North Shore Radio Club
What’s New in Digital Modes
November 12, 2013
Warren Pugh, KC9IL
Mark Klocksin, WA9IVH
Dave Hewitt, N3BXY
Agenda
•
•
•
•
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Digital mode basics
HF update
VHF/UHF update
Q&A
Demonstration
– FreeDV > HF digital voice
– JT-9 > weak signal mode for HF/VHF/UHF
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Digital Mode Basics
- Hardware & software
- Plus a little history
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Digital Mode Basics
• What is a “digital mode”?
– At its basic level, it consists of two discontinuous
states, “on” and “off”.
– With a computer, “on” and “off” equate to 1’s and
0’s.
– A Digital Mode transmits 1’s and 0’s by using a
carrier.
– Can create tones by sending carriers offset from a
BFO frequency to represent data bits.
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Digital Modes
• In the beginning, there was:
– Spark gap
– CW (on-off with timing)
– RTTY (offset carriers creating tones)
– Facsimile (Hellschreiber)
– Slow Scan TV
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Digital Modes
• Then (starting in the 80’s) came:
– Packet (AX.25)
• 300 baud on HF
• 1200 - 9600 on VHF/UHF
Hardware
based modes
– AMTOR (AMateur Teleprinting Over Radio)
• HF - 100 baud, not much use currently
– PACTOR – FSK mode combining Packet and
AMTOR technology (still popular but fading)
– G-TOR – proprietary to Kantronics. Rarely used.
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Green = More mainstream
• Next wave (1990’s & 2000’s)
Software
based modes
– PACTOR II – 8x faster than PACTOR, proprietary
– CLOVER – full duplex PSK mode
– PSK31 – by Peter Martinez, G3PLX in 1998. Hugely
popular. Also PSK63 & PSK128.
– MT63 – DSP based, 64 tones, 100 WPM, wide.
– THROB – DSP mode, 9 tones
– MFSK16 – improvement on THROB, using 16
tones.
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Digital Modes
• More recent modes:
Software
based modes
– Olivia – weak signal capable. 5 different flavors.
• 125/4, 250/8, 500/16, 1000/32 & 2000/64 (BW/Tones)
– JT-65 – weak & varying signals using 65 tones and
FEC. Meteor scatter and moonbounce.
– DominoEX – another weak signal MFSK mode, in
six flavors.
– Contestia – derived from Olivia. 2x speed. 5
bandwidths and 8 tone options = 40 variations.
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Why Soundcard modes?
• Soundcard (software) advantages:
– Computers and soundcards are cheap, yet offer
high performance
– Lots of free software
– Can be used with almost any radio
– Easy to change digital modes
– Developers can quickly create new modes
– Lots of great logging options
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How to set up a Digital Station
Works for most
non-proprietary
modes
* Darren Rook, KC9SSL, West Mountain Radio
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Digital Mode Interfaces
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•
•
•
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Interface to any radio
Isolated audio
Rig control (CAT, CI-V, etc)
Many now contain sound cards
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KH6TY interface kit
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Digital Mode Software
• Unique:
– Digipan – PSK31/63
– PSK31 – original software from G3PLX
– MMTTY – RTTY
– WSJT – JT65 by Joe Taylor, K1JT
– JT65-HF by W6CQZ (improvement on original
WSJT)
– IZ8BLY Hellschreiber – all HELL modes
– Stream – by IZ8BLY for MFSK
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Digital Mode Software
• Multimode:
– FLDigi – for Windows, MAC OSX, Linux
– Ham Radio Deluxe – most popular modes
– Hamscope (PSK31, RTTY, ASCII, MFSK, Packet &
CW)
– MixW – multimode software developed in the
Ukraine
– MultiPSK - the Swiss Army Knife of soundcard
mode software. Very busy user interface.
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Criteria for Digital Modes
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•
•
•
RF bandwidth used
Speed/data rate
Error correction
Reception at lower signal/noise ratio
Can’t have it all, you must compromise!
* Darren Rook, KC9SSL, West Mountain Radio
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How the Modes compare
Mode
Lowest SNR Avg Speed
@ 3KHz
(WPM)
Bandwidth
(Hz)
Error
Correction
300 Baud
Packet
+3 dB
330
800
ARQ
RTTY
-5.5 dB
60
300
None
MT63/500
-8 dB
50
500
FEC
PSK31
-11.5 dB
51
80
None
MFSK16
-13.5 dB
42
316
FEC
JT-65A
-26 dB
2.2
178
FEC
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* Darren Rook, KC9SSL, West Mountain Radio
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HF Update
- New modes
- New Software
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What’s New on HF?
• New modes:
– ALE 400
– JT 9
– LENTUS
– WinMOR
– WSPR
– FreeDV
– D-Star
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Automatic Link Establishment (ALE)
• Made for hands-free link establishment
– Untrained operators (military and gov’t)
– Scans available frequencies, picks the best one
• Based on 1980’s era MIL-STD-188-141A
(ALE141a)
– 2 kHz bandwidth, 8 tone FSK)
• Hardware based, cost prohibitive for hams
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ALE 400
• Need to use MultiPSK software (only software
with ALE support)
• 400 Hz bandwidth
• Internet e-mail gateway
• 100% error-free (ARQ) full duplex link
• Can use for real-time chat
• dB rating and WPM will degrade due to
retries.
