G0HYN - Robbie Robertson




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Digi modes

As described on my Home page, I have been mostly operating on Digital modes since rekindling my interest in Amateur Radio. I think this is mostly down to the fact that that's where I left HAM radio off so to speak, in the heady days of packet radio, and I had a PK232 terminal that did various modes.

I was keen to see what operators were up to nowadays, and I have to say that the new modes are impressive  in terms of distance to power, especially PSK31, JT65 and JT9. Still miss packet radio though...

My original set up utilised a small notebook PC, but I soon ran out of USB ports for Interface, CAT control, WiFi dongle, etc. So I've switched to an older desktop PC which not only has more USB ports, but is also a lot fast decoding JT coded information.

Software applications, I'm running under Windows XP:
  • DxLab Suite - Commander v10.9.1 - For CAT control of Yeasu FT-767gx
  • Flidigi v3.21.83 - For PSK, RTTY, etc.
  • wsjtx v1.3 - For JT65 & JT9
  • JT65-HF v1.0.9.3 - JT65 only
Web resources:
  • PSK Reporter - See if anyone can read my transmitions
  • eQSL.cc - For QSO logging and electronic QSLs
  • QRZ.com - For operator infomation, and includes mine

I have tried Flidigi on my Raspberry Pi, and did have a couple of contacts, but I'm afraid it's not as usable as I would like. Will have to revisit when someone has 'tuned' or create something a little better. Shame really as I'd mounted the RPi on the back of a monitor, and with a wireless keyboard/touchpad, it would have been a nice simple clean desktop... back to the Desktop and lots of wires then...

So far I've used PSK, and JT modes to cover most of Europe with just a smallish amount of power (not quite QRP) and the multi-band Vertical, and a few across the pond contacts to boot:

QSL card QSL card
QSL card QSL card

Latest:
Nov-2014 - Having made a base loading coil that allows my Moonraker Intruder III to load up on 160M, I've managed to have a couple of JT mode QSOs on 1.838Mhz... chuffed I am...
Nov-2014 - As the old desktop PC I'm using can drive two screens, I've modified my office desk top shelf to mount two LCD screens. I can now have  Digi-mode software on one screen, and reporting and rig control on the other... excellent (see station photo on home page).