PSK31 Install & Operate 10/22/07
PSK31 operating with the RIGblaster interface
(PSK31 by G3PLX) (MMTTY v1.65D by JE3HHT)
psk31 is DSP narrowband modulation, 31.25 Baud 31Hz bandwidth technique with a Viterbi algorithm decoder to address Noisy comm. Paths.
Hardware:
Radio Shack 1/8 “Y” cable (1ea)
Radio Shack 1/8 “M/F” cable (1ea)
Radio Shack 1/8 “M/M” cable (2ea)
RIGblaster:
Strap P1 to match your radio's Microphone. (i.e. RJ45 IC706 page 9, page 10).
Set Audio Level Control full counter-clockwise.
Cable RIGblaster to radio and computer, as shown in RIGblaster manual’s hookup diagram i.e.:
Cable RIGBlasrer-IN to computer speaker OUT
Cable RIGBlaster-OUT to computer speakers (The RIGblaster interface will allow computer speakers to continue to operate for music etc.
Don't use low impedance un-amplified speakers).
Cable Radio External Speaker to computer LINE-IN (or Mic. IN or AUX IN)
Computer:
Download a PSK31 Digital software ie. Hamscope v1.55 and MMTTY RTTY Engine v1.65D
http://www.qsl.net/hamscope/
Radio setup:
Set all IF Filters to OFF (or as wide as possible)
Set Audio RF to MAX - Set AF volume till "Reduce Audio Level" is indicated on HamScope
Waterfall Display window
Set SQL to minimum (CCW)
Set VFO to: 14.070
Set Transmitter output power to 1/2 manufacturer’s rated power output, 45 watts or less is a
good operating setup for a 100 watt transmitter.
Set Mode to USB
Set Processor to OFF set SWR ON set ALC ON
Connect antenna (connecting a Dummy Load will give bad ALC reading in Digital setup)
Adjust Tuner for 1:1
Speak into the microphone, adjusting MIC control so that ALC doesn’t occur above the
ALC Zone indicator.
Software Program setup:
Install HamScope
Click on HamScope SETTINGS:
GENERAL: type CALL & select COM port 1, PTT BOTH, Echo TX/Slash/AutoCall/NameMMTTY & EXIT
RX Level Adjust: select Line-in - set all Volume controls 1/2 from bottom - Balance sliders to middle & EXIT
TX Level Adjust: un-mute all – set all Volume controls 1/2 from bottom - Balance sliders to middle & EXIT
MACROS: right click on a MACRO, type in MACRO info. For ie. ( CQ - BTU – Signoff MACROS)
HamScope display:
Select: NET
Select: MODE - BPSK (psk31)
Select: Waterfall (Spectrum – Waterfall – Input – Data Sync)
Adjust: Display Gain till PSK31 signals, or till just Noise appears on the Waterfall display
(radio receiver must be on, and antenna connected)
Left Click on the HamScope Waterfall Display at any TX frequency between 100hz and 2500hz
of the selected VFO’s frequency.
Click on TRANSMIT button --Transmission starts. (Don’t use TONE, it doesn’t allow for
a good IMD reading at a receiving station)
Adjust RIGblaster Audio Level Control clockwise, stopping as transmitter output power reaches MAX
(ie. 45 watts) keep an eye on your ALC so that ALC does not occur. Run with NO ALC
indicating occurring; any ALC indicating means that it is distorting your TX Signal,
causing harmonics. The receiving Operator’s HamScope Spectrum analyzer will display
incorrectly adjusted Transmit signals.
Click on TRANSMIT button -- Transmission stops.
Note: The RIGblaster Audio Level Control is the most precise way to adjust the
Soundcard output voltage into the radio. The Microsoft Volume controls were
designed to vary the voltage, through a range of reasonable outputs, for Speakers;
They were not designed to be adjusted so precisely as to be reliable set to
5 millivolts for PSK31 operating.
The MIC Gain, once set for Phone, should not be readjusted for Digital PSK31;
that would cause operating problems in some Modes like SSTV.
ALC can remain (on) to control drive limit.
Recommended frequencies:
Proposed 1/4/2000 DigiPan Considerate Operator’s Band
Plan
160 1.838 1.8121 To
1.840
75 3.58015 3.5801 To 3.620
40 7.03515 7.070 7.0701 To 7.100
30 10.139
10.14 10.137 To
10.140
20 14.07015
14.095 14.080 To
14.095
17 18.10015
18.109 18.100 To
18.105
15 21.0700
21.110 21.070 To
21.100
12 24.919 24.200 To 24.925
10 28.120 28.120 To
28.12015
6 50.000
2 144.000
Operating example: Set VFO to 14.080000
14.080100 14.0810 14.082000 14.082600 14.082756
1.000 2.000
Left side of Window==>| | | | |<Right
<---------------------- TX Only -------------------->
<------------------------RX -------------------------------------------->
Determine your TX freq. by adding the displayed freq. to VFO.
Optional:
Sending PSK31 PICTURES ( DigPix)
:
Download Necessary Utilities to PSK31 Folder/Directory:
Encoding Utility:
http://ftp.nsys.by/pub/soft/mac/binhex.exe
Picture Viewing & Editing Utility:
http://members.home.com/rsimmons/irfanview/
Decoding Utility:
Decode Shell Extension v4.6
http://www.funduc.com/explorer_extensions.htm
Operation:
Resample a Photo to be transmitted:
Click on IrfanView Photo Program
Click File – Open
and select a stored photo on C Drive
Click OK
Click Image – Resample
– Select 35X51 Pixel (20%X20%)
Click File – Save
as: digpix .jpg Directory- C:\Progra~1\PSK31
Click OK
Convert Photo from a .jpg File to a
Text File:
a.
