FT8 etiquette: being a good operator

The conversation on the local C4FM/WIRES-X repeater this morning was about FT8. The issue of proper etiquette came up.

I have to confess that when I got my Worked All States award on FT8 a few years ago, I didn’t give etiquette much consideration. I did not perceive that my transmissions might be colliding with, or otherwise interfering with, others. I think I was just ignorant of recommended operating practices for FT8.

I found guidelines and recommendations in several places (including here, here, here [PDF], and here [PDF]), but the five points described by Antoine 3E2AG are perhaps the best starting point I’ve found so far. The following long quotation comes from his QRZ page. (For those of us who don’t remember what QRG means, it stands for the exact frequency the other station is using). 

FT8 Etiquette for DXers by 3D2AG

Digital modes such as ‘FT8‘ having become very popular, below are some tips to make our mutual experience of this exercise the most enjoyable and productive:

1. Foremost, PLEASE CALL THE DX STATION ON A DIFFERENT DF QRG! Otherwise it will be impossible for the DX to decode your signal among the many calling on his own DF, and for some obscure reason decodes are much more difficult when both parties are exactly on the same DF QRG. Select a clear spot on the waterfall in the Wide Graph to set your transmit DF frequency (in Hertz), and call the DX there. If the DX is using Fox and Hound (F/H) call above 1000 Hz (WSJTx, JTDX); if using multistreaming FT8 (MSHV, WSJTz) call anywhere on a clear spot but of course on the opposite cycle. Repeat: DO NOT CALL THE DX ON HIS TX QRG! This will avoid a lot of wasted time trying to decode on both sides!

2. When calling, if the DX is using F/H mode, in “DXpedition” menu tick “Hound Mode“, find a clear spot above 1000 Hz on the waterfall and send with your grid. If the DX is using MSHV (Multi Answering Auto Sequencing Protocol), SEND A REPORT, not your grid, along with your call (e.g. W1AW 3D2AG -17). This will greatly reduce the number of exchanges and time per QSO, enabling more stations to work the DX in the available propagation window. Click the “Next” button under “Generate Std Msgs” for the “Tx2” message.  This will generate a signal report with your call instead of a grid square. Major DXpeditions now use either MSHV or F/H mode on FT8, and it should be announced beforehand on their website or QRZ page. If in doubt, call using F/H as it will be compatible with both programs.

Typical FT8 ‘ideal’ short QSO (75 Seconds long):

CQ 3D2AG RH91
3D2AG W1AW -17
W1AW 3D2AG R-20
W1AW 3D2AG RR73
3D2AG W1AW 73

Extended long QSO (105 seconds):

CQ 3D2AG RH91
3D2AG N6TE DM12
N6TE 3D2AG -20
3D2AG N6TE R-15
N6TE 3D2AG RRR
3D2AG N6TE 73
N6TE 3D2AG 73

Note that the above times can be much longer if there are improper decodes needing repetitions (please refer to point (1) above!). Please note that for a good QSO, the ’73’ is optional, so if you cannot manage to copy the final ’73’ do not worry you are in the log. Usually after attempting to send 3 or 4 times the final ‘RR73’, the DX will move on to the next station.

3. If you cannot stay around more than 5 minutes, please do not call! A FT8 QSO takes a minimum of 60 to 105 seconds, and if there are repetions, up to 2 or 3 minutes, even 5. A lot of patience is required. If there are 4 or 5 stations calling at the same time (hopefully split!) the DX station will put them in a queue and answer them in the order they appeared on his waterfall, so your turn will eventually come. The DX could be wasting a lot of precious on-air time calling absentee stations, at the same time denying others waiting patiently a chance of contact!

4. To make the QSOs smoother and faster during a DXpedition, the ‘RRR’ and ’73’ lines are usually combined as ‘RR73‘ so please be prepared for this. For proper interpretation of ‘RR73’ please always use the latest version of WSJTx: (https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html) or JTDX / MSHV.

5. The “RR73 Syndrome” – the good, and the bad: With multi-stream QSOs, once the DX station sends out ‘RR73’, the QSO is logged and the software moves on to another station, assuming that the other party has received it. However, in many cases band conditions and QRM prevents the calling station from getting the RR73, and a “R-” report keeps being sent for a long time by the caller. Sometimes if not busy the DX station can override the auto TX mode and send again “RR73” a few times to enable the calling station to log the contact and be at peace, but in most cases this is not possible. However, the good news is, your QSO will be in the DX log. In case of doubt, check on ClubLog a few hours later to verify your QSO. Now for the bad part…sometimes, the DX station will send you a R-report, which you may receive and reply with “RR73”, the QSO being logged on the caller’s side. However, QRM/QSB might prevent the DX station from receiving your “RR73”, and consequently, the software will NOT log the QSO on the DX side. In such a case, please email the DX station with a screenshot of the QSO and/or an extract from your ALL.txt record file (found in the same directory as your FT8 log) so that the DX station can manually enter the contact in the log (Ham Spirit willing). If reports were correctly exchanged, from a human perspective a valid QSO took place, irrespective of the software’s tantrums.

6. Last, but not least: after making a simplex QSO with the DX, please QSY – DO NOT start calling CQ on his frequency forcing him to shift elsewhere (yes, this happens too often!!). The FT8 spectrum is already very crowded as it is, so please do not deprive the DX of his hard-earned ‘parking space’! And if the DX is repeatedly calling another rare DX station himself, please do not start calling him; have the courtesy to let him finish what he started without distractions. Thank you very much and let’s enjoy FT8 Mode!

There is an odd synchronicity in this morning’s conversation about FT8 etiquette, because a few weeks ago, I received a message from the Willamette Valley DX Club. They had some paper QSL cards (remember those?) waiting for me but needed some postage money to forward them along. I received the cards below yesterday from the 2022 run when I was working toward the WAS award.

I was not a good operator when I got my WAS in 2023. All this makes me want to break out my HF station and crank up WSJT-X to work some FT8 stations properly.