10 meters was active this afternoon.

 

FT8 waterfall on 10m 

Around 19:30 UTC I tuned to 10m and warmed up my JTDX program and I was pleased to see a very busy waterfall. I threw my call in and was answered by some U.S. stations but also the Netherlands with a report of -13. I did have a German op call me but the FT8 gods were not smiling on us and a complete contact was not made. 

PSK reporter had me being spotted in the U.S. and Europe as well. 

Spotted down under on 40m

 I was on 40m using FT8 this evening and I checked PSKreporter after being on for only a short time and was pleasantly surprised with a spot in Australia. 

You just never know.........

9K2OW in the log

This evening I decided to settle into the shack and once again get on FT8 to see what was happening. I went directly to 40m and set my power to 70 watts. As a side note funny thing about 40m  I used to bother the washer machine and an office light would turn on and off but for some reason not anymore. Anyway, this post was about a very nice FT8 contact I made. I was calling CQ well to be more accurate my computer was calling CQ. Right out of the blue I had a call from 9K2OW in Kuwait!! 

With a couple of mouse clicks and he was in the log. Recently I have been reading some positive and negative opinions regarding FT8. Personally, I like to stay neutral when I read these posts maybe that is the Canadian in me but I do know I had a blast having Kuwait answer my CQ call on 40m. It was a short but good evening on ham radio! 

A nice FT8 afternoon.

I was on the radio this afternoon and decided to give FT8 a try on 20 meters. I made some contacts in the U.S., France, Germany and Spain. Then out of the blue, I had a station from Japan call me and I did not notice any J stations I was decoding but I was very pleased regarding the contact. Then once again out of nowhere another J is calling me and I made my second contact. I took a look at PSK reporter to see where my FT8 signal was being spotted. I was shocked to see not only Japan but also Hawaii. A very nice time on the radio today.  

Propagation seems to be picking up.

 

Yesterday afternoon I was on FT8 and was spotted in Tasmania which for me was a great sign of propagation. Then a surprise showed up on the waterfall VK7AC from Tasmania was calling me. We exchanged reports I received -11 and sent -04.

Contacting the Dodecanese islands on FT8.

Last evening I wandered down the hall to the radio room someplace I have not been for about 2 weeks or so. I have been taking advantage of the great weather here to get some outdoor projects done.  There was a shed to level and rebuild and also a deck to level and refinish. Doing those projects during the day left me with no real energy to get on the radio in the evenings. For some reason last evening I just had a nice kick in my step and it was off to the radio room for some FT8 adventures. I found myself on 30m and it was hopping with activity at 0200 UTC. One of my contacts was to the Dodecanese and I had never heard of this location. I looked it up and it is a group of 15 large islands and 150 smaller ones. SV5DKL was from Rhodes which is the capital of the Dodecanese islands. These set islands are a part of Greece but it was very cool to contact this off the beaten path location. Overall I was very pleased with the conditions on 30m and I was on making contacts until 0300 UTC and then my internal clock told me it was time to hit the sack.

Very very busy day on FT8

This is 20m FT8 on Saturday it sure is very hard to belly up to the bar and find a spot for your signal cursor! I would chance to say that FT8 is seeming to have caught on. I did manage to contact many U.S stations are well as Russia, France and the Netherlands. 

A nice surprise on 60m FT8

I was on 60m operating FT8 just after finishing dinner and to my surprise a fellow blogger John AE5X was calling me on the waterfall. A very nice surprise for sure I have read his blog for some time and it was great to make contact with him on the rig. 

Kazakhstan in the log.

The other day I was very pleased to work a new one using FT8  Kazakhstan UN7CBY Vladimir. I had seen him in the waterfall in the past but was very happy to get him in the log on 30 meters.

Spotted in China on FT8

I was very pleased to see my FT-8 signal on 30m spotted in China the other day. I could not see them on the waterfall but none the less it was a nice surprise to see.

Good old Murphy!!!

