[VHFcontesting] FT8 and the ARRL June VHF Contest

[Arliss]

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 at k5qe.com
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