This message caught my eye today:   http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/a-new-ft8-with-qso-and-rag-chew-capabilities-called-ft8call.623882/  Anyone here using it?  According to screen grabs of PSKReproter in the QRZ topic, it's been ranking as the second most popular mode (behind FT8), despite being in pre-release only.

I've got it downloaded and installed; monitoring 14.080 while I read the docs.  I've seen a couple of beacons and one side of a QSO so far.  Settings are very similar to WSJT-X.  Functionality is of course difference since the point is to actually have a QSO.

Early opinion:  This is good.  All of the weak signal benefits of FT8 without the structured message format.

I just saw this today. Pretty cool.

Cool.  As a new HAM I enjoyed making contacts with WSJT-X and FT8.  But I admit just exchanging signal reports did seem a bit repetitive.

there was a thread here about 2 weeks ago...or maybe it was mentioned in a thread?

anyways, I signed up and downloaded but haven't done anything else with it thus far-life keeps showing up and keeping me out of the shack!

I've had it up and running. It's a bit of a learning curve. No alarms yet on messages directed at you. It's pretty cool. It's a bit weird to watch your station respond in an automated fashion to requests for "heard" lists, SNR reports, etc. I even had one guy send a CQ relay through my station to get more coverage.

I'm pretty impressed with it so far, although I haven't actually had any rag chew QSOs yet.  It does indeed seem to perform about the same as FT8 (distance / SNR).  I like that you can beacon, query other stations and choose whether or not to auto respond to queries from others.  I'm intrigued by the "relay" option, but haven't seen it in action yet.  It seems to have picked up quite a few followers in a short period of time.  The author is super responsive to input / questions on the groups.io chat page.

I watched a video by hamradioconcepts on youtube last night on it.
Seems interesting. By the time I save up to get some HF equipment. The mode will probably be more mature
Looks like a mode I'd be interested in but first I need my Gen ticket and some HF equipment lol.

So is this mode going to get the grumpy this isn't radio treatment?

Thanks for the heads up - I hadn't heard of this mode previously. Will definitely be trying it out in the coming weeks.

I've not been in the shack this week or much of last so I'm behind-but it seems to me to be a 'better' FSQ than FSQ is.  or maybe a new and improved FSQ mode

I'm up and beaconing at 250W from a dipole on arfcom 20M guard (dial + 1500Hz).

I probably won't be around, but leave me a message in the buffer.

eta set beacon rate to 10 minutes, running version 0.4.2.

250W?  I had thought this was a fairly low power mode?

weak signal =/= low power

You are correct.  I generally just run 25W on PSK.  Thanks for the clarification.  It is a weak signal mode, pull them out of the noise.

I saw this the other day and meant to get on ARF to see about setting up a freq or sked.  Looks like fun.  I did FSQcall for a bit but wasn't blown away and had issues getting the software running right again, so I just dropped it.

If y'all want to pick a day/time to screw around with it, I'm in!  Or if everyone would just sit on the 20M or 40M digi guard frequencies when their radios are idle, that would be cool too.

@wallym777: you misunderstood "= / =" That means NOT equal to. In other words, FT8 is not necessarily a "weak signal mode". 20W is fun, but 200W is generally world girdling.

Sadly, just getting back to the PC and radio this evening, I see nothing in my FSQ receive buffer. I will try again tomorrow. This is a great mode, give it try!

And thanks for clarifying.  :)  I installed WSJT-X a bit earlier and seems I have a learning curve.  I do have it communicating with my radio, do a transmit and I do see that I am transmitting, but not quite getting the receive part.  More research needed.  I have the waterfall, see signals, but not seeing text.  But hey, getting things working is part of the fun!!!  :)

Oh, and also installed FT8Call.  Sets up the same way since it is a derivative of WSJT, same thing.  Just something I have not figured out yet.

If you are having problems with any of the "JT" modes, first and easiest thing to check is your "clock".  Especially if you have other digi modes working fine.

The "JT" modes (including FT8) are very reliant on an accurate time on your computer.  You can sync your Windows clock if you are using that with the built in option.

