Since virtually all FT8 operations are clustered into their own 3kHz
smoking-pit on each band, the mode requires no “searching around the band” for
individual signals. Essentially the entire workable “band” of FT8 signals is
visible at your own station without an outside feed.
That, coupled with the very detailed graphic presentations at sites like
pskreporter.info and pskreporter.de, seems to make a traditional CW-style
spotting network for of low value to an FT8 operator. In fact, I would posit
that the traditional Spotting/RBN infrastructure is really rather quaint and
unsophisticated when compared to the information available at pskreporter.info.
73, de Hans, KØHB
"Just a boy and his radio"™
From: N4ZR n4zr@comcast.net [DX-IS]
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2018 1:35 PM
To: RBN-OPS@groups.io; sysops@dxcluster.info; WW1ME@arrl.org;
DX-IS@yahoogroups.com; reflector cq-contest
Subject: [DX-IS] RBN Announcement on FT8 Spotting
As some may be aware, we’ve been debating for some time about whether the RBN
should handle FT8 spots. A few weeks, ago, several prolific RBN nodes began
spotting FT8 signals, using the combination of WSJT-X and an unreleased
Aggregator, version 5. The purpose of this limited Alpha test was to get a
feel for the load and other implications of carrying FT8 spots on the RBN; it
has been very revealing.
The most striking characteristic of FT8 spots is their sheer quantity. Here
are some weekday statistics from one of the US testers:
23-May
CW 4294 14%
RTTY 69 0.22%
FT8 26318 86%
Total 30681
24-May
CW 4370 13%
RTTY 46 0.14%
FT8 29298 87%
Total 33714
Whether due to the startling popularity of the new mode, or to the ability to
spot stations at 22 dB below the noise level, it seems obvious that adding FT8
spots to our spot flow could have a huge impact on the infrastructure of the
RBN. These numbers suggest that if only 20-30 RBN nodes added FT8 spots, those
spots could outnumber the total CW and RTTY spots being delivered by the
140-150 nodes currently active on the network, doubling the total required
throughput.
We frankly don’t know whether the RBN servers will be up to the task, so we
decided we had better find out before the fall contest season is upon us.
Accordingly, we are taking the following steps on a Beta test basis:
1. Effective immediately, the RBN’s current spot feed (telnet,reversebeacon.net
port 7000) will be repurposed to handle only CW and RTTY spots.
telnet.reversebeacon.net port 7001 will be set up for FT8 spots only.
2. Operators of “retail” DX clusters are encouraged to offer the option of RBN
spots with and without FT8 spots, as they now often give users a choice between
spot streams with and without “Skimmer” spots, and to advertise when they begin
to carry FT8 spots
3. A Beta test version of Aggregator Version 5 that can handle FT8 spots
received from WSJT-X will be made available on the RBN web site, along with
instructions on how RBN node-ops can configure their nodes to spot FT8 on one
or multiple bands. Note, please, that doing so will not interfere with your
ability to continue spotting CW and RTTY.
We will closely monitor how the RBN servers handle this new load, as more and
more nodes begin sending FT8 spots. We also reserve the right to take steps as
necessary to protect the core mission of the RBN, including shutting off the
FT8 stream on major CW and RTTY contest weekends or, in an extreme case,
discontinuing spotting of FT8 altogether. Even in a worst case scenario, FT8
spots will continue to be carried by PSKReporter.
We hope we’re not doing this in a vacuum. The RBN team has been collecting the
views of contesters and DXers on this, and we think that we’re headed in the
right direction. Feel free to let us know what you think of this experiment.
73,
The RBN Team (KM3T, N4ZR, PY1NB, SV3SJ, W3OA)
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Posted by: N4ZR <n4zr@comcast.net>
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