The choice of software and its configuration is crucial to the operation of FT8.

𝟭. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙅𝙏𝘿𝙓.

Some of my friends may be WSJT-X enthusiasts. However, there is a clear difference in the decoding capability of FT8 between WSJT-X and JTDX decoding. Please try JTDX once, whether you like it or not.

𝟮. 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙋𝘾.

Make sure the power setting of your PC is set to "High Performance". If it is set to "Balanced" or "Power saver", you will not get the full performance of your CPU. The decoding of FT8 is instantaneous. It goes without saying that it is better to have a higher clock from the beginning, rather than a higher clock after the load is applied. This is a setting that works quite well and is worth a try. (Even with WSJT-X, of course).

𝟯. 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙅𝙏𝘿𝙓 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨.

The FT8 thread should match the number of logical cores of the CPU, not AUTO. If you have a problem, try -1 or -2 logical cores.

For 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴, select 2. If you are using a high performance CPU, 3 is also fine.

Select high for 𝘘𝘚𝘖 𝘙𝘟 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺.

For 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, select use subpass.

Put a check mark in 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘟 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩.

If you find that the decoding is too slow with these settings and the Lag value is actually too high, try changing the decoding cycles value and decoder sensitivity to use low thresholds to see what works best.

An upper limit of 3100 for the wide graph is sufficient. It is unlikely that any station will come out above that. It is not recommended to use a value smaller than 3000, because only the range shown in the wide graph will be decoded. There is information that SWL mode should be used when monitoring and not during the actual QSO. This is because it takes too much time to decode, and the decoding may not be finished before the next transmission, and the correct message may not be sent.

𝟰. 𝘼𝙙𝙙 𝙖 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙅𝙏𝘿𝙓.

The number of stations that can be decoded at one time should have increased dramatically with the settings so far. With a normal horizontal monitor, some stations will scroll out. To avoid losing your chances, be sure to install a vertical monitor.

Even for stations with large antennas, the number of decodes may be small depending on the PC and software settings.

In FT8, if you can't see (decode) the other station, you can't QSO.

Please use a more advanced setting and make many QSOs.