Dave,
Remember that the reported S/N is relative to the receive station noise
+ QRM level. Since many TB stations don't have your antennas and have
high noise, they can't decode you or report a poor S/N. I get +9 and
-18 reports from YB stations a hundred KM apart. It's not spotlight
prop. So more power helps. Often I find I need to move TX freq,
especially way into the FT8 band edges when well heard stations don't
decode me, but that is more my experience on 80m long path. The EU QRM
level is clearly a limiting factor. I think the latest release decodes
to -24, I see that sometimes but rarely does the other station respond.
It is always worth calling since their noise level might be a lot lower
than mine. That is clearly the case for some of the skimmer posted
signal reports by great hearing stations that are not on the air. I
will get a -17 report but no other station in that country decodes me
(or decides to answer my CQ DX).
Grant KZ1W
On 4/22/2018 7:17 AM, David Olean wrote:
I have been playing around with FT8 on 160M and am a bit puzzled. I
have made plenty of contacts, but with many stations, it seems to
require an inordinate amount of power to get their attention, or they
do not respond at all. I also have noted that I can hear in a 2.8 kHz
passband, signals that register from -12 to -17 dB. About the weakest
that I see is a bit more than -20 dB. Does this mean that FT8 is only
a few dB better than CW? I have my time set accurately and I try to
place my TX signal away from whomever I am calling on a clear spot on
my waterfall.
Some stations are easy to work, and I have worked across the country
(FN43 to a CM grid) running just 1 watt. It just seems that there are
many stations that are not hearing much, but are making plenty of
noise. Am I wrong?
I am working on cleaning up my 160 setup and have 8 beverages running
and they are all pretty quiet now that I installed plenty of ferrite
chokes around on the RG-6 feed lines. I am looking forward to next
fall and winter.
73
Dave K1WHS
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