View source for HF Digital Amateur Radio

==Amateur Radio Digital Operations==
Ham radio on HF is not only about voice and CW (Morse Code) - there's a considerable amount of digital transmissions too. There are even digital mailboxes as well as experiments using Digital Radio Mondiale ([[DRM]])


This page is an introduction to this topic - please feel free to add or correct anything found here. It's not intended to be comprehensive, but does touch on all the topics you will need to consider before getting involved in this side of the hobby.


This topic is discussed in the [https://forums.radioreference.com/forums/amateur-radio-data-transmissions.200/ Amateur Radio Data Transmissions] forum.

==General Information==
* [http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title47/47cfr97_main_02.tpl Part 97 Rules]

* Digital amateur signals are restricted to certain portions of the bands. [http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/allocate.html Here] is a general list of bands which shows the sections restricted to CW (Morse Code) and digital

* [http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Band%20Chart%20-%2011X17%20Color.pdf US Amateur Radio Bandplan (PDF)] via the ARRL

* [http://www.arrl.org/considerate-operator The Considerate Operator's Frequency Guide]    (ARRL page)

==Where Can I Find Information on the Various Modes?==
This listing is not complete, but it gives a good representation of the various modes you will find on the HF Amateur bands. Please feel free to substitute links, and add modes that are not listed here. Many of these links are courtesy of the [https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Category:Amateur_Radio Signal Identification Guide] wiki


* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Automatic_Link_Establishment_(2G_ALE) ALE]  
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/ALE-400 ALE400]
  
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Automatic_Packet_Reporting_System_(APRS) APRS]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/CHIP CHIP64 / CHIP128]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/CLOVER-I Clover]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/CLOVER_2000 Clover 2000]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Contestia Contestia]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/DominoEX DominoEX]

* [https://rsgb.org/main/blog/front-page-news/2019/04/26/new-digital-mode-announced/ FT4]

* [https://www.essexham.co.uk/ft8-basics-explained FT8]
** [https://g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf FT8 Operating Guide Weak Signal HF DXing for Technophiles (PDF)]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Hellschreiber Hellschreiber] 

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/G-TOR G-TOR] 
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/JT65a JT-65]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/JT6M JT-6M]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/JT9 JT-9]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Multi_Frequency_Shift_Keying_(MFSK) MFSK]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/MT63 MT-63] 
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Olivia Olivia]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/PACKET PACKET] 
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/PACTOR_I PACTOR-I]   
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/PACTOR_II PACTOR-II]  
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/PACTOR_III PACTOR III] 

* [https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/PACTOR_IV PACTOR IV]
 
* [http://ac4m.us/pax.html PAX / PAX2]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Phase_Shift_Keying_(PSK) PSKxx modes (PSK31, 63, 125, etc.)]
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Robust_PACKET Robust Packet Radio] 

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/ROS ROS] 

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/THOR THOR] 
 
* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/THROB THROB]

* [https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/VARA_HF VARA]  (via the SigID wiki} 

* WinMOR  -    [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winmor Winmor definition on Wikipedia]

* WSPR    -    [http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr.html WSPR website]


; Digital Services (email, etc.)

* Airmail -    [http://siriuscyber.net/airmail/ Airmail website]

* PSKMail  -   [http://pskmail.org/ PSKMail website]

* Winlink -    [http://www.winlink.org/ Winlink website]


; Digital Voice

* FDMDV   -    [http://n1su.com/fdmdv/ FDMDV website]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/WinDRM WinDRM]
** What is [[DRM]]?

* [https://github.com/DazDSP/EasyDRF/tree/master/Release EasyDRF]
** Newer and Improved version of WinDRM

* [http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/p/amateur-radio-digital-voice-resource.html The Spectrum Monitor Ham Digital Voice Research List]


; Waterfall Samples
[[Image:VARA waterfall.JPG|right|400px|VARA Waterfall]]
* [[Amateur Radio Digital Modes Waterfall Gallery]]
* [http://www.w1hkj.com/modes/index.htm FLDigi-Sights and Sounds]
* [[300 Baud HF Packet Waterfall]]
* [[Hellschreiber Waterfall]]
* [[Various Pactor Mode Waterfalls]]
* [[Robust Packet Radio Examples]]
* [[WinMOR Waterfall]]

==How Do I Connect My Transceiver and PC?==
There are still some folks that connect their transceivers to a Terminal Node Controller or TNC (such as the [http://www.kantronics.com/products/kamxl.html Kantronics KAM-XL]). There are several advantages - transmit keying, isolation and audio are all handled in a single box. Unfortunately sometimes these TNCs are a bit limited in the modes they cover. Without firmware updates, you are limited to the modes the TNC covers. 

Far and away the more popular way to go is via the soundcard. There are several models such as the [http://www.tigertronics.com/sl+main.htm Tigertronics SignaLink]. These devices remove the restriction of only working on some modes - there's usually a wide variety of software vailable, and in this case, all the transmit keying and audio is also in a single box. 

