What would everyone suggest as far as hardware to start using JS8Call/FT8?

I think I have just enough room for a 40m inverted V (a dipole might be a little tricky since I don’t have trees in the yard).

I don’t have any transceiver yet, so completely open on that front!

Thanks!

  • MonochromeLadybugEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    I’ve got an inverted V fan dipole on my roof that’s tuned for 20/40, with the peak maybe 25 feet up. It works just fine, even though there’s quite a bit of QRM in my neighborhood. The noise floor is S7-S9 across most bands.

    I had solely been using a QRP labs QDX (fun kit btw!) and had quite a bit of success within the US, with contacts as far as FL from my QTH in CA. I recently got a FT-897 and have been enjoying the extra power. Had a nice QSO to Argentina (FF92) the other night using JS8 with 25W from CM98. I still leave the QDX on during the day when I’m working to keep an eye on the bands; I feel better about the idea of burning it out than I do a more expensive radio.

    I spend much more time on JS8 than FT8, just because it’s human interaction instead of computer to computer. FT8 is a great way to get a lot more contacts from a larger number of stations and locations though.