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TECHNICAL CORRESPONDENCE FT8 VS. RTTY AND UNIQUE FREQUENCY CALIBRATION FT8
IN THE RTTY ROUNDUP RECENTLY, IVE SEEN AND HEARD A DISTINCT CHANGE IN THE
DOMINANT DIGITAL SOUND CARD BASED MODE ON THE HF BANDS.  THERE HAS BEEN AN
ALMOST COMPLETE ABSENCE OF RTTY SIGNALS UNLESS THERE IS A RTTY CONTEST AND
THERE ARE FEWER PSK31 QSOS.  I ONLY HEAR THE MFSK, OLIVIA, AND THOR MODES
DURING NARROW BAND EMERGENCY MESSAGING SOFTWARE NBEMS NETS PASSING TRAFFIC
WITH FLMSG/FLAMP.  OCCASIONALLY, I HEAR THROB ON 80 METERS.  THE WINLINK
MODES PACTOR, WINMOR, ARDOP, AND VARA WERE SET UP TO PASS RADIO EMAIL
BETWEEN TWO LINKED STATIONS OFTEN UNATTENDED AND ARE NOT USED FOR CASUAL
KEYBOARD QSOS.  THE VERY POPULAR PSK31, WHICH HAS BEEN THE DOMINANT
KEYBOARD DIGITAL MODE FOR THE PAST TWO DECADES, IS BEING REPLACED BY FT8.
FT8 QSOS CAN BE COMPLETED IN UNDER 2 MINUTES AND OPERATE WITH FAR LESS
POWER AND SIMPLER ANTENNAS THAN RTTY, COPYING STATIONS THAT ARE FAR BELOW
THE AVERAGE NOISE LEVEL.  OCCUPYING THE SAME BANDWIDTH AS BPSK31 50 HZ, FT8
IS THE OPTIMUM CHOICE TO GET MORE STATIONS INTO YOUR LOGBOOK.  CONTEST
MODES  WITH THE ADVENT OF THE ARRL RTTY ROUNDUP CONTEST ON JANUARY 5 6,
2019, I WONDERED HOW MANY DIGITAL STATIONS WOULD BE OPERATING USING FT8
INSTEAD OF THE MORE SEASONED RTTY OR PSK31 MODES.  THE NEWEST VERSION OF
WSJT X V 2R0R0 MODIFIED THE TRADITIONAL FT8 MODULATION STRUCTURE WITH 77
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