The last few weeks, most times I’ve been out for a 10m Challenge activation, a similar and arguably disturbing situation has been found:
No CW activity
No SSB activity
No FT4 activity
Plenty of FT8 activity
Exceptions have been major contest weekends, which see CW and/or SSB spring to life. And Sp.E events - but I’ve not really managed to coincide one of my activations with a Sp.E event yet.
The most curious thing has been how devoid of activity the FT4 QRG 28.180MHz has been, while simultaneously, FT8 on 28.074MHz has been absolutely buzzing! It even had me starting to research if the conventional FT4 frequency had changed!
I broke the recent FT4 void yesterday with a contact into Argentina (LU) from The Cloud G/SP-015, but it still surprised me that there were so few stations using FT4, yet so many using FT8. And hardly anything on CW or SSB.
This isn’t a moan, as I enjoy using all these modes. The popularity of FT8 compared to SSB/CW is still rather surprising. The popularity of FT8 compared to FT4 is utterly baffling!
I can’t comment on data modes, being a phone operator, but…SSB SOTA activity on ten is patchy. Naturally this is because propagation is patchy, paths open and close at random but I see paths open to somewhere (sometimes a very restricted somewhere!) pretty well every day. Despite the Challenge it seems many activators seem content to stick with their favourite bands, 40 and 20m get the SSB activity and ten is neglected. For just one instance I reckon that there is an Es path open to EA, for a while at least, most days but though I hear EA chasers working SOTA stations to their east (that I can’t hear) and to uk/EI activations, many EA activators don’t seem to be taking advantage of the paths that are open. One problem is that Es on ten so far seems pretty poor this year compared with last year, I don’t think I have heard a single multi-hop opening at all this year! They do say that sunspot maximum is a poor time for Es and it looks like they are right! Get a massive continent wide multi-hop opening and perhaps people will be tempted to get involved!
I have spotted a similar pattern from home. Activity on FT8 , little to nothing on SSB.
With 10m not always having favourable propagation, its not always practical to just keep scanning the band for activity.
Are people using FT8 as an alerting system? I know i do, often having ft8 monitoring while doing other things. Replying if i see something of interest, or putting out the occaisional CQ to check on propagation. Its easier than listening and scanning up and down the band for activity.
Once propagation is favourable i tend to stay on FT8 as its simply easier to do so since i am doing something else at the same time.
Yes I get why FT8 remains busy when there’s zilch on CW/SSB. I don’t get why at times (most times at present) there can be hundreds active on 10m FT8 and none at all on 10m FT4!
Is it because there are lots of people with average to poor antennas looking for DX which is why they favour FT8?
i.e. You’ve been active long enough that this is your 2nd sunspot max. You did lots of “OK” DX on 10m last time but you only have a simple vertical or small bits of wire antenna and no 100ft tower with 4x 7 ele mono-banders. You want to work all the DX and so rather than struggling with 100W SSB/CW into small antennas you run FT8 and benefit from it’s performance gain making your small twig look like a monster?
I find it more informative to tune the beacon band, as identifying the beacons tells you what paths are open.
It crossed my mind earlier that someone cruising on FT8 probably won’t be aware - perhaps not even care - that there is S9 phone activity going on at the same time!
My best day so far was the 2nd June when I worked 7 SOTA activations on 10m SSB. There has been weeks when I only managed one, but with the random appearance of openings my restricted shack time makes me miss a lot!
PS Right now I find the band is open to HB and OE, I worked 4 stations but now have to go out! Grr!
Could it be that “everyone” has heard of ft8 since it arrived on the scene and caused quite a stir.
I rarely hear ft4 being mentioned eg at my local club.
I think FT8 is more well known than FT4. You also have FT8CN which makes it easy to use with just a mobile phone, there’s no FT4CN.
I really struggle to make contacts on FT4, compared to FT8. Often the other station just disappears and like Tom said there aren’t that many other stations on.
My understanding was that FT4 was only for contest use. If that’s wrong lots of other people may have the same opinion and hence if they use digital modes, FT8 would be the default choice. If working from a summit making do with a smartphone rather than carrying a laptop, there are some simple FT8 apps but (again AFAIK) no FT4 ones.
Why are more points being logged under FT8 in the 10m SOTA challenge than under SSB or CW? Propagation - Signals that are under the noise level on SSB and CW cannot be worked. In many cases FT8 contacts can be made.
I would be surprised if the winner of the 2024 SOTA 10m challenge doesn’t have the majority of their points coming from FT8 contacts simply as contacts can be made on FT8 when they can’t be on SSB or CW because of propagation.
Of course, as far as the SOTA 10m Challenge goes, for 10m FT8 contacts to be possible more activators must be equipping themselves to run data modes from summits.
On FT8 there’s lots of unique people to get contacts with who probably have no idea what SOTA is and just want a contact. On SSB most contacts are chasers so it’s usually the same callsigns and when propagation is good you have to compete with the big guns and spend time trying to get heard through the pileup.
Not sure where CW sits in there as a non-CW operator.
I’ve done three 10m CW activations in the last 9 days and none of them were anything like as good as in those halcyon days back in October-March where the transatlantic contacts were flooding in [I exaggerate only slightly for dramatic effect]. Today, I got eastern and southern Europe – that’s good and I’m grateful to those chasers – but no long haul dx, which, let’s face it, is why we bother with 10m.
Re Tom’s original point (question?): FT8 activity vs other modes, I suspect it’s due to feedback loops, positive (FT8) and negative (other modes). As an “extremely-weak-signal” mode, FT8 [like Heineken beer in the tv ads] is obviously getting through even in poor condx which is encouraging both activators and chasers to do more 10m FT8. I can’t speak for FT8 vs FT4 but for SSB and CW, I suspect when activators have a series of disappointing 10m CW/SSB results (as I did in April and May) next time they activate on other bands for easier pickings.
BTW: I had the pleasant but usual experience today of sitting in my portable chair at the summit wearing shorts and T-shirt and my bare legs actually felt warm when the sun came out.
There is no point in wishing for long haul DX during the mid-summer doldrums, mid-summer is the time for using Es to catch the stations that would be too close for F2 contacts on this band. To get the best out of any band you need to study its idiosyncracies!
well I am supremely unconcerned about people doing “better” with FT-whatever or CW, we microphone users can set the tables to just show SSB and compare ourselves with our peers in our chosen mode.
That sounds great in theory or if one can simply go into the shack whenever conditions (eg Es) are just right. Even as a retiree, I can’t just drop everything, grab my radio ‘go bag’ and jump in the car. I have to negotiate time off usually days ahead of time. I accept whatever nature throws at me on the day.
Except you can’t for the 10m challenge so you have no idea how many of the leaders’ QSOs have been FT8.
I also thought FT4 was a contest mode.
Don’t forget the amazing DX you managed over to G/NP-028.
I had similar results to Andy. Presumably Es as earlier in the year the skip was always much longer.
