[VHFcontesting] FT8 on 222 & 432 during SPRINT

[James C]

I don't care about 432 digital other then the established eme sub band,
However I can speak to 222 digi with plenty of actual on the air
experience.

222.080 is a 'catch all' frequency. I've run JT65, MSK, FSK, ISCAT & FT8 on
222.080.
I've never seen or heard of random activity on 222 digi. Every Q is by sked
or chat board. This makes using .080 pretty easy.

Occasionally you'll run with a guy who wants to qsy up or down a couple but
normally this is due to a birdie or other issue. I've never ran into an
issue with different modes colliding and hilarity ensuing.

Bottom line, 'Boots on the ground'  222 operators out West (and EME) use
.080 for all digi modes and for that matter very seldom ever see anyone
trying to use MSK144 on 222 anyway. 9.7 with Single Tone FSK441 is used as
standard for MS.

If you've taken umbridge with .080 as a catch-all then run your sked
wherever you want. The guys who are active outside of the contests
(die-hards) will probably continue to use .080 +/-. on a sked basis.

.-James K7KQA DN06






On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 9:41 AM Lloyd - N9LB <lloydberg at tds.net> wrote:

> I run transverters on the VHF/UHF bands and the ability to keep the HF "IF
> Rig" on .174 has many benefits.  I would like to see .174 continue to be
> the
> FT8 standard frequency on 144 MHz and above.
>
> 73
>
> Lloyd - N9LB  ( active 50 MHz thru 10 GHz )
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: VHFcontesting
> [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces+lloydberg=tds.net at contesting.com] On Behalf
> Of
> Jay RM
> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2020 10:48 AM
> To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] FT8 on 222 & 432 during SPRINT
>
> Now that the Sprint events (above 6M, obviously) where FT8 would most
> probably be used are over, have we come to a consensus on exactly which
> frequency we're all using for the mode ?
>
> I mentioned this right before 222 and the only thing that was obvious to me
> by the (very) few answers I got, was the FT8 frequency seemed very 'local
> option" on that band.  Is the 432 FT8 frequency (432.174) more of a
> national
> thing ?
>
> 222.174 seems awful far from the traditional 'action frequencies' and I
> doubt the band is occupied heavily enough that we need to go up that high.
> Maybe this isn't the case on 432 in 'hotspot' areas, although I doubt I
> ever
> heard more than 3-4 guys on the band at once in EN52, which is somewhat of
> a
> hotspot.
>
> Many of us western guys have zeroed in on 222.080 for both meteor scatter
> and FT8, which is conveniently close to those few people who still operate
> 'traditional modes' on that band - the 222.100 calling frequency.  I've
> also
> used 432.080 for FT8 with Rovers, again, for the same 'close to
> traditional'
> convenience.
>
> -W9RM
>
> Keith J Morehouse
> Managing Partner
> Calmesa Partners G.P.
> Olathe, CO
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