FT2 - New Digital Mode

[D31245]

Just a few days old (February 16, 2026). Still experimental and being rolled out.

FT2: The Fastest Digital Mode In Amateur Radio - DXR Electronics Bits

FT2 is an experimental, high-speed weak-signal digital mode designed for amateur radio, specifically developed by IU8LMC to be significantly faster than FT8

vu3dxr.in

FT2: New Ultra-Fast Digital Mode Tested on HF

Italian testers launch FT2: a WSJT-X fork targeting 3.8-second cycles.

www.dxzone.com

I installed Decodium this morning and got everything working. So far, 10 meters has been very active.

 

[mtindor]

I heard from a friend that the app allows you to auto-CQ. Meaning after an exchange with one call is done it can automatically CQ. That's basically zombie mode where a live human being is not even required AT ALL to make contacts. That's not new. WSJT-X does not allow that, but some WSJT-X knockoffs have that option for FT4/8. And I guess now available for FT2. It's ashame.

FT2 would be fun. FT4 is always fun. But FT2 will dig even less down into the noise floor than FT4/FT8, so people will need better TX/RX to make the contact, or the zombies will at least.

 

[KJ4DHF]

I tried it last night on 40m and 20m today. It is fast however it needs fine tuning. The decodes are not 100% as at times it stops,and the band change window does not work to keep up with band changing on my install.

 

[D31245]

The QRZ Logbook is currently recognizing FT2 Mode usage from .adi file export from PSKReporter:

 

[AC9KH]

It remains to be seen if FT2 even survives long-term. The history of FT2 goes back to experiments by Joe and Steve in early 2019 (at that time with a TR period of 2.5s). Later it was introduced as FT4, first with 5s TR period, and then with 7.5s because with 5s the success rate of QSOs was not good enough.

IU8LMC introduced "his" FT2 mode with slightly modified parameters (3.8s TR period). He was free to do so, provided he clearly states what “his” FT2 mode is ultimately based on, and that he publishes the source code. But he refused and tries to make it proprietary.

The Decodium program is nothing more than a (poorly working) fork of the (now obsolete) joint WSJT-X and WSJT-X Improved 3.0.0-rc1 250915 release, with modifications largely AI coded. This means, that 99.5 % of "his" Decodium software came from WSJT-x-improved and the two are not compatible. So it is already a fragmented community. It generated some early interest because it's new. But since even FT4 has never really caught on, the long term survival of FT2 is in question. Most of the activity that's left after the initial rush has centered on 20m since its decode reliability is not good enough for lower frequencies, and there's two different software applications implementing it that are not compatible with one another.

The FT2 Schism: When A New Digital Mode Split In Two

In February 2026, amateur radio gained its fastest weak-signal digital mode — and immediately fractured it. FT2 promised ~4-second QSOs and contest-level throughput, but within days of its first on-air tests it split into two incompatible implementations. Here's the full story of the "FT2 war,"...

vu3dxr.in

 

[mtindor]

It remains to be seen if FT2 even survives long-term. The history of FT2 goes back to experiments by Joe and Steve in early 2019 (at that time with a TR period of 2.5s). Later it was introduced as FT4, first with 5s TR period, and then with 7.5s because with 5s the success rate of QSOs was not good enough.

IU8LMC introduced "his" FT2 mode with slightly modified parameters (3.8s TR period). He was free to do so, provided he clearly states what “his” FT2 mode is ultimately based on, and that he publishes the source code. But he refused and tries to make it proprietary.

The Decodium program is nothing more than a (poorly working) fork of the (now obsolete) joint WSJT-X and WSJT-X Improved 3.0.0-rc1 250915 release, with modifications largely AI coded. This means, that 99.5 % of "his" Decodium software came from WSJT-x-improved and the two are not compatible. So it is already a fragmented community. It generated some early interest because it's new. But since even FT4 has never really caught on, the long term survival of FT2 is in question. Most of the activity that's left after the initial rush has centered on 20m since its decode reliability is not good enough for lower frequencies, and there's two different software applications implementing it that are not compatible with one another.

The FT2 Schism: When A New Digital Mode Split In Two

In February 2026, amateur radio gained its fastest weak-signal digital mode — and immediately fractured it. FT2 promised ~4-second QSOs and contest-level throughput, but within days of its first on-air tests it split into two incompatible implementations. Here's the full story of the "FT2 war,"...

vu3dxr.in

As far as I'm concerned, until there is native FT2 in WSJT-X by that crew themselves, there is no legitimate reason for me to run it. There aren't going to be any FT2 contests, or allowance of FT2 in any contests/QSO parties, and no DXPeditions are going to use any FT2 unless it exists in WSJT-X. So I anticipate it will fade, and I'm glad.