[SCCC] digital modes during FD

Fri Feb 12 09:52:00 EST 2021

Thanks for the great info, Dennis.  Contest mode of course.  Thanks
for the intel on how folks these days are or should be spreading off
of a single calling frequency.  One less thing for me to have to
figure out!  :-)

I did see the impact FT had on INCREASING activity on 6m outside of
contests.  That is awesome.  Hopefully the VHF contesters can find a
resolution to their current gripe that doesn't exclude participation
from those with limited capabilities or other reasons to focus on FT
modes.

Very early reports suggested people weren't migrating to FT4 as
quickly as one would hope.  That's based on what I've read and not on
my own operating experience.  (I've just fooled around with FT8,
mostly before FT4 got going.)  If folks are moving over to FT4
appropriately, that'll definitely make volunteering to do FT during FD
1/2 as painful (as the intervals and QSO time are 1/2 as long.)  :-)

Seems like SO2R where the 2nd radio just gets a button clicked every
couple of minutes and the first radio is normal FD ops on phone or CW
would be a good way to add points and keep things interesting.  Given
that I have zero SO2R skill, maybe I should try that with FT8 first
(slower) before moving on to FT4?  :-)

Best regards,

Drew
n7da

>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 16:25:51 -0800
> From: "Dennis Younker NE6I" <NE6I at cox.net>
> To: "'Southern Cal Contest Club'" <sccc at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [SCCC] digital modes during FD
> Message-ID: <00a901d700d5$a06fbb30$e14f3190$@cox.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
> Couple comments.
>
> Check FT4 as well. QSOs are much faster on FT4 as that mode is designed for
> contests (albeit many are using it for day-to-day contacts today as well).
> The tradeoff is that FT4 is slightly less sensitive than FT8 but the QSOs
> are quicker. Whether FT8 or FT4, be sure to set WSJT-X to Contest mode to
> avoid exchange issues. If one station is in contest mode and the other is
> not, there will be an exchange sequence issue. Be sure the exchange itself
> is set up properly on the Advanced tab of WSJT-X as well.
>
> As for FT8 frequencies on HF, if the standard freqs are busy (jammed) during
> contests, it is not uncommon to use frequencies 2 and 4 kHz up. IE, instead
> of 14.074, try 14.076 and 14.078. You may have to add these for FT8 to the
> Frequencies configuration in Settings as these are two frequencies come
> preconfigured for JT65 and JT9 respectively. Those two modes are rarely used
> on HF anymore. Do not try to use 14.080 for FT8 as that is the standard FT4
> frequency. You can extrapolate for other bands.
>
> Digital modes on 6 meters: I will second what Jim says. Very fun. On a Field
> Day weekend, I'm not sure we have had the band open on 6 meters yet (FT8 and
> FT4 are relatively new modes) but I would think we might have a lot of
> stations misconfigured on that band if that were to happen. Not to say there
> aren't contesters on 6 meters because there definitely are, and the ones
> that are there every day are savvy enough to go into contest mode. Those new
> to 6 meters and not contesters may not realize what is going on and stay in
> what I will call regular mode, which will be messy as noted above. Just an
> fyi.
>
> --Dennis NE6I
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SCCC <sccc-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Jim Price
> Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2021 2:46 PM
> To: 'Drew Arnett' <arnett.drew at gmail.com>; 'Southern Cal Contest Club'
> <sccc at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [SCCC] digital modes during FD
>
> Drew - For better or worse, FT8 is "where it's at" these days - especially
> in FD.  While there's certainly plenty of activity on SSB and CW, and
> probably some on RTTY, you'll find that the FT8 frequency (would be nice if
> there were more than one per band!) is solid, wall-to-wall signals.
>
> Working FT8 on 6 meters during FD can be really fun if the band opens.  I
> find that FT8 on 6m is like having 100 beacons on the air all at once, all
> on the same frequency.  You can tell at a glance where the band is open to.
> Of course you can see that info graphically on PSK Reporter.  But you need
> to be able to hear it to work it, regardless of what lines are on the map!
>
> My personal preference is CW, and I can run stations for hours on 20, then
> 40, etc.  But we found the last couple of years that when 6 meters was open,
> FT8 was ''happening!"
>
> 73 - Jim K6ZH, part of the W6RDF Pt Loma ARC group
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SCCC [mailto:sccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Drew Arnett
> Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2021 8:37 AM
> To: Southern Cal Contest Club <sccc at contesting.com>
> Subject: [SCCC] digital modes during FD
>
> Anyone know of a breakdown of digital modes used during Field Day?
> Email me if you do!
>
> I was wondering if it was worth taking one for the team and volunteering to
> work digital during FD to help our multi-multi score.
> I'll RTTY contest all day long no complaints.  PSK31?  If not too many folks
> run their brag tape macros during FD.  FT.  Well, yeah, maybe I'm not that
> dedicated to the team.  :-)
>
> Next best thing I took the last 20 years of FD summary data from the results
> articles.  Here's a PDF with some fun plots:
>
>
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/19K_6t-HKbo8f984qUUe4q3NKYO7sgsQ8/view?usp=s
> haring
>
> Fun to see trends prior to FT, the FT phenomenon, as well as the COVID-19
> bump.
>
> Some extra data from the last few years that is interesting to think about,
> too:
>
> 2019 -- entries:  3,113, participants:  36,420, total Qs:  1,095,969
> 2020 -- entries:  10213, participants:  18,886, total Qs:  1,862,985
>
> Entries up 3X and but only 1/2 the participants.
>
> 3X stations on the air gave us 1.7X QSOs.
>
> % of entries that are D, E, F class -- 2019:  46%, 2020:  82% % of QSOs
> phone 2018 (baseline):  52%, 2019:  45%, 2020:  35% Down 7% 2019 versus
> baseline and down 17% 2020 versus baseline.
>
> There's interesting stuff in this data including if and how much effort to
> spend on digital.  Will be interesting to see 2022 FD data (a normal,
> non-COVID-19 bump  year I presume).
>
> I'd encourage contest organizers to let folks send in logs with the digital
> modes not all lumped into one category.  (For VHF+ events, same for SSB
> versus FM, too.)  Their contest log analysis can do the lumping instead of
> the entrants easily enough.  And that would be a treasure trove of data to
> have to look at trends.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Drew
> n7da
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