Monday 21 August 2017

FT-8: Another Threat to WSPR

The new FT-8 mode, which has a QRG on 80m of 3.574MHz, has brought with it a very unwelcome further infringement of WSPR, sitting at 3.57260MHz, badly affecting results with that very weak signal mode.

Why transmit outside the WSPR section, when you can mess things up for people?


Of course, it's not FT-8 or its creators that's at fault; that lies squarely with operators, many of whom are clearly experienced.

This is highly symptomatic of recent developments in the amateur radio world.  Click an icon on a piece of software, think what you're doing is fine because 'the software sets everything up', and mindlessly mess-up other people's hard work.

So, if you operate FT-8 or any other mode near the WSPR section of any band, please accept it takes very little bandspace, and make sure your transmissions are outside of the WSPR portion, making sure to allow for the positive shift due to the tone frequency, which is not the same as the frequency shown on your rig's panel!

2 comments:

Jerrry, AI0K said...

Maybe you need a narrow filter on your receiver. They're 1.4lHZ below you, which should be fine with the bandwidth required for both modes. But not if you're using a filter designed for SSB.

Photon said...

No, the offending transmissions are within the WSPR portion, not below it, so filtering is of no use to receive all WSPR signals.

FT-8 is also now regularly cutting across JT65. The whole thing has become 'click and transmit', without a care for anyone else. For a hobby where the operators take themselves quite so seriously, the whole thing is quite a joke.