 'FT8 only' operators don't even understand how to improve the sensitivity/selectivity of their receiver. This is made painfully obvious by the majority of FT8 users who use SSB and 3KHz filters and inject tones into the transmit audio chain. Its odd that you strive for the best your meagre setup can achieve by using FT8, then use the general convenience of an audio based setup and ignore all the available facilities your receiver provides??? There is no way you should be using 3KHz SSB for these marginal contacts. DSP alone won't hack it when FT8 is being as misused as it is today (due to lack of strong signal handling performance). You should be using a mode that can select a narrow filter and the VFO to place the FT8 signal within the passband of the narrowest filter possible i.e. digital mode with 300Hz roofing filter, for increased signal to noise ratio. This is difficult to get right but yields better results in crowded misused FT8 band conditions. Which is it then? Just being lazy/uneducated or striving for the best for you meagre set up???

Q) Why don't you just get on with your hobby and not comment on mine?

Because we have a shared hobby (i.e. communication??? kind of infers more than one person???) and a lack of understanding by a majority of new operators therefore directly affects my hobby.

When a good skier chats to a novice skier and they tell you to stick with it because the hobby comes into its own if you persevere and get past the 'snow plough' technique, do you tell him to mind his own business, as you want to do the snow plough forever because its easier... no, probably because you've seen good skiers on the TV doing parallel turns and can see how awesome it looks you'll realise you would gain by making an effort to get better. Trouble is there is no equivalent in the ham radio world. The nearest we come is education (or elmering), so take it from me, if you are doing nothing but FT8 you are missing out on a lot of fun and also you are not contributing in a positive way to the rest of the hobby.

More and more lazy 'FT8 only' operators are joining the hobby and a lot of good 'all mode' operators are dying of old age. This is causing the death of ham radio as I knew it.

Please contribute to the continuation of ham radio by educating yourself in the use of your receiver and use other modes.

Yaesu FTDX101D FTDX10 Scope averaging solution

Before we start, anyone using the 3D feature of the above radios are beyond help, please just move along and continue to enjoy your radio.

For those who are sentient enough to realise 3D is just a gimmick and 2D is the only real display function, please read on... 

Problem:

Frenetic spectrum-scope? Can't cope?

Solution:

Dead easy! Use the waterfall rather than the spectrum-scope. Tap the waterfall until it covers 3/4 of the screen. The spectrum-scope is now too small to see any frenetic activity, job done!

I now think of this top sliver of LCD panel as a touchscreen for QSY only. There is absolutely nothing gained by looking at the spectrum-scope that isn't reproduced on the waterfall.

Now think of the benefits of having the fastest, most capable, most sensitive waterfall ever produced by the big three!

MM3T in IOTA Contest 2021

 I entered the all band, low, 12hr, cw, dxpedition category again.

The thing I shouted at the radio most:

I ONLY NEED IT ONCE!!!!

Why oh why do people give their callsign and/or report twice without a break in between? Doing this is for data modes only...under no circumstance ever do this in a CW contest....

no you are wrong...UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE! EVER! OK?

In CW mode there is a human at the other side and not a dumb computer! Guess what? If the operator didn't get your call correct the first time, he will send back what he got, allowing you to correct it...simple! This process of handing the exchange back and forth to get your call 100% correct is quick, efficient and infallible....unless of course you weaken and decide to send it twice without a break!

another thing...

If you are trying to bust a CW pile-up and the operator gives your partial call, you do not need to give your callsign twice without a break.

no you are wrong...UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE! EVER! OK?

Why? 

1) The partial call will cause the pile-up to abate and the operator will have a much better chance of getting your call correction first time.

2) You will lower the operators Q rate.

3) You may cause the operator to lose his frequency, due to having to pause longer than usual.

4) The operator may lose some of his pile-up as it now takes too long for satisfaction.

5) The pile-up starts to misbehave due to boredom as most cannot hear you.

Causing any of the above to happen to a contest operator will cause them to hate you and wish you had never called in....

You are confusing typical CW operator teachings of when to give your call twice like:

If his signal is weak..

If there is QRM

If there is QSB

If he didn't get it right the first time

ALL OF THESE ARE WRONG for contest operation as we now have to take time and efficiency into account.

another thing...

Please use a proper contest logger like N1MM+ and download SCP file and IOTA cross check file, this will save you from asking the operator to repeat the IOTA reference multiple times.

These are small asks compared to uplifting your entire station and temporarily setting it up on an island and doing without comfort and sleep for 24hrs. Please be willing to help that effort by being efficient in your exchange.

Remember, this is a CW contest...never, never, NEVER give your callsign twice without a break in between!