Click
on PSK31 Directory
b.
Click
on BINHEX.EXE in PSK31 Directory
c.
Click
on BINHEX F-2 (BIN2HEX convert Binary to HQX)
d.
Click
on digpix.jpg File
e.
Click
OPEN (digpix.jpg file
converted to .hex TEXT File)
f.
Click
EXIT (ALT-X) the new HQX File is stored in PSK31 Folder
Transmit Photo:
a.
Open
PSK31 Program
b.
Left-Click
on a spare MACRO: MACRO Title type DigPix;
c.
In MACRO text block, type <digpix.hqx> click
OK
d.
In PSK31 Transmit window, type Photo being sent, please save RX File ie. digpix.hqx .
e. Click Transmit, after message has been
sent Click Transmit to stop
f. Click on MACRO title DigPix
( digpix .hqx File will be
added to TX window)
g. At the end of MACRO’s
picture Data, type END de AA3EU – save RX File.
h. Click on TX to transmit photo
i. Click on TX at the end of transmission
(to end transmission).
Receive
Photo:
a.
Click
File
b.
Click
Save RX text as digpix.hqx (saved to PSK31 directory)
c.
Click
on PSK31 Directory – BINHEX .EXE - BINHEX
F-3 ( converts HQX to Binary
File)
d.
Click
exit
View
Photo:
a.
Open
Irfan Viewing Program
b. Open digpix.jpg
File in PSK31 directory and view picture
DigPic:
Original Photo= Photo File .jpg –
W166xH244 pixels
Resized Photo= Photo File .hqx – W35xH51 pixels
A picture row is 60+/- characters
per-row X 80 rows
digpix.TXT (photo file)
= 2.94 KB
Transmit time= 13
minutes
Note: Resize Photo to
other W & H to lessen transmit times.
Other optional softwares for PSK31 and other Digital Modes:
RIGblaster furnishes a CD with many compatible software’s
HamScope v1.55 -
DigiPan ver 1.2 - http://members.home.com/hteller/digipan
MFSK Stream v0.9 http://iz8bly.sysonline.it/stream/index.htm
Logger ver 7.07
DominoEXFEC v2.0
OlivaAid 8/1/05
CHIP 64 v1.3
CONTESTIA
Hellschreiber Feld-Hell
MT63
MFSK16
Q15X25
RTTY
THROB v2.5x33
W1SQLPSK v5.0.01 - HRD v3.0 Bild 531
WinPSKse v2.08
W1SQLPSK v5.0.0.1
MixW2 v2.18
Zakanaka
v1.24
SSTV Chroma
PIX ver 1.5
DigACE
v1.7
DIGTRX v2.07
HFLINK PC-ALE v1.06
Airmail-3 v3.3.081
APRS v2.28
Uview
v2.03
Packet
Pactor-3
Note: Digital Modes: operating frequency
guide: “The Considerate Operator’s
Frequency Guide” QST January 2005
Note: A CW TXer
must output 15X the power of
psk31 power to have the same S/N.
Note: EDT – Set Windows
Control Panel Date & Time, Time Zone to GMT-04:00 and remove Check for
Automatic adjust clock for daylight saving changes.
Digital software sources:
Ham Radio Deluxe v3.0 Build 531
G3VFP www.g3vfp.org/
http://www.digitalham.net/
http://www.ac6v.com/software.htm
http://personal3.iddeo.es/ea3qp/sof1.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~nl9222/digisoft.htm
Tigertronics Equip www.tigertronics.com/
Reflector: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/
Test equipment software:
Audio Signal Analyser:
SpectrumLab v2.4 b29 (speclab24b29.zip) www.xs4all.nl/~nl9222/software.htm
Oscilloscope, Dual-trace: WinScope 2.51 ( osc251.zip) www.electronicsaustralia.com.au/cgi-bin/downloads.pl?area=5
Spectrogram v5.0.8 (gram517.zip) http://neasmn.org/ben/software/software.htm
Spectrogram v4.2.6 (gram426.zip)
Spectrogram GSpec
v1.0 http://www.ozemail.com.au/~wsamin
Analyzer 2000 v5.04 (Pay for) www.dxzone.com
Analyzer SkySweeper
3.08 (Pay for)
Note: to monitor and
save/print a signal
Set
VFO to a signal
Select
GRAM Spectrogram v5.0.8
Select
Scan Input
Click
STOP
Click
Save Image Windows Image
Click
OK
Save
to MyPictures File.BMP
Click
FILE - EXIT
Propagation: Predict Ionaspheric W6ELProp v2.70
MUF Charts: http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/
http://dx.qsl.net/propagation
http://www.n3kl.org/sun/noaa.html
http://sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/
Signal Reports: RST - PSB – RSQ http://www.psb-info.net/
DX Spots: http://hamcall.net/dxspots
DX Summit: http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/
DX Scape: http://www.dxscape.com/ww.html
DX-Telnet v5.2 http://www.golist.net
DX Watch http://.dxzone.com/dxsd1.php?f=1
To list your DX – go to DX Summit WEB Site
Select DX- Spots – Select SEND your own!
Type (your Call) – type DX Call (your
Call) – type freq. ie 7072.5 – type Info: ie looking for PSK31 DX
Click Submit
QSL: eQSL
http://eqsl.org/qslcard/
Joe Mettle sends: