Favorite Modes

CW

There is nothing like operating with a straight key.  A few years ago I became a member of the Straight Key Century Club, and when my daughter Jennifer, KB1TSU (now a General) became a ham in 2010 we both got very involved in SKCC club activities, and we have each earned several club awards and participated in a number of contests. I earned my "T" by exchanging my club number (4236T) with a certain number of other club members.  One of the great ham radio websites is this spotter, operated by the club which provides the opportunity for those of us chasing states and countries to set up QSOs as well as to check on current propagation.

The outstanding SKCC Sked page

Hell

Soon after I got back into the hobby in January, 2007 (near the bottom of the cycle) I discovered digital modes and, like a lot of us, ran a lot of PSK31 and RTTY.  It was Hellschreiber that really grabbed my attention, and I soon became very involved in the Feld Hell Club (http://www.feldhellclub.org) managing the website, their monthly contests, and the awards program.  I also completed Hell WAS in 2010.  Although I am no longer involved with the club, I urge you to try this unique and historical mode for yourself.

A screen shot of a Feld Hell QSO

Joe Taylor and Weak Signal modes
A Nobel Prize-winner in Physics, Joe (K1JT) is also an avid ham radio operator who has developed a series of digital protocols for weak-signal digital communication such as meteor scatter, ionospheric scatter, and EME (moonbounce) at VHF/UHF frequencies.  Joe's website has details on all the weak-signal modes he has developed.  But almost immediately hams found that these modes useful on HF skywave, especially during long downturns in the susnspot activity, and most especially for those of us operating low power and wire antennas.


JT65

Without JT65 I don't know if I could have completed 8BWAS, as it provided a way to QSO with Vermont on 10 meters and Hawaii on 80 (near the nadir of the sunspot cycle, with under 100 watts and a dipole.)  I also completed JT65 WAS in 2010.  (Hams being the tinkerers that we are, W6CQZ developed his own version of software for JT65 which I found a bit easier to use...)

Software, developed by Joe, W6CQZ, for communicating in JT65.  Download it here.

JT-9

Not content to rest on his laurels, Joe developed a weak-signal mode specifically for HF, called JT-9, along with software that is true "plug and play."  As Joe explains on his website: "JT9 is optimized for the LF, MF, and HF bands.  It  is about 2 dB more sensitive than JT65 while using less than 10% of the bandwidth."  In January 2013 I completed JT9 WAS thanks, in great measure, to VK3AMA's terrific web-based Hamspots.

FT8

Quick story: In March 2017 I went QRT for the warm weather months, as well as a number of antique radio repairs.  When I fired up the rig again in December with a plan to get on JT-9, I heard a new sound in the digital portions of the bands.  After a little research I discovered that Joe, along with several other weak-signal enthusiasts, had developed a new mode they call FT8.  Unlike JT65, which takes 1 minute for each transmission, FT8 takes only 15 seconds.  Plus their software is truly automatic - not only will it complete the QSO but if the station you are calling starts a QSO with another station, the software sees that and stops your transmission.  Since December, 2017 I've been running FT8 and collected all 50 states (QSOs listed on this page) and over 80 countries (including South Shetland Islands, Japan, Gabon, and others.)  Adding to the fun is a terrific FT8 Facebook Group where you can share successes, band openings, and the occasional frustration with operator behavior - FT8 is terrific, but it isn't LID-free ;(  Download WSJT-X here at Joe's website

FT4

In April 2019 Joe and his minions released their latest weak-signal mode, FT4. In their press release, the WJST-X team said "FT4 is an experimental digital mode designed specifically for radio contesting. Like FT8, it uses fixed-length transmissions, structured messages with formats optimized for minimal QSOs, and strong forward error correction. T/R sequences are 6 seconds long, so FT4 is 2.5 × faster than FT8 and about the same speed as RTTY for radio contesting. FT4 can work with signals 10 dB weaker than needed for RTTY, while using much less bandwidth."  Download WSJT-X (with FT4) here at Joe's website

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BTW, as much as I enjoy the digital modes I never use the PC for Morse.  So if you catch me on CW, you can be sure that I'm using either my old straight key (the same one I've had since my days as a Novice back in 1972) or my Heath HD1410 keyer.  You can see both on my QTH page.