Frequently Asked Questions

FT2 (Fast Track 2) is the fastest digital mode ever created for amateur radio. It uses 3.8-second transmit/receive cycles — a quarter of FT8's 15 seconds — allowing a complete QSO in about six seconds. Since March 2026 it is an official ADIF 3.1.7 submode (SUBMODE=FT2).

A complete FT2 QSO takes about 6 seconds, with a practical rate of roughly 450 QSOs per hour — about four times more contacts than FT8 in the same wall-clock time.

Yes. On 22 March 2026 the ADIF Development Group voted unanimously (22:0) to include FT2 as a certified submode in ADIF 3.1.7. All major logging platforms voted in favour, including LoTW/Trusted QSL (ARRL), DXLab Suite, Log4OM, Swisslog, Cloudlog, eQSL and Fldigi. Read the certification page.

You need Decodium, the reference FT2 software by IU8LMC & 9H1SR. Decodium 4.0 “Shannon” is free and available for Windows, Linux and Raspberry Pi — download it from the homepage or from community.ft2.it.

Decodium 4.0 decodes FT2 signals down to −23 dB SNR, with ~20 decode passes per 187 ms period and a decode-to-TX latency of about 200 ms.

Yes. FT2 keeps the proven FT8 physical layer: 77-bit payload, LDPC(174,91) forward error correction and 8-GFSK modulation — but compresses the cycle to 3.8 seconds. The protocol core is identical to FT8/FT4.

The first FT2 QSO in history was completed on 16 February 2026 between IU8LMC and IZ8VYF on the 40 m band.

Decodium exports ADIF 3.1.7 files with SUBMODE=FT2. Since FT2 is a certified ADIF submode, logs are accepted by the major logging platforms that supported the certification.