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ALE 400, continued
Mode
Lowest
SNR (dB)
Avg Speed BW
(WPM)
(Hz)
Error
Correc.
PSK31
-11.5
51
None
ALE141a ARQ FAE
-6.5 to -8.5
120 to 246 2000
ARQ
ALE400 ARQ FAE
-11.5 to -13.5
56 to 107
ARQ
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400
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JT-9
• Refinement of JT-65 protocol developed by Joe
Taylor, K1JT
• About 1-2 dB better than JT-65, but can receive
signals at – 42 SNR (30 minute mode)
• Approximately 16 Hz wide, compared to approx.
178 Hz for JT-65
• Implemented in WSJT-X software.
• Also uses time sync. (Dimension 4 or similar)
• Cycles of 1,2,5,10 or 30 minutes
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JT-9
• Seems to work as well on 5 watts as JT-65
does on 20 watts. Good for QRP or stealth!
Mode
Lowest SNR Avg Speed
@ 3KHz
(WPM)
Bandwidth
(Hz)
Error
Correction
300 Baud
Packet
+3 dB
330
800
ARQ
RTTY
-5.5 dB
60
300
None
PSK31
-11.5 dB
51
80
None
JT-65A
-26 dB
2.2
178
FEC
JT-9-1
-27 dB
2.2
16
FEC
JT-9-30
-42 dB
.07
0.4
FEC
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JT-65 / JT-9 Spotting Web Page
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LENTUS
• Extremely weak signal contact, reception
down to -35 dB
• Experimental, part of MultiPSK software
• 5 minute TX/RX cycles (approx 13 characters)
• 32 tone MFSK, 23 Hz bandwidth.
• PC clock synchronization is critical
• Similar to JT-9 in long cycle modes. (JT9-5 is 34 dB).
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WinMOR
• Soundcard interface to Winlink 2000
• Replaces expensive packet radios traditionally
used to connect to Winlink
• Developed by Rick Muething KN6KB in 2008,
deployment in 2010
• 500Hz or 1600Hz bandwidth
• 67 to 1300 bits per second
– Can exceed Pactor-2 rates
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WinMOR to Winlink configuration
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WSPR
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•
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Weak Signal Propagation Reporter
Joe Taylor K1JT
It is not used for DX contact
Software automates TX and RX of beacons
which can the be viewed on wsprnet.org
• Tool for determining band conditions
• A beacon is TX or RX every 2 minutes.
• Narrow band 4-FSK with RX at -28dB SNR
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WSPR Recommended Software
• WSPR
– Joe Taylor K1JT
– Windows and Linux
• http://wsprnet.org
– View beacon logs
• Dimension D4 (or similar)
– Time synchronization software
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wsprnet.org
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WSPR Screen Shot
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FreeDV
• Digital voice soundcard mode
– Open source software and codec (based on FDMDV)
– Written by David Witten & David Rowe
– Response to low acceptance of AOR system, “proprietary”
D-Star and IP concerns of FDMDV.
• Released 2012, now in its 3rd version.
• Designed to be analogous to SSB
– 1.125KHz bandwidth (half of SSB)
– 16 QPSK carriers, 1 BPSK carrier, 75hz spacing
• High data rate, fast synch, low latency
– 1600 bits/s (1375 b/s codec, 25 b/s call sign id, 200 bits/s
FEC error correction)
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FreeDV Setup
You need a second sound card!
* Darren Rook, KC9SSL, West Mountain Radio
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FreeDV Software features
• Windows, Linux, Mac, Android
• Full record of QSO (both TX and RX)
• Extensive audio filtering and processing (both
TX and RX)
• Turn off digital and run in analog (SSB)
• http://qso.k7ve.org/
– QSO Finder Website
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FreeDV QSO Finder
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FreeDV screenshot
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D-Star
• Open protocol developed by JARL & Japan gov’t
• Up until recently, only for 2 meters, 70 cm and 23
cm bands
• HF and 6 meters only with 9600 baud capable
radios, software and an AMBE chip (DV Dongle,
MOEN Comm board, etc)
• Now with Icom 9100 and 7100, full D-Star
capability on HF.
• Nets and QSO’s are now appearing on HF
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What’s New on HF?
• New software
– PSK Reporter – (basically a reverse beacon)
– Airlink Express – for PSK, MFSK and RTTY
– WSJT-X – enhanced for JT-65 and includes JT-9
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PSK Reporter
• Automatic Propagation Reporter
• Software automatically sends received QSO
information to Internet server
• http://pskreporter.info
• Used for many modes, not just PSK
• Compatible software
– HRD, Airlink Express, JT65-HF, FLDIGI
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PSK Reporter
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Airlink Express
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•
•
•
•
•
Free, easy to use DX contact software
Similar to Digipan
Supports PSK, MFSK and RTTY
Logging
Multichannel display
PSK Reporter compatibility
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Airlink Express
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WSJT-X
• Updated version of WSJT, by Joe Taylor, K1JT
• Vastly improved user interface from prior
version (more like JT65-HF, by Joe Large,
W6CQZ)
• Needs time sync (Dimension 4 or similar)
• Runs both JT-65 and JT-9
• Point and click operation
• Split screen mode
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WSJT-X
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WSJT-X
Can have JT-65 on this side
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Can have JT-9 on this side
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Try these – they cost NOTHING!