The "easy button" that I always recommend is Dimension 4.  I and several others use that.  It automagically syncs your computer clock to one of several NST standards via the internet.

beacon now on FT8Call 20m Arf-Guard *Charlie Delta November

ETA: beacon later, actually making QSO's on 14.080

as anticipated, a great deal like FSQ (my fav mode nobody ever uses)

Back to beacon soon!

Just got it downloaded and installed, playing on the standard 20M freq now

As I mentioned in that previous thread, I have been on this since the first couple days the software was out in it's first version. I haven't been very active on it, I have been really busy with other things. But, I am on it. I have it running right now in fact.

I did rag chew on it at first. I worked a guy in Finland running my 891 sitting on the dining room table and an improvised antenna off the front porch FWIW. It seems pretty effective.

"Weak Signal"

If the signal is weak at the receive staton, that is weak signal. TO ME, weak signal isn't about what your transmit power output is: it is about your signal strength at the receiving station.  
You might be running 2 watts and are 10/S9 with a given station (I have had this happen many times)*.
You might be running 1500 watts and are weak/barely readable (or possibly not even copied) with a given station. This is why the rules say you run only as much power as needed for communication. How much power that is, is dictated by your signal strength at the receiving station.

FWIW: I worked a guy a month or so ago in the Canary Islands on 6 meters FT8. I was running about 1200 watts (on FT8) when he answered me.  Why 1200 watts ? Because he didn't answer me when I was running less power. I started calling him at 30 watts. He didn't answer so I increased power until he did. At 1200 watts I got a decent signal report but nothing remarkable which showed that even at 1200 watts I was somewhat weak.

* This is why I never tell anybody that I am QRP. Let alone give my callsign/QRP.  I have worked hundreds of contacts where I went back and forth with them for 20 minutes having a nice conversation and THEN told the other station I was running three watts (or whatever) and suddenly they couldn't hear me any more. Before I told them that, they had no problem hearing me at all and in fact gave me a 599 signal report: but, when they heard three watts, they could no longer hear me any more. I worked and confirmed 100 DXCC entities running 5 watts in 60 days when I first got my KX3: and none of them had any way of knowing I was running 5 watts. We exchanged reports and they had no trouble copying me and I was satisfied with that and saw no reason to tell them I was QRP.

I was away for a couple of hours today, and left the radio running on 14.080 to capture FT8Call activity.  I was surprised to see a pop-up message waiting for me when I returned (i.e. a separate window, like a Windows dialogue box, but in FT8Call).  An OM left me a message saying he liked my call sign ( ).  It had an "Acknowledge" and discard (or something similar - I'm bad about quick clicking dialogue boxes...).  I hit the Acknowledge button, and it keyed up my radio and an "Ack" message to the call sign of the OM who left the message.  Whoa - that has some potential...

Researching it, I found the command in the docs - it's the exclamation point.  So, syntax in FT8Call to generate the pop-up message should be:  K7XXX!Call me ASAP.

When K7XXX gets the message, and if he hits the acknowledge button on the pop-up, the originating station (say it's W6YYY) gets "K7XXX: W6YYY ACK"

Applicable command from the docs:  "!message - Please display this message in a alert dialog and ACK if acknowledged"

FTCall docs here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/159S4wqMUVdMA7qBgaSWmU-iDI4C9wd4CuWnetN68O9U/edit#

Also note that there is a relay option, and it can be used with the pop-up message.  Note this example from the docs showing a message relayed through two stations:

"If we wanted to alert a message to LB9YH through OH8STN through DR4CNK, we could send:

DR4CNK|OH8STN|LB9YH!HEY KEN!"

Interesting possibilities!

Was up and becoming all afternoon yesterday on arfcom 20M guard. Saw no signals in the buffer.

I let FT8Call run for a few days on 20..kinda interesting, but not actually that interesting.

When 20 wakes up out west and 40 goes away, I'll set up on the 20 meter guard freq and monitor / beacon.  Suggest that if others are doing the same, set FT8Call to "Auto" so it will respond to queries.

I don't have an ARFCOM call sign list ( ).

I'll try to run the station that way this afternoon. It would seem that anyone on 14067.5 is more than likely an arfcom station

Remember, don't all set your TX freq. for 1500Hz. Choose one randomly between 0 and 3000 to avoid beacon collisions.

Rgr.  There now and intend to leave it there for most of the day.  I'll beacon every 30 min.

