FT8 spread

David Edgar

I've found two stations I tried to contact that responded with 'spread'. Okay, they're doing split ops. But there is no indication of them listening up/down or how far.

Is there some standard split for FT8?

Mike va3mw

spread???  First time I have heard of it.  Clearly, FT8 needs to be based on more than just 1 VFO frequency.  There is no reason in most parts of the world it is not that structured.  

There is no standard split.

Are you sure you signal wasn't overdriven and you may have been wider then you should have been?  Make sure that your audio level is not too high.  Watch the drive level on SSDR.

Mike

Bill Axelrod

Dave, There is no protocol yet. It will evolve. For nowm just keep in mind the WSJT copies the whole 2 Khz FT8 spectrum all at once. Just find an empty spot and call there. He will print all the callers in the clear and pick one a t a time to respond to. Good luck. 73... Bill K3WA

Mark_WS7M

I take this to mean they want others to spread out.  Several times now I've gotten reponses "spread out" and they seem to want the stations to spread apart when they are on top of each other.

Bob K8RC

Since the software decodes everything in the audio bandpass and the other station's software will recognize its' own callsign, transmitting "zero-beat" with a station is not necessary.and can, in fact, be detrimental if others are also piling up on the frequency... Just unlock transmit from receive in the FT8 software.

Transmit anywhere handy.

Ernest

Dave and Bill - that's the way I have been doing very successfully. Sometimes, It may take several tries and hopefully you'll be successful.

David Edgar

Thanks for the info. I'll try it next time. Find an 'empty' spot and transmit there.

Ken - NM9P

With FT8, when a station says "Spread out," it usually means "find a hole between other stations and call me."  The waterfall is a wonderful tool for guessing where the "holes" are.

I have nabbed a great many DX stations doing this, even when they didn't say "spread."  I can call during the other station's "73" transmission and I don't cover him up.

Ria

There is a proposal for a separate DX window on 6 meters. With that said, split operation is the norm. The newer dev versions that I’m testing will modify the behavior somewhat to make sure split works smoother for everyone. Ria

Mike va3mw

Dana VE3DS and I have been pushing for that. 

Tim VE6SH

You need to convince Dana to go Flex!

73

Tim VE6SH

Mike va3mw

He's on my list. 

Dave - WB5NHL

The reason there is no "standard" spit is that the entire band (~3kHz) is decoded.  If your signal gets through (i.e. not clobbered by QRM) the station will see it. However, that still doesn't mean they will respond. Now that FT8 is popular QRM-less openings are getting hard to find hi hi. I can't remember the last station I DIDN'T work split!!   138 countries worked and counting!