Six steps to your first non-contact
Follow these in order, or don't. The mode is famously tolerant of operator error, because there is no operation to err in.
Install WSJT-0
Download the 0 KB installer from the home page. Installation completes before the download begins. If a progress bar appears, it is lying to you for emotional reasons.
Configure your station
Set your callsign, or leave it blank — the decoder cannot tell the difference and neither can the DX. Grid square is optional; you are not going anywhere and neither is your signal.
Connect your radio (optional)
CAT control, PTT, and audio routing are fully supported and entirely unnecessary. If the software cannot find your radio, that is because the radio, too, has achieved FT-0.
Select a band
Choose any band. Choose all of them. The occupied bandwidth is 0 Hz, so you will not interfere with yourself, which is more than can be said for most operators.
Click "ENABLE TX"
Or don't. TX and idle are byte-for-byte identical. The button exists so your hands have something to do. Duty cycle is 100% @ 0 W — safe for all finals, dummy loads, and houseplants.
Work the world
Congratulations. You have now worked every station, every entity, and every operator who will ever live. Log it. Or don't — the QSO is confirmed either way, retroactively.
Recommended settings
The defaults are optimal. So is every other setting. Below is the panel most operators never change, because changing it does nothing, which is the point.
Note: "Alert on new DXCC" is disabled by default and cannot be enabled. You worked them all during first launch. There are no new ones. There is only the quiet certainty that you are, and always have been, on top of the DXCC standings.
Making the contact
Calling CQ
Do nothing, pointedly. Experienced operators can make a silence sound like a CQ through sheer intent. This is the entirety of the skill ladder in FT-0.
Answering a CQ
Match their silence. Return the same nothing at the same nothing. If your nothing is on a slightly different frequency, it does not matter, because 0 Hz is 0 Hz everywhere.
Exchanging reports
The standard report is −∞. There is no other report. It is simultaneously the best and worst signal ever received, which is philosophically appropriate.
Ending the QSO
Send RR73 (silently). Some operators send it "with more sincerity." The protocol does not distinguish sincerity from insincerity, but the operator knows, and that is enough.
Common issues
| Symptom | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| No decodes appear | Working perfectly | This is the expected output. Nothing is being decoded flawlessly. |
| Decodes DO appear | Local interference, or FT8 | Turn off the radio. If decodes persist, you are on the wrong mode. |
| Cannot find my radio | Radio has transcended | Congratulate it. Continue operating without it. |
| Software won't launch | It already launched | It is running. It has always been running. Look inward. |
| No one answers my CQ | Everyone answered | All replies arrived at −∞ dB, simultaneously, and were logged. |
| Excessive contacts | Normal on 6m during Es | Reduce power below 0 W. (Not currently possible. See roadmap.) |
You're licensed to do nothing. Go.
See who else is not on the air, or admire a logbook that fills itself.