I played the entire hour but only worked 7 stations. There seemed to be a lot of participants, which is great, but I was not able to work very many of them. I'm not sure if (1) my signal strength was too low, or (2) if my signal quality was poor, or (3) if I was running WSJT-X RC3 incorrectly. Regardless, I felt I could enjoy HF FT8 contesting with WSJT-X at some point in the future.
My notes: 1. Some people called me on my Tx frequency. In general, I think it is better if people call on a different (clear) frequency. I would add this to the "tips", that is, encourage folks to check 'Hold Tx'. 2. I could never figure out how to call a CQer on the cycle following their CQ. My Tx cycle had already started by the time I could click on their call from their CQ in the prior cycle. Is there a technique I'm missing or is this an inherent issue (delay of 30 seconds)? 3. I really missed the ability to call multiple stations. Yes, I know it is not part of current contest rules, but I think it should be in the case of FT8. This is a chicken vs. egg problem. What changes first: the rules or WSJT-X? Knowing that it is possible to easily have multiple parallel QSOs but being artificially restricted, is frustrating for an HF contester. I advocate FT8 contests allow multiple parallel QSOs with the same audio passband. 4. When my Tx frequency was less than 1000 Hz, WSJT-X dropped my Tx carrier frequency from 7.078 to 7.077. I assume WSJT-X then added 1000 Hz to my Tx audio frequency but I couldn't be sure. This is probably explained in the documentation but I haven't found it. 5. I was hoping to try the 'TU;' sequencing but never got called by more than one station at a time. The only stations I saw doing this were VP8LP and K1JT. 6. The vast majority of stations were between 1000-2000 Hz on the 7.078 carrier frequency. Is this coincidence or a function of something I don't yet understand? Why aren't they lower and higher? 7. When I'm CQing and getting no response, what happens if I click on another CQer in my Rx cycle? I tried this a couple times and couldn't be sure what I was transmitting in the next cycle: another CQ or my exchange to the other CQer? 73, Ed W0YK
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