There are other soundcard devices that simply feed audio back and forth from the transceiver, but you would need to build your own keying circuit for your transceiver. Fortunately there are many such schematics on the web. 

See the [[HF Hardware Decoders]] page for examples of each. [https://www.qsl.net/wm2u/interface.html WM2U's Soundcard Interfacing] might be a source of information for interfacing with older transceivers.

The next challenge is to determine how to wire the microphone or other jack from your transceiver to the PC or TNC. This varies from model to model, and can be difficult to determine without a manual. There are numerous mailing lists devoted to particular model(s) of transceivers (and various applications). These are likely sources of information.

==What Software Can I Use?==
This list is just a sample of some of the more popular (and some lesser-known) packages that can copy some or all of these modes. Additions are solicited. There are also several websites with audio (and sonogram) samples of many digital modes to aid in learning what a particular mode sounds and looks like.
* [http://www.airlinkexpress.org/index.html AirLink Express]

* [http://www.dxatlas.com/CwSkimmer/ CW Skimmer]

* [http://www.digipan.net DigiPan]

* [http://www.dxlabsuite.com/ DX Lab Suite]

* [http://www.dxzone.com/dx12538/easyterm-ezt3271.html  EasyTerm]

* [http://www.w1hkj.com FLDigi (author's web site)], [https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi FLDigi (SourceForge download site)]

* [https://github.com/DJ2LS/FreeDATA FreeDATA]

* [https://www.hamradiodeluxe.com/ Ham Radio Deluxe] (includes DM780)

* [http://hflink.com/hamring/ HamRing]

* [http://www.qsl.net/hamscope/ HamScope]

* [http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/Hell/index.htm IZ8BLY Hellschreiber]

* [http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/Chip64/index.htm IZ8BLY Chip64]

* [http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/MT63/index.htm IZ8BLY MT63]

* [http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/Stream/index.htm IZ8BLY Stream]

* [http://js8call.com/ JS8Call]

* [http://nw7us.us/jt65a.html JT65-HF]

* [http://www.jtdx.tech/en/ JTDX]

* [http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmtty.php MMTTY]

* [http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/multimode.html MultiMode] (For Macs)

* [http://f6cte.free.fr/index_anglais.htm MultiPSK]
**[[HF and LF Modes used by MultiPSK]]

* [https://rigexpert.com/products/software/mixw-4/ MixW4]

* [http://www.paxon.de/ Paxon]

* [https://www.qsl.net/kh6ty/psk63/ QuikPSK]

* [http://rosmodem.wordpress.com/ ROS]

* [http://www.dxsoft.com/en/products/truetty/ TrueTTY]

* [https://rosmodem.wordpress.com/ VARA]

* [http://f5vag.nerim.net/g4ide/uiview_org/winpack/index.html WinPack]

* [http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=3749 WinWarbler]

* [http://www.wolphi.com/ Wolphi Amateur Radio Apps]  Android applications

* [https://www.qsl.net/zs5wo/wopsk.htm WoPSK]

* [http://www.dh3ww.de/wpp/index.htm WPP]  in German

* [http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html WSJT-X]

* [http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/?zakanaka,50 Zakanaka]


; Audio Samples
* [http://www.bartg.org.uk/modesamples.asp British Amateur Radio Teledata Group Mode Samples]

* [http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp-3.21/Modes/index.htm Digital Modes - Sight & Sound (fldigi)]

* [http://hfradio.org.uk/html/digital_modes.html G4UCJ's Radio Website]

* [http://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Category:Amateur_Radio Signal Identification Guide - Amateur Radio]

* [http://www.mixw.net/index.php?j=signals MixW digital signal examples]

* [http://f1ult.free.fr/DIGIMODES/MULTIPSK/digimodesF6CTE_en.htm MultiPSK - Digital Mode Samples]

* [http://wb8nut.com/digital/ WB8NUT Digital Information Page]

* [http://www.qsl.net/zl1bpu/ ZL1BPU Fuzzy Modes]


; Listings for Tigertronics Modems
* [http://www.tigertronics.com/bay_soft.htm Software listings for the Tigertronics BayPac Modem]

* [http://www.tigertronics.com/sl_soft.htm Software listings for the Tigertronics SignaLink]
 

; Slow Scan TV (SSTV) Applications
* See the SSTV section of the [[HF Software Decoders]] article

==Testing Receiving Data on Your New Setup==
The single best way to test receiving data would be to have a station with a known schedule. W1AW has such a schedule - the website for the schedule is [http://www.arrl.org/digital-transmissions here]


==Where Can I Find Additional Resources?== 
; References
* [http://www.arrl.org/shop/Digital-Communications/ ARRL Store]


;Mailing Lists and Forums
* See the [[Utility_Monitoring_Central_Links#Mailing_Lists / Social|UMC Mailing Lists]] section 
* [https://digitalradio.groups.io/g/main Digital Mode Radio]    on groups.io



[[Category:HF in Amateur Radio]]
[[Category:HF Modes]]