Topband: The DXpedition FT8 quandry

GEORGE WALLNER aa7jv at atlanticbb.net
Tue Apr 9 23:07:50 EDT 2019


Dear TopBanders,
Ed Sawyer raises a very timely and important question.
It is a fact that both CW and FT8 have large followings today.
DXpeditions now face a dilemma on 160 meters: to operate CW or FT8. Do only 
one, and you will make a lot of people unhappy. Because on TB, you can not 
make up for lost nights or openings, alternating nightly between CW and FT8 
is not satisfactory either. (We tried that from KH1.)
The solution is very obvious but not easy: Operate both CW and FT8 at the 
same time. Just like all major DXpeditions operate CW and SSB on the high 
bands, so they should do with CW and FT8 on TB. Technically, however, 
working concurrent CW and FT8 on 160 meters is quite challenging.
Such dual mode station was built and tested at C6AGU in January and February 
of this year. We operated CW and FT8 from a small uninhabited island under 
realistic DXpedition conditions. We made over 3000 TB QSO-s, of which 1000 
were DX (EU, JA, ZL). Many of the CW and FT8 QSO-s took place concurrently.

I have added a brief description and a couple of pictures to the C6AGU page 
on QRZ.com.
See C6AGU at https://www.qrz.com/lookup .
Now that we know that it can be done, I can only hope that in the future, 
any DXpedition worth its salt, will support concurrent CW and FT8 operation 
on TB.

73 and CU on CW or FT8,
George,
C6AGU/AA7JV


On Wed, 10 Apr 2019 00:59:26 +0000
  "Chortek, Robert L." <Robert.Chortek at berliner.com> wrote:
> I’ve made a few FT8 Q’s and really enjoyed setting up the system and getting it to work. That was great fun! 
> Now I find it very unsatisfying and the “click and wait” to see if I worked the station pretty dull.  
>
> I have nothing against the mode and don’t want to “fight the future” but, for me, it’s not very bright.....
>
> Bob AA6VB 
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>> “ And the very concept of clicking on the screen with the volume turned down and
>> waiting for the CFM message to appear, just doesn't do it for me.”
> _________________
> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector



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