FT8 - The Stuff You May Not Know | WSJT-X Setup & Guide

FT8 operation has revolutionized ham radio! But is your FT8 setup operating at it's full potential? Perhaps you have had issues setting it up?

Today Steve KM9G from @temporarilyoffline and myself go through some known and potentially unknown settings and operation of WSJT-X and radios to help you get the most out of this awesome mode! Got a question ahead of time? Pop it in the comments below 👇👇



⏱️Chapters⏱️
0:00 FT8 - Intro
4:05 Settings (Start here)
12:07 Baudrate and radio settings
15:09 Colors on decodes
18:35 Correct audio adjustment
27:25 Waterfall is important!
32:43 Main program window
42:47 Auto sequence and messages
48:00 Common questions
52:15 Radio filter problems
54:50 Quick gridtracker demo
57:29 More viewer questions
1:08:24 QSO example

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► Ham Mail: Hayden Honeywood - P.O Box 5071, Sandy Bay Tasmania 7005 Australia

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Music:

[novameld]

The roofing filter tripped me up, and that tip to change to 3k fixed me up. Thanks!

[Siskiyous]

Team Replay, well worth it to see Steve dance again.

[VKZPF]

Great video. I picked up a few tips and used them straight away. Doing FT8 on one PC while watching YouTube on another.

[AlvinMcManus]

I'm using Flrig to run my FT-710 on WSJT-X and I am using Gridtracker to monitor the DXCC's that I am chasing. They work great together.

[gilescrawford]

Thanks guys - Really appreciate the content. WSJT-Z, in particular, was new to me so thanks for mentioning it :-) 73

[KCARadio]

TU for the thorough run thru. After 50, 000 plus FT4-8 Q's via POTA the past couple years, here's my Tips. #1 tip touched on would be double Click TX1. Most Hams have software that will log your grid square, so save the 15 seconds of unnecessary TX. DX will go back to you much quicker. #2 tip that wasn't covered is tune to + or - 100 hz to 1500. That's the sweet spot with most modern day radios/filtering. #3 tip would be run IPO, fast AGC, and no noise blanker. The more "stuff" you have filtering out noise the less you will receive. #4 off your System sounds on your PC. If you're running VOX to dirty your way onto FT8 via a figure out how to do it with a added on sound card/USB cable. Everyday I hear dozens of "Wanted dings, conversations, etc etc. The "HELLO", TEST, TEST tuning your amp, is getting
If you're running an amp and spewing out RF into an inferior antenna then you are causing a problem. In the CB lingo of yesteryear. Can we say alligator station!!!! All mouth and no ears, will really stand out on digital. Propagation will shift back and forth, if you see a large disparity between sent/received reports day/night to the negative, then you might want to update your antenna. I don't run my 991a-FT DX10 more than 50-75 watts. PS, there's FT-4 that's the same as FT8 on steroids. Give it a K7CAR

[figspigsandfeathers]

If you set the hold tx frequency to a clear spot, how does split operation affect that? With rig control set for split operation won't that impact the tx hold frequency setting? Does the Fake It option make it any different? If you are running split operation, you are still sending off the received station frequency so doesn't that work through the pile ups? Great video packed with lots of great information. Thanks for the efforts and knowledge you pass along.

[petersumner]

Hey Hayden, the green marker in the water fall is there to show where your QSO partner is. On your water fall try setting the mode to 'linear average" de Peter vk5pj

[VKMUD]

Hi Hayden, Your videos on FT8 have been invaluable to me. I love FT8. I was looking at using FT8 for some parks & WWFF activations, are there any additional standard messages that you would need for POTA or WWFF, for example park references, change of grid reference etc. or would you use just the standard messages.
Thanks & 73,
VK4MUD

[aeron-mwofs]

Thanks for the video guys. The only issues I have is running gridtracker . It seems to crash everything when that's running .

[rogersinger]

Great video. Questions for you: 1. In the band activity box, how do you get to view what countries the QSO are in? Can't find how to do that. #2 When I click Enable Tx, is the db bar on the left supposed to go to 0?

[mdblack]

Your radio settings are wrong the 7300. It's not two stop bits. For virtually all rigs Default/Default/Default is what you want. For the 7300 that is 8-bit, 1-stop, None for the defaults. That was a change I added to WSJTX several years ago as it was so tiring to hear "what settings do I use for XXX".. Defaults should work for all rigs.

[peterblackadder]

Hayden VK7HH very informative video. It has taken me ages to set up my 7300 and WSJT-X and you did it in an hour. Tx Peter VK8HPB

[roscoe]

How do you get it to display the country name in the last column? Right now I only have something like the region (i.g. EU)

[landaut]

Are either versions ft8 or wsjtx able to be used in emergency situations?

[SMShannon]

Nice bit of information. About that last 73. I’ve noticed that sometimes, even though wsjt-x has decoded an R73 message from the other station, my wsjt-x doesn’t send the final 73. I cannot understand why not. Any ideas? If I click on the final 73 message to force it the DX field is cleared and I get a prompt that asks if I really want to do that. Is it a bug?

[petersumner]

TX5 allows you to select any of the predefined macros you set in the Settings panels of WSJT-X, many people do not use the Macros page in settings and wonder why its there.

[nicksharpe]

Well Done Hayden, I am not a fan of Amateur Radio, no intention of buying a TX. You and Steve make very good/exceptional videos which are easy to understand and show Amateur Radio is a very positive way. Having been a short wave listener for over forty years I have seen a massive decline in International broadcasters and higher and higher noise levels havn't helped receptionwise. FT8 has shown to me and sure many others that there are signals out there but many blanketed by noise. The distances I am hearing stations be it brief is amazing with FT8 and your advice helps to get the most out of the software. I just wonder what is the function of the [DECODE] button as I see it turn light blue when a signal on the band summary screan shows the country of the FT8 operator also in light blue, but apart from that I can see why the button is there?

[RajaramSrinivasan]

Hi OM Hayden! de VU2RJV here again. Thanks for your simply awesome videos. My question to you is when the small window pops up after a successful QSO, there's a drop down menu for type of propagation F2 reflection or Sporadic E or ... How do i clearly make out the type of propagation for that QSO? Thanks. 73

[tomveytn]

Hi Hayden just watched this video and my question is when you are transmitting the dB slider at the bottom left shows nothing and the tx info indicates yellow or low level. Any thoughts on that should there not be an indication as to the tx level? I get the same thing.