THE FT4 PROTOCOL FOR DIGITAL CONTESTING
Inviato: 27 aprile 2019, 15:27The following announcement was posted by Joe Taylor, K1JT to the WSJT software development mailing list on 22 April:
"Soon after the 'FT8 Roundup' held on December 1-2, 2018, we started serious work on a faster, more contest-friendly digital mode that can compete with RTTY-contesting QSO rates while preserving many of the benefits of FT8. The result is FT4 - a new digital mode specifically designed for radio contesting.
Over the past month a small group of volunteers have been conducting on-the- air tests of FT4. The early tests were very successful and helped us to make a number of important design decisions. We believe FT4 has considerable promise for its intended purpose.
We'll soon be ready for testing by a larger group. If you might be interested in participating and offering your considered feedback, please read the descriptive document "The FT4 Protocol for Digital Contesting", posted here: http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FT4_Protocol.pdf.
We plan to post downloadable installation packages for WSJT-X 2.1.0-rc5 on April 29. The document linked above includes
- Instructions for installing WSJT-X 2.1.0-rc5 and FT4 configuration
- Operating instructions for FT4
- Basic description of the FT4 protocol, modulation, and waveform
- Detailed sensitivity measurements for FT4 under a wide variety of simulated propagation conditions
- Schedule for upcoming test sessions"
"Soon after the 'FT8 Roundup' held on December 1-2, 2018, we started serious work on a faster, more contest-friendly digital mode that can compete with RTTY-contesting QSO rates while preserving many of the benefits of FT8. The result is FT4 - a new digital mode specifically designed for radio contesting.
Over the past month a small group of volunteers have been conducting on-the- air tests of FT4. The early tests were very successful and helped us to make a number of important design decisions. We believe FT4 has considerable promise for its intended purpose.
We'll soon be ready for testing by a larger group. If you might be interested in participating and offering your considered feedback, please read the descriptive document "The FT4 Protocol for Digital Contesting", posted here: http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FT4_Protocol.pdf.
We plan to post downloadable installation packages for WSJT-X 2.1.0-rc5 on April 29. The document linked above includes
- Instructions for installing WSJT-X 2.1.0-rc5 and FT4 configuration
- Operating instructions for FT4
- Basic description of the FT4 protocol, modulation, and waveform
- Detailed sensitivity measurements for FT4 under a wide variety of simulated propagation conditions
- Schedule for upcoming test sessions"