February Meet-up – An Introduction to FT8 by Mick G0MGK

With interest in FT8 and other digital data modes increasing amongst the Amateur Radio community and our own club members, Mick Kelsey G0MGK offered to give us all an introduction to the mode, what it does, how it works and how to set-up and get started on the mode.

Mick’s presentation started at first principles, explaining what FT8 is and what it is not. The clever way in which FT8 utilises the bandwidth available to it to support many concurrent transmissions within a narrow band was of particlar interest. The importance of a reliable and accurate time source and selecting the best settings to achieve success were all covered in a interesting and fun talk.

Braving a live demonstaration, Mick performed a live QSO via FT8, allowing us to see the QSO dialogue and sequences used.

As always, lots of questions and discussion followed with many members looking forward to getting home and giving the mode a try themselves.

The meeting was also a special occasion for us, as Daniel M8LKZ our RSGB Brickworks Champion had the honor of presenting our very first awards in the scheme, both Bronze and Silver Certificates to Ed M8GSY. Ed is a regular Net Controller for the 145 Alive Events and has taken part in many of our club SES stations and events. Congratulations to Ed and we look forward to following your progress through the scheme.

It was a busy evening, with club member Tony G8TEE offering a number of KEY VHF Radios for sale in support of the Thames Valley Repeater Group that provides and maintains the fantastic distribution of repeaters covering our area.

Bracknell Amateur Radio Club also donated £50 to TVRG to help towards the running costs of the repeaters that we all use on a regular basis.

Finally, on behalf of the club committee, a big Thank You to everyone that bought a raffle ticket for the Radio Caps donated by Martin Lynch & Sons and the WRTC T-Shirt and Cap donated by Jacqui G6XSY. The funds raised will help towards our club meeting running costs.

As always, thank you to everyone who attended and also helped to set-up and tidy away following the meeting.