FT8 or Franke & Taylor 8 is a

frequency shift keying Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal. The technology is used for communication systems such as telemetry, weather ball ...

digital mode which was released on June 29, 2017, by the creators Joe Taylor, K1JT and Steve Franke, K9AN along with the software package WSJT.Burmester, Dale March 12, 2019. Amateur Radio Digital Communications Mode FT8. http://site.ieee.org/msn/files/2019/04/FT8-KA9SWE.pdf FT8 is a popular form of digital weak signal communication used primarily by amateur radio operators to communicate on

amateur radio bands Amateur radio frequency allocation is done by national telecommunication authorities. Globally, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) oversees how much radio spectrum is set aside for amateur radio transmissions. Individual amateur sta ...

with a majority of traffic occurring on the HF amateur bands. It is currently the most popular digital mode on spotting networks such as

PSK Reporter PSK Reporter is an amateur radio signal reporting and spotting network and website started by Philip Gladstone in 2014 which allows operators to see where their radio signals are being received. The platform works by collecting digital signal re ...

. The mode offers operators the ability to communicate in unfavorable environments such as during low sun spot numbers, high RF noise, or during low power operations. With advances in signal processing technology FT8 is able to decode signals with a signal to noise ratio as low as −20 dB, which is significantly lower than CW or SSB transmissions. The mode works by sending signals in 15-second-blocks with 12.64 seconds of transmission time and 2.36 seconds of decode time, this gives the mode five words per minutes effective transmission. The mode requires each computer to be synced up in time with each other with most users making use of either NTP or

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

to ensure transmissions fall in the proper window. This allows FT8 transmission to support up to 13 characters, the mode uses

forward error correction In computing, telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, an error correction code, sometimes error correcting code, (ECC) is used for controlling errors in data over unreliable or noisy communication channels. The central idea is ...

to ensure proper transmission and decoding. As the mode is quite limited in the number of words that it can send, it only sends enough information to ensure a contact with each station. There are multiple uses for FT8 including contesting, testing antennas, and for scientific research. 20 meter FT8

References

{{reflist Amateur radio Quantized radio modulation modes Data transmission