A raw video of me experimenting with JS8Call and the FT-891. The software filter works with any radio, but to get max RX you need to learn the WIDTH and SHIFT on your radio as shown.
The next opportunity I get I will try the same method with KG7YSX reducing his power decreasingly down from 5.0W to 0.5W and try pulling him out of the noise floor.
02-04-2025 FOLLOW UP
Drew (KG7YSX) and I talked about using the pass filters and JS8Call WF filter to pull a weak station out of the noise today. When I got home @ 1800PST, sending an SNR at 3000hz width on the FT-891 to his (tr)uSDX station (same setup as the The Minuteman HF Micro Kit) on 0.5w power returned nothing.
You can see him replying to my 3rd SNR request above after zooming in.
Since I was sending at 30w it’s likely he was getting my request but I could not hear any return from him at such low power.
The image above is my narrowing down to 250hz width and shifting to cover his transmission on the WF at 1175 (he told me where he was parked, also a good reason for designated offsets!) and on the 3rd attempt (filtered) I got a strong SNR back from him at +04db and a decode as shown below.
Knowing I had a path, I sent a MSG and got a solid ACK back at +01db.
This image above is me using just the WF filter and putting the radio back to 3000hz wide and centered on 1500hz as normal with a 1000-1300hz software filter. It failed to see his signal, let alone decode.
LESSON
Learn to use your radio to it’s max and setup WF offsets so you know where to look for contacts in poor conditions.