Micro-FT8 · Getting started

Getting started

Join the WiFi Open the app

Micro-FT8 is a headless FT8 station for your QMX. The main board (M5Stack Unit PoE-P4) decodes, transmits, works the QSOs and keeps the log. The sidekick (AtomS3 Lite, the small cube on the short cable) runs its own WiFi network and serves the app to your phone's browser, so there is nothing to install. Set it up, start it calling and put the phone away: the station keeps working. Building your own? Flash both boards first: Downloads.

1Connect it

You need the main board and sidekick on their Grove cable, your QMX (tested on firmware 1_04_003) with its power and antenna, a USB-C data cable for it, 5 V USB-C power for the main board, and a phone or laptop.

  1. Connect the antenna, then power the QMX and switch it on.
  2. Plug 5 V USB-C power (a charger or power bank) into the main board's PROG port, beside the network jack, which is not used. The sidekick starts with it.
  3. Last, connect the Host port, on the main board's side, to the QMX's USB; it does not power the board. The radio takes about 11 seconds to connect.

2Open the app

  • Join the phone to the WiFi network micro-ft8.local (open, no password, unless you set your own in Settings), open http://192.168.4.1 and tap Operate in AP mode, or scan the two codes at the top in order. Bookmark the app.
  • Cellular internet comes and goes meanwhile. Android may warn that the network has no internet: stay connected.
  • App not installed? With cellular data on, open http://192.168.4.1, tap Install the app over your phone's cellular data, press the sidekick's button, then Install. No internet? That page can use your home WiFi instead.

3Pair your phone

  • Operate's bottom bar says Not paired until you press the button on top of the sidekick.
  • A paired browser can transmit and change settings; anyone on the network can watch. It also sets the station's clock from the phone, which FT8 needs (the main board has no clock), so open the app once after every power-up, with the phone's time set automatically.

4Set up your station

A new or reset station is set to YOURCALL in grid CM97. Set yours before you transmit.

  • Tap Settings. Enter your Call and tick the Bands your QMX covers; they save as you go.
  • On Operate, tap the bottom bar, then Station ›, and enter your Grid; it saves when you leave the field. Set from GPS → uses the phone's location, and needs internet.

5Check that it hears

  • Tap Operate's bottom bar: CAT and Audio show ✓ once the QMX is connected (– not known yet, ✕ down).
  • Tap a band there. The QMX tunes to its FT8 frequency, the top bar fills every 15 seconds, and decodes arrive after each slot.

Work some stations

  • Answer a CQ: tap a decode that ends in a blue ›, for about 30 seconds after its slot (Undo takes it back). The station works the exchange and logs it.
  • Call CQ: tap Call CQ on the last row of the queue. It sends as many CQs as Tries in the Station sheet (6 to start), every other slot, then stops. Stations that answer are worked first. On the row, tap the count to change it, or the slot to move the CQ to the other one.
  • Stop: Stop TX ends the transmission on the air (Stop CQ also ends the CQ), and × on a queue row ends that QSO or the CQ. Tune sends a carrier until you tap it again.
  • Close the app or lock the phone, and the station keeps working. Open it again to see what it did.

Your log

One ADIF file per UTC day, kept on the main board. On QSOs, Download ADI saves a day and Download full ADI saves them all, for your logger, QRZ or LoTW.

Good to know

  • CAT or Audio not ✓: unplug the QMX's USB at the main board and plug it back in, or switch the QMX off and on. A restart of the main board while the QMX is connected can leave it unable to reconnect until you do.
  • A busy band but no decodes: reload the app, so it sets the clock again.
  • Asked to pair again: a new phone, a cleared browser or another address each take one button press.
  • Internet is never needed to operate. When the phone has it, a tapped callsign shows QRZ details, and Tools adds space weather and, on its map, POTA and SOTA spots.
  • Two devices at most can join the sidekick's network at once.
  • SWR sweep, on Tools: set the QMX's Tune power to 25% or more first.
  • Home WiFi instead (2.4 GHz only): in Settings, tap Join a network →, pick it and tap Save and join; then use http://micro-ft8.local. Away from that network, the sidekick's own comes back within a minute of power-up.
  • Updates: Install / update, at the bottom of Settings, loads the newest app (needs internet).
  • For now: FT8 with a QMX only; leave Protocol at FT8. A CQ stops after its tries and each QSO message after its own, but you are still the control operator.

Questions and feedback

KB2SLO · micro-ft8.kalikstein.com/#contact. If something goes wrong, note the time, what you tapped, and the Firmware and App lines in Settings.