Well, there's JS8Call, which is like a somewhat slower PSK31. There's no a lot of activity, but more than PSK31, and I can usually find someone on JS8 for a ragchew.
Just to be clear: all y'all are talking about HF bands. Plenty of other digimodes on other bands, both ways. MF, LF, VLF; VHF, SHF etc.
I am relenting my purist ideology and looking into digital other than cw ssb. I have a Lap top Win 10 and an Yeasu Ft587d. Now what else do I need? Which software? cables, usb interface? I am looking at ft8 psk31 and leaving door open for newer ones. Any recommendations on equipment I need to add or which best Ham Radio Deluxe and or will that work alone for ft8 psk31 cw and logging? Brave new world for old returning ham whose last memories were of vacuum tubes, SSB and CW , but hooked on this after field day. P. S. Amsat too!
my recommendation would be to get a SignaLink usb box and cables for the digital end of things. You will also need a cable for the rig control.... I'm not familiar with the ft587, but I'm sure the cable is easy to find. for software, Han Radio Delux works good for psk31. for ft8, you'll need to download WSJT-X. it's free. if you do get up and going on BPSK31, let me know. We're setting up a PSK FUN NIGHT.... so look for the announcement.
No, you don't. I'll grant that it is convenient, but I have hundreds of digital contacts without any rig control. Not a requirement. That is a lot of money to spend before even having tired out the mode. It is not required for a basic setup. I made dozens of contacts before investing in an interface, and by then I knew what features I wanted. My recommendation is for you not to spend $$$ on new gear before you've even made your first contact. If you have a PC and a radio you have 99% of what you need already. Get a basic setup going and then decide how you want to spend your money to make your life easier. You need to be able to get the transmission audio signal from the PC to the radio. You need to be able to get the received audio signal from the radio to the PC. You need some way to trigger the radio to transmit. Period. Everything else is bells/whistles/convenience. For a basic setup you just need to get the audio back and forth between radio and PC. For decoding received audio you can run a line from the radio headphone jack into the PC mic/line in. To transmit encoded audio you need a line from your PC heaphone/line-out to an audio-in port on your radio. (Or hold the radio mic up to your PC speaker!!) Since I'm not familiar with your radio I can't advise any more specifically on this point. From there enable digi vox on the radio. Watch your audio output levels on your PC. Over driving your audio output from the PC will cause distortion and QRM other stations. This is again somewhat specific to the radio, but if your peak power transmitted is below the radio power setting you are probably fine. (If the radio is set to 50W out, and the signal is dancing around 45w you are probably fine) The problem with FT8 is there isn't a good way for another operator to let you know if your signal is distorted, but with PSK you can ask the other ops about how your signal is looking.
This weekend JT9 came alive. Had a lot of fun with it. Even sent in a log. Hope there are more of these.
That's cool! I'd like to see the "old 'new' modes" such as JT65 and JT9 come back ... I don't have enough Adrenalin to run FT4 LOL!! Dave W7UUU
