[CQ-Contest] Mixed Digital Modes in HF Contests

[David Gilbert]

Those are my sentiments entirely.

FT4 is only broken because of the UI, not the mode.  A better UI for FT4 
would solve a LOT of problems.  The sooner somebody comes up with one 
the better.

Mixing modes in the same contest, whether it is mixing RTTY and FTx or 
mixing FT8 and FT4, is simply a very bad idea.  The confusion and 
disruption it causes does nothing at all to advance FTx as a viable 
contest mode.

73,
Dave   AB7E


On 1/13/2020 10:34 AM, Ron Koenig wrote:
> If FT-4 had actually been released as a Contest Mode most of the issues
> would not exist.  Sadly, it was not and because of it there is a mess.
> You have cross sections of people that will NOT log if they don't get a
> RR73 (They even refused to log With RR73 when they wanted RRR and then 73)
> lots of these people are Causal ops in the contests, the NIL's are
> intentional.
> You have people answering Contest CQ's that are not in Contest mode (If
> FT-4 was a Contest Mode, that would not be possible) Of course, Neither
> side can properly log these as the exchange cannot be made... Some force it
> to log.... NIL
> FT-4 is very picky about time, many Many Q's go into a loop of repeats
> because one or both ops time has shifted a 10th, or QSB has pushed the
> signal down just enough. Often, after wasting several cycles, one side will
> force it to log.... NIL
> I am a fan of the FT-Modes for contesting, I have high hopes that someone
> will develop software that makes it work.
> I am Not a fan of FT-X in RTTY RU, or any other "Mixed" contest... It
> simply causes confusion, lowers QSO counts and causes people to make Silly
> claims that their FT-X rate rivaled RTTY...
>
> Ron, WV4P