Headed out the door, so no time for a full recap.  3 ARFCOM stations are on frequency and have been testing various messaging options including the pop-up box / acknowledgement and message relaying (+ short keyboard to keyboard QSOs).

"The water is warm...  come on in."

Ok, I'm there now as well

Swung by the radio after a late lunch. I had a quick set of exchanges with ricklaut. I see Popov's beacons and all calls in my buffer.

There are some things about the UI and some other functionality I'd like to see changed, but it definitely works and is potentially useful.

It would be interesting to try to run an arfcom digi net with it. We'd have to do two things:

1. Keep messages short. Say no more than four consecutive 15 second transmissions, or less than 52 characters. Remember that we can dispense with the call de call stuff, as the protocol does that for us. So all 52 characters can be message, no headers or trailers needed.

2. Make sure that people de-conflict themselves on check-in by using random frequency spots in the passband. The decoder will work over a 5KHz passband, we can restrict this to say 200 to 2700 in order to allow those with less capable radios to play.  The cool part about this is as long as there is no frequency collision, theoretically everyone could check in at the same time.

It was quiet earlier so experimented trying to Route a message through two of you, back to myself, but it didn't work out.

Interesting possibilities with the | command.

I think this could be a very useful mode for the digi guard channels.  The ability to automatically control and route messages through other stations is very useful.

This software hits a few of the points brought up in a thread here when FT8 was first introduced and we were trying to find uses for it for communicating.  Multiple transmissions for longer text and direct messaging are two of them.  It would be useful to be able to send "allcall cq arfcom" or "w1aw call me at +1500 olivia 16/500" and get someone.

A few features on my wish list:

• The ability to route a request through one or several remote stations, and have the intended station ack through the reverse chain of those stations.
• An audible alert system for certain phrases like "CQ Arfcom" like several folks have set up in fldigi.
• More automatic options like an "away" message
• A store-and-forward type system where I can leave a message for w1aw on ka0xtt's station for later retrieval.

I'll be keeping a keen eye on future development of this new software.  I think it has potential.  Not so much as a fun mode (to me at least) but as a way to get comms through.

That's what I was trying.

I did

STATIONA|STATIONB#|STATIONA|ME TSTRLY

…  Or some such.  It didn't work.  But I'm not sure I got the formatting exactly right.

What i'd really like to see are some infographics to help manage who hears who, message relays, and so on.

Something like a venn diagram for yourself and another station to see which stations are heard in common and separately.  With a little signal strength meter for each station.  Or grey the font out.  ETC.

Along with a sort of 'message list' that cascades down for all received messages between other stations.

I'm sure stuff like that will be along with time.  It is beta, after all.

dup.

I'm back in the shack for a few; glad to see the activity over the past couple of hours.

TinLeg:  I see a few relayed messages, including one to aa777888 at 15:08:00; he replied with an ack at 15:09:29 and it looks like my station retransmitted it at 15:10:30:  
K7***: W*** ACK K7***: KI****# DE KI**** DE K7*** DE W*** KIHEZA

Popov:  I see your 16:07:15 message.  Did your relay work?

I need to get more familiar with the commands and remember to use Q codes...  With aa777888 I fat fingered my test messages, and they were way longer than they needed to be.

I noticed an option in Settings > Frequencies to automatically switch frequencies at a certain time.  That could be helpful (i.e. switch to the guard frequency for 10 minutes at the top of every hour).  But, the "until" portion of it doesn't work, so it won't automatically revert to the prior frequency (...so just put another entry below to revert back to, say, 14.080).  When doing a band change via the normal drop down box, the buffer gets cleared.  I like that if you do it with the automatic frequency switch option, the buffer remains.

I like most of the suggestions.  I submitted a variation of the "store & forward" idea in the Groups.io chat page. I definitely see the potential for getting messages through and to check propagation when operating portable and you can't see PSKReporter.  Like Popov, I'm probably less inclined to use it for fun.

So, we managed to bounce a relay through an intermediary, BACK through that same intermediary.

