I have never operated FT8 or FT4 but I have enjoyed reading about the
recent contest. It appears that there are some things that the FTx
operator has no control over such as saying this was a good QSO and
moving on. I read of instances were the automated software just keeps
sending the grid over and over waiting for a confirmation. Is this
correct? In other modes including RTTY the operator has complete
control over what is sent and logged. It is also interesting that two
different versions of FTx were used.
John KK9A
Edward Sawyer N1UR wrote:
I am reading with interest the discussion about the digi contest.
Many people were repeating that FT8 was used more than FT4 to "pick up
the casuals". I thought that FT4 was a protocol that allowed a
contest exchange. So if the contest this weekend had a simple enough
exchange (grid) that you don't need FT4, what's the point of FT4?
From reading posts, it seems that some of the slow rates were
attributed to dividing the contest up between 2 incompatible modes.
Would it make more since to just use FT8 and make sure the exchange is
FT8 compatible?
Just asking.
Another observation from the postings - while FT8 may be taking over
much of the DXing activity, it doesn't seem to be any threat to the
Contest activity. It's a new interesting mode to try. And we will
see if it sustains good activity as it has time to develop.
73
Ed BV/N1UR
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