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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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I spend too much time wandering around YouTube watching various technical channels to learn more about the topics which interest me.
I thought that a few members may also be interested in this particular video, as it combines several strands of geekery, crossing-over between similar hobbies and niches. I promise that it specifically includes a segment on amateur radio! I don't think Mark sold it to the public particularly well, but we'll all get it.
Some of you may have come across Dominic Chinea who appears on the TV show 'The Repair Shop', as does Mark Stuckey. Dom's YouTube channel often covers engaging projects (mainly restoration), but this week's episode takes a visit to Mark Stuckey's own house and workshop. The tour starts in a shed and moves onwards and upwards from there...
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Bob has sent a message to let us know that he has hit a significant milestone in his Parks On The Air hunting activities.
It's quite a feat when you actually stop and think about it. Three and a half thousand UNIQUE parks contacted around the world.
Well done Bob. As we get a bit older and maybe a little less mobile, we can all continue to talk to our friends and enjoy a technically challenging hobby on a global playing field.
Below are a few of the stats:
POTA STATS 04/18/2026
Hunter Standing: 667
Parks Hunted: 3503
Awards: 48
Badges: 39
Endorsements: 127
Early Shift QSOs: 3199
Late Shift QSOs: 268
DX Entities Hunted: 32
States (Need AK HI): 48
Total POTA QSOs: 13683
CW: 11437
MFSK (FT8 FT4): 385
SSB: 1861
Congratulations Bob. More than that, I'm glad your're still enjoying your radio and breaking new ground.
Bob passes on his best wishes to all at MSARS.
Berni M0XYF
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Ken G3WYN has decided to move the Sunday morning net back to 80m on the original frequency of 3.740 MHz plus or minus QRM.
I think several of the regular participants have been finding it increasingly difficult to both hear and be heard on 40m of late, as band conditions have become pretty disappointing.
Please call-in to the net if you get a chance. It's a good excuse to get out in the garden and create yourself a new 80m antenna at least.
Regards,
Berni M0XYF.
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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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Following on from last month, I have had a little luck and a little problem.
The problem was that the shack RF suppressor choke decided to stop working. So a quick check and I found an open circuit in the band selector switch circuit. So a temporary lash up using the 40m band choke selected for 12m. It will have to do for a while.
The month started off with 135 DXCCs in the log and a big one to chase, Bouvet Island down in the Antarctic sea. I was listening to see if I could hear them with nought for a couple of days. Then on the 3rd, 12m FT8 sprung into life. In spite of calling 3Y0K from his third CQ, no reply. On the 6th he was working NA but I thought I'd try anyway. He seems to have had a filter to lock EU out, but about tea-time I got a reply but no confirmation. However two days later I got a complete contact for another ATNO, and it's confirmed. Whoopie!
In the meantime, J51A kept popping up, so I worked him, again, 5 band slots!
So back to the RF suppressor problem. A careful inspection highlighted an un-soldered connection.
After finding the soldering iron, I re-made the joint and hey presto! It all works again.
With all this activity going on I discovered that I had qualified for another certificate. Over the years I have been working the Bulgarian Saints station, 75 in all to date. The colourful certificate is a bit religious (unlike me) but will look good on the shack wall.
As things were quiet, I decided to have a play with FT2. Thanks to Berni who got me off the starting blocks and then Steve GJ6WRI who helped by sending the latest version of one of the programs.
This still has bugs (loads of them) which I am sure will be sorted soon. So a quick look at the log and IK0QKN is safely logged as my first FT2 contact. On the evening of the 23rd I managed to work 14 quick-fire, using a paper log & search & pounce. I can now see why the auto CQ button has been included. More of this later.
Back to DX working and a longish list of ATNOs including XX9W, S21WD, and T88KH. The IOTA count is 25 including 3Y0K, CY0S and S21WD. My grand DXCC total now stands at 295, only 5 more to the magic 300!
This month was the CQ WW WPX contest on SSB. Unfortunately my voice was not up to much, so I just contacted a couple of rarer DXs for the points.
Perhaps it is a coincidence, but I haven't heard the interfering over the horizon radar this month, suggesting the source might have been in the middle east. Long may it remain silent.
So as we come to the end of the month with a clock change, not too bad a tally. Hopefully a few more next month.
PS. Can anyone help please. I worked a station call E97YNO/P in grid BL 84 (near Hawaii)
Any ideas what this is about?
Cheers & Good DX,
Chris, G4ZCS
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FT1: The Next Step in Weak-Signal Digital?
Following the recent FT2 implementation - covered in my recent Mid Sussex ARS news article - it was probably only a matter of time before someone asked: how much further can we push weak-signal decoding?
From FT8 to FT4 and now FT2 protocols, each step in the progression has traded bandwidth, timing precision and processing power for incremental gains in sensitivity and throughput.
Enter FT1.
Positioned as the next logical evolution, FT1 builds on those foundations but introduces something new: recursive decoding enhanced by lightweight AI-assisted weighting models.
Digital Signal Processing Loops (Utilising AI)
FT1’s headline innovation is the use of Digital Signal Processing Loops (DSPLs). Rather than making a single decode attempt per transmission window, FT1 captures the probabilistic state of the received signal and recursively refines it. Each loop:
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Re-evaluates timing offsets (per-tone Delta's)
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Reconstructs incomplete symbols
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Re-weights parity structures
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Applies AI-assisted confidence scoring
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Feeds the refined estimate back into the decoder
The embedded AI layer doesn’t 'guess' messages; instead, it dynamically adjusts statistical bias based on observed propagation behaviour, drift characteristics and noise profiles gathered over time.
The effect is cumulative. Instead of discarding frames at -28 dB, FT1 continues iterating, statistically compressing uncertainty with each pass.
In controlled tests, the results have been eye-opening: regularly reporting decodes down to -35 dB.
Designed for 24/7 Operation
Unlike FT2, FT1 is fully automated by default. It can run unattended around the clock, dynamically adjusting loop depth and decoder thresholds according to band conditions. Researchers report extremely stable medium-duration operation too.
During March’s WWDigi-Xtreme contest, one experimental FT1 station reportedly logged over 480,000 contacts, easily securing first place. A significant proportion were completed at signal levels all existing decoders would simply consider unrecoverable.
Whether that represents a fundamental shift in weak-signal capability - or simply the triumph of computational muscle - is still being debated.
The Hardware Reality
There is, of course, a cost.
FT1’s recursive and AI-assisted architecture is computationally intensive. The suggested minimum compute specification includes:
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256 GB RAM
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2 * 128-bit Nvidia GPUs
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Dedicated multi-core CPU resources
FT1 maintains layered probability maps across multiple loop generations, preserving statistical states rather than discarding them. However, if the system cannot sustain real-time recursion, the processing chain destabilises.
Developers refer to this rather delicately as Frail Loops - a condition in which insufficient memory bandwidth or GPU throughput causes recursion cycles to collapse, confidence weighting to drift, and performance to fall sharply back toward familiar limits.
Stable loops are essential. Frail ones, less so.
One Outstanding Limitation
There remains a practical constraint. After approximately six weeks of continuous 24/7 operation, accumulated state data begins to saturate storage and memory structures. Fragmentation increases, loop latency rises, and a controlled restart becomes necessary.
It’s not a fundamental flaw, merely an engineering refinement still in progress.
Whether FT1 proves to be the next accepted milestone in the FT8-FT4-FT2 lineage, or simply an ambitious exploration of what happens when AI meets recursive DSP, it certainly captures the imagination.
After all, progress in digital modes has always been about squeezing a little more signal from a little less noise.
Especially at this time of year.
Berni M0XYF
