FT-8 a new digital mode freom K1JT and K9AN

FT-8 Mode

There is a new mode from K1JT and K9AN  called FT-8.  The TX/RX windows are 15 seconds instead of the 1 minute toggle in JF-65 and JT-9 modes.  The downside FT-8 presently has a slightly worse S/N compared to JT-65.  Download v 1.8 rc1 from the K1JT site 

Setup with any 6xxx series Flex is simple.

Under General fill in the your particulars and make your choices 

For radio I use TS-2000 protocol and SmartCat port 4 to get band data, freq and PTT control 

Audio is on DAX 1 and DAX TX.  Make sure DAX 1 is turned on on the freq flag of the panadapter, and turn on RX1 and TX in DAX.  Set mic input to PC.  Set DAX RX1 level to give 50% on the FT-8 client and DAX TX gain to keep you just out of ALC, and use the power control on the radio to set the power level

Go make a contact

These modes require a pretty precise timing so I keep my computer clock trained to the correct time using this program 

https://www.meinbergglobal.com/english/sw/ntp.htm

 ntp-4.2.8p10-win32-setup.exe (4.15 MB)

73  W9OY

13 Colonies Contest

13 Colonies Contest

This year I decided to give this contest a whirl.  It is a week long contest with several dozen stations signing the callsign of their colony K2A through K2M, 13 in all.  In addition 2 bonus stations WM3PEN in remembrance of Independence Hall and GB13COL which is a RSGB special event participant are on the air through July 6th

I worked the lot in about 21 hours 20, 40, and 80 both SSB and CW.  So stations availability is plentiful but it still took some diligence.  

I wish I could have swept them all on 40 CW but you fish where the fish are. 

Flex released the latest Alpha version of the  V2 software last night, and I thought this test would prove to be a good way to beat up the software and search out the bugs.  

73  W9OY