In the past couple of months, using both the GA and the RC versions of
WSJT-X, I've been plagued with an intermittent decode problem while running
FT8. I am using Win10 on a dual core i5-2500 @ 3.3GHz with 16GB of RAM. It
may take days and sometimes less for the problem to occur. On a busy 20
Meter band, the decode count and corresponding number of decodes are
normally between 30 and 60 per 15 second FT8 sequence.

When the problem develops, with a full waterfall display, on the *odd
cycles*, only 4 to 8 signals are decoded and counted. On the *even cycles*
only a few and often NONE of the many dozen signals are decoded. The DT on
most of the few decoded signals is usually 0.1 seconds, so it's not a clock
issue.

The only fix is to reboot the computer and then the count goes back to the
30 to 60 decodes on both even and odd 15 second cycles.

When the problem occurs, checking with Task Manager, the max CPU usage on
WSJT-X peaks at less than 5% and the max total CPU usage with other apps is
no more than 20% on peaks. A max of 30% of the 16GB RAM is being used. I
use the Chrome browser, using 300-800MB of RAM. When I shut down Chrome and
all other apps, there doesn't appear to be any phantom occurrences of their
processes running, but the very poor decoding problem still exists.

I turned on WSJT-X "Save all" and played back the saved WAV files and the
number of decodes matched the low counter readings noted for the same
sequences. I switched from using the Elecraft K3 USB CODEC to using the
sound card with audio from the K3 Line Out jack and get the same poor
performance when the problem arises.

As I said, only a reboot of the computer will bring things back to normal.
I'm at a loss to figure out what is causing this intermittent problem and
how to correct it. Does anyone have any ideas of the cause and how it can
be fixed? Thanks.

73,
Rich - K1HTV
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