[CQ-Contest] [PVRC] Contesters review: new FT8, WSJT 2.0.0

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With rotten conditions and marginal antennas 38 per hour can be better then 0.

Ray
W8lyh

Sent from my iPad

> On Dec 16, 2018, at 09:41, Tim Shoppa <tshoppa at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ed, in one of the single-hour "contest mode trials" of WSJT 2.0 release candidates, I hit 36 FT8 Q's in an hour. The abbreviated contest exchange and the fact that most of the guys on had some contest-leanings, really helped me in that hour.
> 
> I did that by going almnost 100% S&P where I get the one-per-minute cycle time. It also really helped, that the trial hour band segment was not completely jam-packed with signals.
> 
> In the big FT8 test weekend two weeks ago, I did not hit that rate. Even when I focused and tried hard, I was usually only in the 20's for rate over a while hour. I attribute this to many of the participants being less contest-oriented.
> 
> The 120-per-hour run rate with the "TU, NOW" feature you mention, I think you might be able to exploit that from P4, with callers spreading themselves nicely and being patient to work a rare mult, but my feeling is that us more common mults will hardly ever use that.
> 
> Again, I do not plan to do any FT8 during RTTY RU. However, I do appreciate that the WSJT developers are learning some things about contesting to improve rates and that non-contest FT8 rates have improved noticeably as a result of this learning.
> 
> Ed, what rates were you able to hit in the FT8 weekend two weeks ago? I think when the logs are collected that AA5AU may be able to advise us as to peak rates hit by participants.
> 
> I did a quick-looksee at 3830 comments for FT8 roundup and see two experienced contesters talking about a best hour of 38Q's, and more typical "good hour" rates in the 20-30Q per hour range.
> 
> Tim N3QE
> 
>> On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 6:53 PM Ed Muns <ed at w0yk.com> wrote:
>> The discussion below is based on the WSJT-X non-contest protocol.  Did you
>> achieve any higher rates using the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest protocol in the
>> FT8 Roundup two weeks ago?  If so, probably not by much.
>> 
>> That protocol will eventually have a "TU, NW" feature added which will get
>> instantaneous rate to 120/hour.  SO2R double that.  Of course, average rate
>> over a full hour will be less, but it will be much faster than then the
>> current WSJT-X contest version.
>> 
>> Ed W0YK
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tim
>> Shoppa
>> Sent: 14 December, 2018 11:49
>> To: PVRC; cq-contest at contesting.com
>> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Contesters review: new FT8, WSJT 2.0.0
>> 
>> Keep in mind that I write the below from a "Contesters perspective" but
>> maybe toned down for lower FT8 expectations.
>> 
>> The official flag day for the new 77-bit FT8 messages was Monday Dec 14
>> with the release of WSJT 2.0.0. Within a day almost all the activity had
>> flipped over the the new version.
>> 
>> I spent many hours (20+ hours) trying it out, with "RR73" turned on to get
>> max rates, and it is an improvement. I had also been involved a little bit
>> with pre-release WSJT software in the mock-contest hours and the "FT8 mock
>> test" the first weekend of December.
>> 
>> With the new WSJT 2.0.0 FT8, my peak S&P rate approaches one QSO a minute,
>> my peak run rate approaches one QSO every 90 seconds, and my average rate
>> over an hour is s 20 or more. It is hard to achieve peak rates on a super
>> packed busy band like 20M FT8 but on a WARC band or "off peak" band it's
>> quite achievable.
>> 
>> Contrast that with the old WSJT where my typical FT8 rate in an hour was 8
>> to 12 QSO's an hour.
>> 
>> Now, in a real RTTY contest, 20 an hour is NOT something to write home
>> about. It's dullsville, like maybe I should be doing something more fun
>> like mopping the kitchen floor or raking leaves. But it is a real
>> improvement for FT8 rate.
>> 
>> I DO NOT PLAN to do ANY FT8 in RTTY Roundup. Again, 20 an hour is a bad
>> rate if you are trying to enter that competitively.
>> 
>> Tim N3QE
>> Hardcore RTTY contester
>> _______________________________________________
>> CQ-Contest mailing list
>> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>> 
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