While composing another message I had an idea that might help reduce FT-8 congestion.
Every FT-8 receiver listens to an entire "band" (approximately 1 SSB bandwidth) and it will hear and decode every station transmitting anywhere in it. This makes each station's exact transmit frequency unimportant. So for some time I've felt that FT-8 transmissions should be randomized in frequency to avoid repeated collisions, as most WSPR stations already do. But the transmit frequency need not be truly random; if it is based on a hash function, then other stations can know the frequency on which you will (or would) transmit during any given 15-second slot. So here's my idea. Divide the FT-8 "band" into slots, each wide enough to take one signal. Set your transmit frequency "slot" based on a hash of the transmitting station's callsign, perturbed by the time of day in 15 second increments. This sets up the frequency hopping. It is backward compatible with current operation. Everyone monitors everyone else's protocol exchanges so they are aware of the active callsigns and their current QSO exchange states. If your hash happens to match that of a station expected to transmit, either inhibit transmission or choose from a small set of secondary "overflow" slots unprotected against a collision. I just had this idea so it is far from fully formed. Nor can it be perfect because, if nothing else, you are unable to monitor transmissions while you yourself are transmitting. But I wanted to see if anyone else had any comments on it, or if it has been suggested before. 73, Phil _______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
