Disclaimer: The following is based on personal experiences, hints by fellow hams and product manuals. The intention here is to share the best experiences for beginners and skip the details of Why.
Prerequisite: If you have already setup your computer to interface with your radio, you are good to go, otherwise look for "CAT" and "AFSK " sections of your radio manual or search for articles on the internet, there are tons of them. DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL YOU HAVE BOTH THE INTERFACES WORKING WELL.
To install and configure WSJT-X software, visit the WSJT-X website and follow their instructions. Then go to the "clock synchronization" section in the WSJT-X manual and follow those steps too.
Now that you are ready, you have probably started the WSJT-X application and are staring at the ton of information presented to you on the WSJT-X screens, wondering what to do next. Don't be confused, below are some simple steps to get you going. Using the Search & Pounce method turns out to be the simplest approach to get started. Use the sample diagrams located here for reference.
First, make sure the "CQ Only" and "Auto Seq" boxes are checked, and the "Hold Tx Freq" box is unchecked.
DON'T EVER activate the "Enable Tx" button. (You can do this after you get some expertise under the belt)
Look at all the CQ calls displayed in the "Band Activity" window and check the number in the DT column. If most of them are 1.x or 2.x, STOP and revisit the WSJT-X manual about resetting your computer clock accurately.
Next, pick a CQ call in the "Band-Activity" window that has a dB value of better than minus 6 dB. Double-click the chosen CQ call. The CQ call will be copied to the "Rx Frequency" window and the frequencies will change to match that of the caller.
Now, watch the "Rx Frequency" window only. You'll be amazed, the software will do most everything automatically, including any retries when necessary. All calls and responses with your call sign in it will appear in this window and will be colored appropriately. (Refer to the sample diagrams in the downloadable PDF file mentioned above and compare it with the progress of your QSO.)
If the called station responds to somebody else, the "Enable Tx" button will be de-activated automatically. Don't sweat it, just pick another CQ call in the "Band Activity" window and double-click the new one.
If the program does more than 3 retries, just click the "Enable Tx" button to deactivate it, and look for another CQ call in the "Band Activity" window. (Reason: propagation over long distances can change rapidly or either of your locations may suffer QRM unexpectedly.)
DO NOT CLICK on anything while the QSO is in progress. Just watch the program until the "Log" window popup appears, then click OK to save the log.
Congratulations, you made your first successful FT8 contact !
Lastly, unlike other software, there is no separate window to display the log, so you'll have to trust the software to do the right thing.
However, you can quickly review the raw log file as follows -- click "Open Log Directory" under the File menu, then right-click on the file called "wsjtx.log" and open it with Windows Notepad. Your latest log entry should be the last line in the file. DO NOT edit/change anything in this file, just close it when done looking at it.
Go get them tiger...
To download a PDF version of this article please click here.