• New modes:
• New software:
– ALE 400
– JT 9
– LENTUS
– WinMOR
– WSPR
– FreeDV
– D-Star
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– PSK Reporter
– Airlink Express
– WSJT-X
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VHF/UHF Update
- Current overview
- New equipment
- Enhancements
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Current Overview – VHF/UHF
• Analog FM – been around nearly 50 years
• Digital Linking (VoIP based)
– IRLP – (1997 – by David Cameron, VE7LTD). Must
have a radio at each end.
– EchoLink – (2002 - by Jonathon Taylor, K1RFD) can
have a radio, PC or smartphone at each end.
• Currently over 200,000 registered users
– Both formats support “reflectors”
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Current Overview – VHF/UHF
• Digital modes:
– APCO Project 25 (P-25)
•
•
•
•
•
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Created in 1989
Intended for mission-critical applications
Phase 1 equipment started showing up in the late ‘90’s
Fairly small number of machines
Can run dual mode (Analog & Digital)
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Current Overview – VHF/UHF
• Digital modes:
– D-STAR
•
•
•
•
Developed by JARL & Japanese government
Spec released in 2001
Icom began shipping in 2004
2 worldwide networks (approx 1500 repeaters)
– Icom G2
» > 1,000 repeaters, > 30,000 registered users
– ircDDB (Jonathon Naylor, G4KLX)
» > 1,000 repeaters, 8,500 users
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Current Overview – VHF/UHF
• Digital modes:
– DMR (Digital Mobile Radio)
• Based on a European standard (ETSI) published in 2005
• Intended for professional use, low complexity & low
cost, narrow band
• Many manufacturers (Motorola, Hytera, Harris, Vertex)
• Dual slot TDMA (Slot 1 linked, Slot 2 local)
• MotoTrbo – Motorola’s implementation of DMR
• Multiple linked networks (DMR-MARC, DCI, Trbo-6)
– Nearly 400 repeaters as of Nov 2013
– Approximately 4,000 registered user ID’s
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New VHF/UHF equipment
– Icom D-Star radios with “DR” programming & GPS
• To simplify programming
IC-7100 HF/VHF/UHF all
mode including D-Star
ID-51 20meter / 70 cm handheld
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New VHF/UHF equipment
– D-Star ancillary products
•
•
•
•
DV Dongle – access D-Star network from PC
DVAP – low power remote base access point
Raspberry Pi – Linux microcomputer
AMBE encode/decode boards (MoenComm & similar)
– Create repeaters & remote access without Icom hardware
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New VHF/UHF equipment
• New and used DMR equipment offerings
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VHF/UHF Digital enhancements
• D-Star
–
–
–
–
Increasing number of “non-Icom” repeaters
Experimentation with Raspberry Pi microcomputer
Growth of “cottage industry” products
“Tweaks” to G2 network (Redundant headers)
• DMR
– More sub-groups forming as user base grows
– Regional, national, international
– Automated Roaming
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VHF/UHF Digital enhancements
• ALLSTAR
– Similar to IRLP/EchoLink, but network-centric as
opposed to end-user centric
– Supports multiple types of nodes:
• Repeater, Simplex Remote Base, Hub
– Uses Linux-based computers
– At least 5 equipment “partners”
– www.allstarlink.org
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New VHF/UHF equipment
• Yaesu’s C4FM/CDMA “System Fusion”– Sept 2013
–
–
–
–
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Not compatible with other digital modes
1 mobile, 1 portable
Repeater in November 2013
No specifics on capability (routing, linking, etc)
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Questions?
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Demonstration
• FreeDV – open source digital voice protocol
for HF (but can be used on VHF as well)
• JT-9 – Error-correcting data mode fo VERY
WEAK signal work
– Moonbounce
– Meteor scatter
– Low power, limited antennas
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So, What Should I Try?
• HF
– RTTY – popular, easy to get started
– PSK31 – keyboard conversational
– JT65/JT9 – not conversational. Test your limits!
– Olivia or ALE 400 as you get more confident
• VHF/UHF
– D-Star – currently more mainstream (10x users)
– DMR – growing quickly, good local Elmers
– > NSRC has BOTH!!!!
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References:
• G4UCJ’s Radio Website http://hfradio.org.uk/html/digital_modes.html
• WB8NUT - http://wb8nut.com/digital/
• Amateur Radio Transmitting Society (Louisville)
– http://www.w4cn.org/about-ham-radio/digitalmodes
• West Mountain Radio http://www.westmountainradio.com/
• http://jt65.w6cqz.org/receptions40.html
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