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# FT8Call
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Copyright (C) 2001 - 2017 by Joe Taylor, K1JT.
FT8 has taken over the airwaves as the digital communication mode for making QSOs over HF/VHF/UHF. The mode has been widely popular as the latest offering in K1JT’s WSJT-X application. FT8 is based on the same foundation as JT65, JT9, and WSPR modes for weak signal communication, but transmits faster with only slightly reduced sensitivity.
WSJT-X is a computer program designed to facilitate basic amateur
radio communication using very weak signals. The first four letters in
the program name stand for “Weak Signal communication by K1JT,” while
the suffix “-X” indicates that WSJT-X started as an extended (and
experimental) branch of the program WSJT.
While FT8 is an incredibly robust weak signal mode, it is designed heavily to take advantage of short band openings on HF/VHF/UHF and only offers a minimal QSO framework. However, many operators are using these weak signal qualities to make successful QSOs on the HF bands where other modes fail.
WSJT-X Version 1.6 offers five protocols or “modes”: JT4, JT9, JT65
WSPR, and Echo. The first three are designed for making reliable QSOs
under extreme weak-signal conditions. They use nearly identical
message structure and source encoding. JT65 was designed for EME
(“moonbounce”) on the VHF/UHF bands and has also proven very effective
for worldwide QRP communication on the HF bands. JT9 is optimized for
the LF, MF, and lower HF bands. It is 2 dB more sensitive than JT65
while using less than 10% of the bandwidth. JT4 offers a wide variety
of tone spacings and has proved very effective for EME on microwave
bands up to 24 GHz. All three of these modes use one-minute timed
sequences of alternating transmission and reception, so a minimal QSO
takes four to six minutes — two or three transmissions by each
station, one sending in odd UTC minutes and the other even. On the HF
bands, world-wide QSOs are possible using power levels of a few watts
and compromise antennas. On VHF bands and higher, QSOs are possible
(by EME and other propagation types) at signal levels 10 to 15 dB
below those required for CW.
FT8Call is an experiment to test the feasibility of a digital mode with the robustness of FT8, combined with a messaging and network protocol layer for weak signal communication on HF, using keyboard-to-keyboard style interface. FT8Call is heavily inspired by WSJT-X, Fldigi, and FSQCall and would not exist without the hard work and dedication of the many developers in the amateur radio community.
WSPR (pronounced “whisper”) stands for Weak Signal Propagation
Reporter. The WSPR protocol was designed for probing potential
propagation paths using low-power transmissions. WSPR messages
normally carry the transmitting station’s callsign, grid locator, and
transmitter power in dBm, and they can be decoded at signal-to-noise
ratios as low as -28 dB in a 2500 Hz bandwidth. WSPR users with
internet access can automatically upload their reception reports to a
central database called {wsprnet} that provides a mapping facility,
archival storage, and many other features.
* Read more on the original design inspiration here: https://github.com/jsherer/ft8call
Echo mode allows you to detect and measure your own lunar echoes, even
if they are far below the audible threshold.
WSJT-X provides spectral displays for passbands up to 5 kHz, flexible
rig control for nearly all modern radios used by amateurs, and a wide
variety of special aids such as automatic Doppler tracking for EME
QSOs and Echo testing. The program runs equally well on Windows,
Macintosh, and Linux systems, and installation packages are available
for all three platforms.
WSJT-X is an open-source project released under the GPL license (See
COPYING). If you have programming or documentation skills or would
like to contribute to the project in other ways, please make your
interests known to the development team. The project’s source-code
repository can be found at https://sourceforge.net/projects/wsjt, and
most communication among the developers takes place on the email
reflector https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman. User-level
questions and answers, and general communication among users is found
on the https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wsjtgroup/info email
reflector.
* For release announcements and discussion, join the FT8Call mailing list here: https://groups.io/g/ft8call
Project web site:
# Notice
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx.html
FT8Call is a derivative of the WSJT-X application, restructured and redesigned for message passing using FT8 modulation. It is not supported by nor endorsed by the WSJT-X development group. While the WSJT-X group maintains copyright over the original work and code, FT8Call is a derivative work licensed under and in accordance with the terms of the GPLv3 license. The source code modifications are public and can be found in this repository: https://bitbucket.org/widefido/wsjtx/
Project mailing list (shared with other applications from the same
team):
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wsjtgroup
# History
* July 6, 2017 - The initial idea of using a modification to the FT8 protocol to support long-form QSOs was developed by Jordan, KN4CRD, and submitted to the WSJT-X mailing list: https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/35931540/
* August 31, 2017 - Jordan, KN4CRD, did a little development and modified WSJT-X to support long-form QSOs using the existing FT8 protocol: https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/36020051/ He sent a video example to the WSJT-X group: https://widefido.wistia.com/medias/7bb1uq62ga
* January 8, 2018 - Jordan, KN4CRD, started working on the design of a long-form QSO application built on top of FT8 with a redesigned interface.
* February 9, 2018 - Jordan, KN4CRD, submitted question to the WSJT-X group to see if there was any interest in pursuing the idea: https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/36221549/
* February 10, 2018 - Jordan KN4CRD, Julian OH8STN, John N0JDS, and the Portable Digital QRP group did an experiment using FSQ. The idea of FT8Call, combining FT8, long-form QSOs, and FSQCall like features was born.
* February 11, 2018 - Jordan, KN4CRD, inquired about the idea of integrating long-form messages into WSJT-X: https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/36223372/
* February 12, 2018 - Joe Taylor, K1JT, wrote back: https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/36224507/ saying that “Please don't let my comment discourage you from proceeding as you wish, toward something new.”
* March 4, 2018 - Jordan, KN4CRD, published a design document for FT8Call: https://github.com/jsherer/ft8call
* July 6, 2018 - Version 0.0.1 of FT8Call released to the development group
* July 15, 2018 - Version 0.1 released - a dozen testers
* July 21, 2018 - Version 0.2 released - 75 testers
* July 27, 2018 - Version 0.3 released - 150 testers
* August 12, 2018 - Version 0.4 released - (“leaked” on QRZ) - 500 testers
* September 2, 2018 - Version 0.5 released - 3000 testers
* September 14, 2018 - Version 0.6 released - 5000 testers