Sunday, September 20, 2015

Taking the digi plunge.........again!

Once upon a time my digi experience  
With reports of the solar cycle on the decline and considering I'm not a big gun station that can belt out 1KW into a multi element beam I have to somewhat raise the white flag. I'm not going to give up on CW , getting contacts into the states is great and Morse code is like having a second language and I'm not going to give it up! When the solar cycle is in a low time I find it amazing that during a CW contesst my QRP signal is still able to get across the pond. It makes me think that just the idea of a decline in the solar cycle just has hams not turning their radios on and not giving it a go. For me I'm in a condo with the MFJ mag loop antenna and then to add to it QRP power I figure over the long haul the digi modes are going to be my best option for reeling in some DX. I have reformatted my PC's hard drive and just installed Windows 7 so it's time to start fresh! I have WSPR installed and up and going, in the past I had JT65HF and PSK31 installed and making contacts………..so ham folks what's out there that you have having had great success with?? I have a balcony antenna and QRP power that can go to 5 watts max. Whats nice with the digi modes is the MFJ 1788 will not have to be constantly returned. The bandwidth required is so narrow I can concentrate of making contacts.What programs do you use and where do you get your support when things don't work out as planned? I have always become frustrated with setting up the digi modes but I am going to have to bite the bullet and plow through the up's and downs of setting up the digi modes on my PC along with my rig.     

4 comments:

SV1GRN said...

Dear Mike, the answer is WSJT-X: http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
try JT65 & JT9 modes and I hope you'll be satisfied. There is also a yahoo group for help. Good luck 73 de SV1GRN

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello Mike,

I use wsjt-x like SV1GRN. Though discussions are about JT65HF-HB9HQX is receiving a bit better on JT65A. For PSK and other modes I mainly use DM780 that is included in the Ham Radio de Luxe package. Good luck...73, Bas

VE9KK said...

Thanks for taking the time to comment, I have gotten in the past to the point of downloading WSJT-X software and trying to get it to work with my PC and rig. It became frustrating and I just gave up. These low solar conditions may just give me what I need to move forward and get it going.
Mike

VE9KK said...

Good evening Bas and very nice to hear from you, I will have to do further looking into JT65HF and it was really only one of the modes I was able to get working last year. But having said that I never gave the digi mode setup an honest effort.
Have a great week Bas
Mike