More FT8

Around a fair amount of non-radio activities this weekend I was able to fit in a wee bit of digital operation with FT8. Band conditions were poor but there was a fair amount of FT8 activity on 20m and 40m. I was up Saturday night well past midnight operating. It’s growing on me. I now have 38 states (including two contacts in HI, AH6BI and KH6DC) and 12 countries. Plus K1JT himself:

K1JT with FT8

I’ve added JTAlert with WSJT-X. It comes in handy for tracking and announcing decoded stations, indicating those that are new among a bunch of other alerts that you can configure. It has some interface to ACLog for logging though I’ve not configured that as of yet. I simply let WSJT-X log to an ADI file and import that to ACLog at the end of an operating session.

There were two that got away, FK8HA on New Caledonia and 5W1SA on Samoa. I could hear both of them with good signals (-4 or -5) but they couldn’t hear me. It’s interesting that a wee bit before they appeared in the decode I had worked ZL3TRR, John in New Zealand again and he was using a KX3 at 10W (-7 signal report in WSJT-X, -13 when I worked him on 8/13/17) and a Hex Beam (verified by an email exchange.) It was good to be able to hear them and I’ll try again next time I see them appear.

I was using my TS-590SG and Hustler 4BTV typically at 30 watts though I occasionally varied the power up and down (watching ALC) to see how it impacted signal reports for contacts and reports by monitors on PSK Reporter.

The lowest signal level report that I received was -21 from LU2CHP in Argentina and the lowest I was able to receive, decode, and respond to was -15 to 9Z4Y in Trinidad & Tobago.

My status as a CCOG™ (Certified Crabby Old Guy) is in serious jeopardy.