Just like every other morning, the alarm clock went off at 7:30 and I made myself a coffee and then sat down at the radio to see how 30m FT8 conditions were. As always I turned on the Icom 7610, the PC and then started JTDX software. Everything seemed to be as it should be until I tried to transmit my FT8 signal into the pool. My radio went into transmit but no power output, now in the past I had the power on the Icom turned down to zero and it was a matter of just adjusting the power. I checked and the power was set properly but something was wrong. I then oped the settings tab in JTDX and looked at the audio sub-tab to my surprise the audio input and output selections had changed. I could not see in the drop-down list my Icom audio selection in either the playback or recording tabs? When all else fails with a PC shut down and restart! I checked the playback and recording tabs and now there was an Icom Codec selection but why was it gone, why did it change in the first place and finally what happen to the custom names I gave these selections? I have no idea why JTDX changed the audio selection and why windows removed the Icom recording and playback selections and then they returned but the custom names were gone. All is back to normal and JTDX is functioning just fine but it is very frustrating when these anomalies happen.

30m FT8 is treating me well.

During my morning FT8 session, I was transmitting on my normal morning band of 30m at 60 watts. I have been very pleased with my Endfed antenna at this new location and how it performs on FT8. Yesterday I was shocked to see that my signal was picked up in Australia at -13dB and a distance of 17472 Km's this is a first for me.

Fun with FT-8.

Those hearing me on 20m FT-8

This evening I gave FT-8 a go on 20m and 30m and I was shocked by the contacts I was able to make. I was calling CQ on 20m FT-8 and JI3MJK from Japan came back to me! The contact was made and then JA3ADW came back to my CQ call. I was not able to make contact with him as there was about 4 other station also calling me, he may had given up. My evening contacts both on 20m and 30m were from Italy, U.S, Japan, Denmark, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic and the U.S.

Those hearing me on 30m FT-8

On 20m I was being heard in Japan, South America, Central America, Europe(including Iceland) and all over the U.S. On 30m FT-8 the flood gates opened to Europe and all over the U.S but Japan closed down. Overall I am very pleased with how my Endfed antenna performed this evening. 

My first contact as VE9KK

Well once the headphones were repaired and I ran through the starting of the radio software and making sure it was speaking politely to the radio I was off to try my hand at FT8. I was calling CQ on 20m and on Hamspots my call was being spotted in Europe and I was thrilled! Back at my condo QTH in Toronto, I was only spotted in the U.S. and there was a spot in Iceland as well. It was not long at all until IU8DON from Italy answered my CQ call on FT8!! I was amazed that my signal was making it finally across the ocean. I did not have too much time after the sorting of the software and radio communication testing but the contact with Italy just made my day!

FT8 on 20m this afternoon

I was able to find some spare time this afternoon and in true ham radio spirit I hauled out the MFJ mag loop set it up on the balcony and gave FT8 a go on 20m. Last week I finalized the setup of WSJT-X 2.0 and my rig the Icom 7610. Once all the settings are looked after running WSJT-X with the 7610 is a breeze. I was spotted all over the U.S. and Canada and even into Europe while on 20m. I did make 3 U.S contacts but only logged 2 as I at first did not have the setting in Reporting "Log Automatically" or "Prompt me to log QSO" Unfortunately my memory is not what I think it to be and  I lost the first contact by forgetting to log it. So it was then that I went to Settings-reporting and checked the box "Log automatically" I was excited to see my FT8 signal was heard in France, Spain and Portugal. Over all it was a very relaxing day on the radio!

I found this site that offers some great FT8 tips:

https://www.m0spn.co.uk/2019/01/21/qrp-ft8-operating-tips/?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

I did remove the tick from the "auto Seq" box as by doing this it did give me somewhat of a feeling of interaction with the QSO. This evening it's going to be a cup of Earl Grey tea and go over the WSJT-X 2.0 manual very closely and see what I can glean from it. Also search out some writeup's on the internet for more tips with this mode. 

A fantastic FT8 guide!

If you have or are thinking of diving into the FT8 digi world I was made aware via a Dutch blogger Paul PA0K (his brand new call) of this amazing FT8 operating guide by Gary Hinson ZL2ifb. This guide is for the seasoned FT8 op, the beginner and those who are not sure if they really want to give it a go but would like to learn what it's all about. I won't to go on and on about the guide..... just read it and find out for yourselves, it's a great addition to anyone interested or operating FT8.