It did - when I qsy’d!
Now back on 10.136. 1132Hz odd.
Only JA and ZL so far… on 30m
Saturday 4th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
I somehow woke up at 4.30am BST, so decided to go for an early walk.
I went for my current favourite of 30m vertical with FT8 mode. Plenty of VK received, but none in my logbook on this occasion.
30m FT8: 20 QSOs
30m CW: 7 QSOs
2m FM: 3 QSOs
S2S with Paul MW0PLA/P on Cadair Berwyn GW/NW-012
Later on, I attended the Moss Rose stadium to watch the 1-1 draw between Macclesfield and Cambridge, a result that ensured my home town team remained in the Football League for next season.
Back on the road gigging tomorrow, so should be activating a little further afield - and scoring points!
Hi Tom,
No decodes from you today. I worked a G0 and a couple of other EU stations but nothing from any other G stations. I saw a couple of decodes from stations working you so I knew you had not gone back to bed. Conditions did seem down a bit and there were others close to your nominated frequency. I was too late to catch you on the other frequency which may have been better,
Seems you did OK anyway.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Dear all, I would like to try FT8 too. However my concern is, that the general rules state:
“At least four QSOs must be made for you to claim your activator points. You should
exchange callsigns, reports and the SOTA reference number (see ARM). QSOs through
a repeater do not count. […]”
How can I send the SOTA reference number with FT8?
Any hint is welcome.
73, Alfred
Hi Alfred,
I’m not FT8 user but you’ll find answer to your question right here
73,
Guru
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Thank you!
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I did my first FT8 SOTA activation yesterday. Any recommendations for ANDROID FT8 software? Thanks for the help.
73, Milos S57D
I’ve yet to do one, but I plan on doing the following:
CQ SOTA N1RBD XXyy
Then after the last 73, a macro to send some free-text like
SOTA W4GNG001 (remember, 13 character limit for free-text)
The person SHOULD be able to garner the summit from your spot, assuming you or someone else spotted you. If not, this last free-text should give them the info need. If they’re not a SOTA person and just responding to your CQ, they may not recognize it and ignore but you have given them the SOTA reference number and can use them as a valid QSO. Someone who is an active chaser will recognize that as a valid summit.
I plan on attempting (4th try) a POTA activation this afternoon for which I will be using a similar technique. I have yet to rely on anything other than VHF simplex for SOTA, although last weekend I had to hit a local repeater to solicit my 4th contact as the girlfriend was getting hungry and wanted to start down the trail. 
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In case people aren’t aware, FT8 now allows for a 4 character directed CQ, such as “CQ SOTA N1RBD EM74”
From the FT8 Operating Guide
Customize your CQ calls by editing the Tx 6 message in the format “CQ XXXX ZL2IFB RF80” where XXXX consists of UP TO FOUR CAPITAL LETTERS e.g.:
IOTA, SOTA, TEST, IGC etc. indicating that you are operating from an island or summit, or in a contestor challenge, and/or would prefer to contact someone who is
You’ll probably get more responses with a plain CQ, but the option is there.
5 Likes
Thanks for info. I will do like this now.
73 QRO
Roger
Does this work now with /P in the callsign? It didn’t last time I tried.
It seems to work well !
2 Likes
I’ll check to see if my WSJT-X needs updating.
HI Roger
Looking at your setup, do you use an external soundcard ?
If yes what is the model ?
73 Eric F5JKK
PS: Merci pour le QSO FT8 sur 80m
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Hello Eric.
Yes i’m using the Signalink USB interface.
See this link:
http://www.tigertronics.com/slusbmain.htm
Where i bought it.
73 QRO and i do hope listen you soon.
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Interesting topic - thanks for all the good info in this thread!
I’d like to try FT8 on a summit. I found some info about using the KX2 for FT8, and it looks like people plug the KX2 directly into the sound card with regular audio cables. It’s been a long time since I played with a digital mode, but isn’t some kind of isolation required? I remember building an interface that used some audio transformers way back when PSK31 was the new and exciting mode =) Without that isolation, RF would get in to the computer and cause lots of weird problems.
Perhaps this isn’t an issue at QRP power levels? Short audio cables with chokes might be good enough??
Thanks,
-Josh
Dear F5LKW, thanks a lot!
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