PTT in CW mode for cw contesters (where did it all go wrong for Yaesu, FlexRadio and TenTec?)

 At some point in the dim and distant past a radio designer who knows nothing about CW contesting decided that PTT via RTS over RS232 or a serial emulator cable was unnecessary. This decision was then used for all future radios, worst still other manufacturers then started to copy this mistake and soon a major problem was born.

There are so many usage factors for a ham radio that the manufacturers today have trouble knowing which groups to listen to i.e. casual ops, data ops, dx ops and contest ops.

Casual ops: If the radio kind of functions...what's there to moan about? Its fine.

Data ops: As long as FT8 mode works, and the rx/tx switching times are good, I'm fine.

DX ops: The rx performance needs to be good, I need all modes, as long as I can hear, I'm fine.

Contest ops: The rx performance needs to be good, the tx performance needs to be good, rx/tx switching times needs to be good, I need all modes, the ergonomics need to be good, interfacing needs to be spot on, filtering needs to be good etc etc etc.

In short if you want everyone to be happy, ask a contester as they are striving for the best.

However, serious contest ops are few and far between and there are all sorts of grades of contest ops out there from casual little pistol through to those who own super stations (big guns). Casual contest ops are not that interested in efficiency as they are not really competing, just having fun.

Anyway back to the point in hand PTT via RTS over RS232. Contest ops send macro cw exchange messages from contest logging software to the radio and also 'fill in' messages via the key. TX -> RX time is critical i.e. the release of PTT. The reason for this is that good contest ops are efficient and speed is of the essence, so very little time is wasted in a fast exchange between 2 stations, so much so, a casual listener may not be able to hear a perceivable break between the 2 stations. Serious contest ops use a computer to transmit their side of an exchange (now, now... if you don't agree, I am sorry you are not a serious contest op), this means the computer 'knows' exactly when the exchange message will end ahead of time. No other piece of equipment can know this information before the computer, so it can unkey immediately after sending the message. It therefore stands that the most efficient exchange can only be accomplished by the computer using RTS to signal PTT.

Now enter the radio manufacturer. They are ignorant to the above fact and decide that they will only provide PTT sourced from the radio. The PTT mode relied on here is called break-in which detects cw keying over DTR from the computer and then uses a controllable delay time after the last cw keying action to release the PTT automatically. Unfortunately this causes a delay after every part of the sent exchange where the radio remains in tx for the delay time despite no cw being sent over DTR. The result of this is a really inefficient exchange and many, many unhappy contesters.

It may seem like an little thing, but serious contesters are striving for the best and this kind of PTT implementation is unacceptable, especially when Elecraft, Icom and Kenwood seem capable of getting it right.

It doesn't seem like much to ask for from a £3000 radio and the inclusion of this basic expected functionality hurts no one else's usage case. Hopefully ham radio manufacturers want to be the best?

How to get Yaesu FTDX101, N1MM+ contest logging software and CW Skimmer software working together

My solution:

Hardware:

1) FTDX101D

2) AIRSPY HF+ Discovery

3) PC

Connect the AIRSPY up to a USB port on the PC and connect the antenna to the main IF out port on the rear of the FTDX101D. This will give the AIRSPY access to the 9.005MHz IF of the main receiver in the FTDX101D.

Connect RS232 serial com port of FTDX101D to PC (com 1 in my case).

Software:

1) N1MM+

2) SDR Console

3) CW Skimmer

4) VAC (Virtual Audio Channel, your choice of software)

5) Omnirig

6) Serial Port Splitter (www.fabulatech.com)

In the serial port splitter software, set up a "shared port" for com 1 (allows multiple software apps to connect to the FTDX101D for rig control and status information.

In the Omnirig software setup radio 1 as FTDX101D and use com1.

Setup a VAC for use between SDR Console and the CW Skimmer (ensure windows 10 doesn't grab it).

In the SDR Console software add the external radio feature and use com1 to get rig control from FTDX101D. You also need to add the CW Skimmer menu and select the appropriate VAC audio channel (no need to send on CAT info from SDR Console with this implementation as CW Skimmer will get it via Omnirig). Configure external radio feature by entering 9.005MHz IF details.

In CW Skimmer setup the audio to use the previously created VAC. Also set the CAT (Omnirig) to use radio 1 and com 1. Also setup network to enable telnet server telnet and port to 7300 to send out spot info.

In N1MM+ setup rig control to com 1 and telnet to 127.0.0.1 port 7300

This will allows both ways rig control between N1MM+, SDR Console and CW Skimmer to/from the FTDX101D. Happy skimming!

Doug GM0ELP