On 25 Apr 2019 at 14:30, Bill Somerville wrote: > Frank, > > WSJT-X tries to prevent *Fox* FT8 DXpedition mode stations from > operating on the "usual" FT8 frequencies. Clearly we cannot stop use of > Fox mode if the DX does not use CAT control. Other programs like MSHV > allow a mode similar to Fox mode on normal FT8 frequencies but AFAIK you > do not need to select WSJT-X Hound mode to work DX using that > application. This causes considerable confusion and when the so-called > multi-threaded mode on MSHV is enabled on normal FT8 frequencies it > causes QRM to other users by using more bandwidth than other stations, > but TBH that's what happens with DXpeditions anyway. WSJT-X Fox & Hound > DXpedition mode was designed to facilitate the larger DXpeditions, i.e. > in the top 100 most wanted lists and able to operate 24/7 for most of > the DXpedition operation. This warrants using a separate pre-published > frequency schedule and there using multiple QSOs in parallel is quite > acceptable for maximum throughput, thereby allowing as many users as > possible to get in the DXpedition log without having to use high gain > aerials and high power levels.
Hello Bill, thanks for your email above which has certainly helped me, and hopefully others, understand a bit better the operating-frequency constraints of FT8's (and presumably FT4's) Fox & Hound DXpedition mode. I don't know if others, like me, had gained the impression from various postings to this email list and on the Yahoo group that the WSJT-X s/ware was intended to prevent any station operating in *either* Fox *or* Hound mode from transmitting in the standard FT8 band segments, but your email certainly seems to indicate that it's only a Fox that's so-constrained; if my interpretation is correct then it begs the question of whether Hounds should also be prevented from Tx'ing in the standard segments. Perhaps the software could apply a Hound-mode stop-band around each of the standard FT8 frequencies; for example if Hound mode is enabled and the rig is tuned to anywhere within say 14070 to 14078kHz then transmission would be prevented. Of course this would only function if the rig was being CAT-controlled so that the dial frequency was known to the software; it wouldn't prevent a Hound station not using CAT from Tx'ing in the standard segments. The desirability or otherwise of using CAT is open to ongoing discussion... :-) In your email you mention stations using the MSHV software; I (and I expect many others) can confirm that it's not necessary to use Hound mode to work such stations - the standard FT8 mode works just fine in such scenarios. As you've pointed out, the use of the MSHV multi-threaded mode in the standard band segments can be (and probably is) a cause of significant confusion, and no doubt the desirability of such multi-threaded operating in the standard segments will continue to be a topic for sometimes heated debate... -- 73, Martin G0HDB --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