20:24:26 - (2458) - TINLEG: RICKLAUT| AA777888|RICKLAUT|TINLEG TSTRLY BWP
20:25:44 - (2458) - RICKLAUT: TINLEG ACK
20:25:44 - (2458) - RICKLAUT: TINLEG ACK RICKLAUT: AA777888| RICKLAUT|TINLEG TSTRLY DE TINLEG 2W5  ~

[stuff happens here which I wasn't receiving]

20:28:14 - (2458) - RICKLAUT: AA777888 ACK RICKLAUT: TINLEG
20:28:29 - (2450) - RICKLAUT: TINLEG TSTRLY DE TINLEG DE RICKLAUT DE AA777888 ~

I'm the K7 station that you relayed thru and aa777888 is the station you reached.

ETA:  That was pretty cool! I'm glad you tried that.

No luck on the relay.

Back in the shack and not hearing anyone now on 20m guard.

Thanks for submitting the idea.  I didn't even think about that.  The devs should read Arfcom anyways

My buffer doesn't clear when doing a freq change via the drop down.  I just downloaded ft8call 2 days ago, so that might be a difference.

Looks to be version 0.4.2-devel

I'm still here...  tried querying you, but no response.  Do you have Auto turned on?

Question - did you have your "auto" turned on?  We tried to relay through you (I think was you) first but didn't get a reply.

Also, seems to be a bug with TX watchguard.  If you have that set to anything that might erroneously prevent TX.

Interesting.  I'm on v0.4.2-devel, which looks like the latest.

I've switched modes for the evening. This is going to be very interesting to fully develop. Relays do work, as you found out. But the formatting of the message can be tricky. It would be nice to have some forms to fill out in the software that put the sentences together for you.

I'm going to QSY to 7.080 and 14.080.  I'll try to check back here for the next couple of hours; if anyone wants to go back to the guard freq(s) let me know.

Enjoyed the experimenting today!

I'll be back on Tues. keep it going

If anyone wants to play along, I've set FT8Call up so that it will monitor 14.0675 for 10 minutes at the top of the hour, beacon at 6 minutes after the hour and then switch back to 14.080 at 11 minutes after the hour.  My beacon is set to 30 minutes, so I should be heard once on each frequency every hour.

I'm doing the same for 7.114 (top of the hour for 10 min), with a beacon at 2 minutes after the hour, and 32 minutes after the hour on 7.080.

I'll run it this way for the next ~24 hours and monitor the band switching & messages when possible.

I was around most of the day and did have auto on.  I noticed lots of fading when I was playing around during the day.  Sometimes people would be +10, then fade to -10, then I couldn't reach or decode them at all.
Did have auto on all day.  I am the KK4 call.  I did try to turn on the TX watchdog and noticed the error you mentioned.  Turned that off.

Going QRT for the evening.  Supposed to have thunderstorms rolling in.  Thanks everyone who participated for volunteering your stations for this test.  Was very informative.

On the road this week, station shut down. Will be back to play/experiment some more end of the week.

The auto QSY function seems to work well.

The 30 minute beacon cycle doesn't (for this purpose).  Beacons increment forward and they eventually fall outside of the window (the result of 1800 seconds between beacons, plus the 30 second beacon time). I've reset the beacons nearer to the top of the hour, so they should once again be in the window most of the day.

ETA:  The beaconing time also seems to be calculated after the last TX, so it will get thrown off regularly.  I was queried for a SNR at 12:46:15; I thought I would see a beacon go out at 13:03:00 based on my setup.  The next beacon went out at 13:16:26.

Well, I downloaded ft8call and installed. Problem is I can't get it to work quite right with my 991. I'm sure it's got something to do with RTS and CAT control but I can't seem to figure out what the right settings are. What seems to happen is as soon as I crank up the program, the radio gets keyed up and transmits nothing (since the program isn't sending it anything). I may go on the groups web site and see if anybody is running a 991 and what their settings are.

I have an FT991.  My CAT settings are 8,2,None; no DTR/RTS, CAT PTT, Data/Pkt & Fake It.  That's what worked for me with WSJT-X, and worked first try with FT8Call.

I remember having some trouble getting CAT to work with this radio initially, and the trick was settings in the radio (although I'm not 100% positive I'll remember which ones).  If it's changing frequencies via CAT, but no signal is coming out, I'd put money on a radio setting.  If that's the case, let me know and I'll find / share all of my radio menu settings.