My experience with FT8 during the contest mirrored Marshall's.
I also support his recommendations. In particular, I would prefer
the NA contest mode to be the full-time default condition for the
WSJT-X modes on all the VHF+ bands.
73, Arliss W7XU
On 6/11/2018 9:45 PM, Marshall-K5QE wrote:
Hello to all the VHF contesters who ran the June contest.
Due to all the hype concerning FT8, we decided this year to add a
completely independent 6M station just to monitor FT8. The
station has a 6M5X for the antenna and a small SSPA. The new
station was interlocked with the main 6M run station to keep one
station from blowing out the other.
When the contest began, there was no Es on 6M, so naturally we
went to 50.313 looking for FT8 contacts. There were 6-8 traces
visible. Some were weak and some were really strong. So, we
started trying to work them.
The results were terribly frustrating. We tried running S&P by
keeping our TX fixed on 1500 or 1200(or whatever) and calling
stations that were calling CQ. Many would not come back to us
unless we got right on their frequency. Apparently, these ops
did not realize that it is possible to work just fine with our
audio on 1500 and theirs on 1244. It is sort of a "split
operation", but it works very well and you can hold your CQ
frequency.
A goodly number were still not using the "NA Contest Mode", so
you could not complete with them in any normal way. The best we
could do was to stop using the contest mode(CM) long enough to
complete with them. Sometimes, this was successful, sometimes
not. Remember that if one station is in the CM and the other one
is not, the messages do not proceed properly. Using the CM is
critical.
We could tell that this was not a recipe for success, so we
started calling CQ ourselves, keeping our TX audio fixed at
1500. We worked stations from all over the waterfall, but it was
slow going. We often were called by a station with a decent
signal, but when we went right back to them, they disappeared and
were never seen again. This wasted a lot of time. Many of those
folks that answered our CQ were not in the CM, so, it was very
hard to get their grid as many of them called using Tx2(K5QE
K2XXX -02) rather than Tx1 which has the grid.
Whenever our op could see that FT8 signals were really strong, he
would jump to SSB and work whatever he could. On Sat, about half
of our 6M contacts(about 225) and half of our grids(about 60)
were made on SSB. If the Es died out, he would go back to FT8.
At the end of Sat night, we had more contacts on 2M than we had
on 6M. This is pretty ridiculous in June. Our score was about
28K. It was terribly frustrating and my stress level was a bit
high.
On Sunday, we found the Es opening at about 8AM, maybe a bit
earlier. Signals were strong and we began running hard. Several
of the top ops had to go home, because they had to work on
Monday. So, I had to man the 6M station from about Noon to 9PM.
I was running 100-120 per hour for several hours, which later
fell back to about 60 per hour later in the evening. At the end,
we had 202 grids and 980+ contacts on 6M. Our score was now
400K+ and less stress on me....HI.
The bottom line is that FT8 performed about as I feared it
would. The large number of newbies and / or HFers that insist on
running without the contest mode hurt the number of contacts that
we were able to make and really hurt the rate. Ditto the folks
that think you have to be right on their frequency. All this can
be fixed with some education and some (gentle?) persuasion. We
somehow have to get these folks to understand that in the VHF
world, we need GRIDS, most especially in a contest, where the
grid is the exchange. I DON'T CARE HOW THEY DO IT ON HF!! As
VHFers, I believe that we should use the CM at all times. Maybe
folks would see how much better it is.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Use SSB or CW whenever signals are up. It is MUCH faster and
you will work more contacts with more grids. I had several hours
with a rate above 100 per hour. You just cannot do this with FT8
as the absolute maximum number of contacts is 60 per hour...and
in practice, you cannot do that. It did not happen in this
contest, but I have seen one of our top ops run over 200 contacts
in an hour.
2. Use the "NA Contest Mode" in contests. I believe we should
use it at all times, just so the newbies and HFers will see that
rather than the "funny little numbers".
3. Stations calling CQ should pick an audio frequency and stay
there. Work S&P stations anywhere in the waterfall. This alone
will help a lot.
4. Don't make one call and then disappear. Obviously, some
contacts will fail for whatever reason(band drops, amp blows up,
or something like that), but you will work a lot more if you
stick with it.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I think that with some education and some practice, FT8 can work
a lot of stuff whenever Es is NOT happening. It is a useful tool
to be added to the contesting toolbox. We just need to eliminate
the bad operating practices so that everyone can maximize their
contacts....big stations and small ones alike.
I am most interested in how others found FT8 in this contest. Was
it better or worse than what I have described above? If you like
my recommendations, then promote them. If not, please let me
know how we can all do better. I always appreciate intelligent
ideas and discussion. Flames go directly to the bit bucket--they
will not pass GO and will not collect $200.
73 Marshall K5QE
k5qe@k5qe.com
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