FT8 Operating Tips when calling E6AG
A few people may be disappointed that they are not in my FT8 logs. Some of the issues I am seeing are as follows:
- Make sure you are using WSJT-X v 1.8.0-RC2 – there are fixes there that help ALOT!
- If you call me on SPLIT, and then when I answer you QSY to my TX frequency you are likely to be swamped by signals from others calling me. I have lost a lot of contacts because people did that.
- If I dont hear a reply after 3 slots I will cancel the cycle and call CQ – you will need to start from scratch again in that case
- IMPORTANT: Please do not put free text in your 73 message. The software is picking up the first text you enter, and is putting that in the far station callsign field. If you send “GRANT TU 73” instead of VK5PO E6AG 73 I found the software logging the contact under GRANT instead of VK5PO – this will make for a lot of broken contact records to fix later…..
- MOST IMPORTANT: If I see you send me an R[Signal] and I reply with RRR, if you do no reply with the 73, I WILL STILL LOG YOU! I consider seeing R[sig] and my sending [RRR] enough to constitute a valid contact. Check the clublog records to confirm if you made it this way!
Follow these tips to maximise your chances of working me on FT8! de Grant E6AG