FT8

There is little doubt that FT8 digital mode has taken the world by storm. Bandwidth is much less than JT65 and QSOs are faster although I think it needs stronger (weak) signals to work. One thing it does is concentrate operations in a small part of the band, so fleeting openings are more likely to be noticed.

As many know, I keep a watchful eye on 10m FT8 RX. Although openings are now much rarer than at the peak of the sunspot cycle, they do occur. Rarely does a day pass when 10m does not open to somewhere overseas. In the last few weeks it has opened to South America. Even the very briefest openings get noticed. At one time a quick CQ on SSB would have led to 10m being given up as a "dead" band.

Try FT8 on a higher band: you may be surprised.

WSJT-X, which is the software needed, is totally free.

See https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html.