{"id":246,"date":"2017-11-19T01:48:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-19T01:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/?p=246"},"modified":"2017-11-19T01:57:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T01:57:32","slug":"setting-up-for-digital-modes-and-logging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/2017\/11\/19\/setting-up-for-digital-modes-and-logging\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting Up for Digital Modes and Logging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is how I&#8217;ve configured my station for digital modes, specifically using WSJT-X and DXLab&#8217;s WinWarbler.<\/p>\n<p>I set up virtual COM ports using VSPE, which creates &#8220;pairs&#8221; of virtual com ports for PowerSDR\/OpenHPSDR mRX PS (referred to here as Px), N1MM+, and DXLab to use. \u00a0I have two defined: \u00a0COM10-12 and COM11-4. \u00a0Once set up, the configuration is saved in SDR.vspe on the desktop. \u00a0It can be double clicked to start VSPE with this configuration.<\/p>\n<div>Or, you can have it start up whenever the system boots, buy putting into the Win10 startup:\u00a0 Open &#8220;Run&#8221; from the start menu and enter\u00a0shell:startup. \u00a0Then drag the SDR.vspe file into it as a shortcut.\u00a0 Now you won&#8217;t have to start it manually.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Download and install VoiceMeeter Banana.\u00a0 This is a virtual audio panel that will connect your digital mode software to Px. Follow Scott, WU2O&#8217;s excellent instructions on configuring it <a href=\"http:\/\/wu2o.dyndns.org\/wu2o_vac_tutorial_2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 Section 8 is specifically about setting up VMB for Px.\u00a0 You can set this up to start automatically when Windows 10 boots.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>To get WinWarbler working, go into Config, Soundcard tab. For Reception, choose VoiceMeeter Aux Output, and for Transmission, choose VoiceMeeter Aux Input (assuming you&#8217;ve followed WU2O&#8217;s instructions above).\u00a0 For phone transmission you can also choose VoiceMeeter Aux Input.\u00a0 WinWarbler should now work fine for RTTY and digital modes.<\/div>\n<div>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<h4>WSJT-X, specifically FT-8<\/h4>\n<div>\n<p>Next, <a href=\"https:\/\/physics.princeton.edu\/pulsar\/k1jt\/wsjtx.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">download WSJT-X here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Scroll down and choose Version 1.8.0-rc2 for Windows &#8211; this is the one with FT-8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Install WSJT-X.<\/p>\n<p>Now start everything in this order:<br \/>\n(VMB if it isn&#8217;t already running.)<br \/>\nDXLab.<br \/>\nPx.<br \/>\nWSJT-X.<\/p>\n<p>In WSJT-X, choose FT-8 as the mode (Mode menu item)<\/p>\n<p>In WSJT-X setup (File-Settings&#8230;), set the following&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>General tab:<br \/>\n&#8211; My Call and My Grid<br \/>\nRadio tab:<br \/>\n&#8211; Rig: DX Lab Suite Commander<br \/>\n&#8211; PTT Method: CAT (if that&#8217;s how you&#8217;re doing it &#8211; I am)<br \/>\nAudio tab (assuming you&#8217;ve followed WU2O&#8217;s instructions above):<br \/>\n&#8211; Input: VoiceMeeter Aux Output (VB-Audio VoiceMeeter AUX VAIO)<br \/>\n&#8211; Output:\u00a0VoiceMeeter Aux Input (VB-Audio VoiceMeeter AUX VAIO)<\/p>\n<p>No changes in Commander or Px except you have to switch to DIGU or DIGL in Px and make sure VAC1 is on. This is best done by defining a Transmit profile for digital modes and remember to switch to it when you want to operate digital (and remember to switch out of it when you don&#8217;t).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Make sure your computer clock is exactly synchronized to WWV or NIST or something else to +\/- 1 second.\u00a0 I use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thinkman.com\/dimension4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dimension-4<\/a> to do this automatically.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>At this point you can tune to, say, 14.074, widen the passband to 3kHz, and wait.\u00a0 Check that you&#8217;re seeing audio activity in WSJT-X, as indicated by the green dB scale along the lower left side.\u00a0 The transmission cycle time is 15 seconds so after at least one complete period you should see some decoded messages (assuming the band is alive).\u00a0 This will make you want to get transmitting working!<\/p>\n<p>You can first test transmitting by hitting the Tune button in WSJT-X. If the transmission audio path is working correctly and PTT is functioning you should see a transmitting spectrum.\u00a0 If you have MON turned on you&#8217;ll hear a single tone.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the Tx 6 message at lower right in the WSJT window should have a CQ message filled in.\u00a0 Select it.\u00a0 Then click the Enable Tx button.\u00a0 On the next 15-second mark, it should transmit and you&#8217;ll see and hear your signal as with Tune.\u00a0 (This will be on the 00 or 30 second marks if you&#8217;ve checked &#8220;tx even\/1st&#8221;, or the 15 and 45 second marks if that&#8217;s unchecked.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h4>JTAlertX<\/h4>\n<div>\n<p>Be sure to also get JTAlertX so that when you click &#8220;Log QSO&#8221; in WSJT-X it will go directly to DXLab Keeper. You download it from <a href=\"http:\/\/hamapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>. Installing, uncheck everything but JTAlertX for WSJT-X (unless you want the other things too).<\/p>\n<p>Then, before running JTAlert the first time, go into WSJT-X, File-Settings, Reporting tab. On the bottom, click all three checkboxes for the UDP connection. This lets it talk to Keeper.<\/p>\n<p>Start WSJT-X.<\/p>\n<p>Next, start JTAlert. It&#8217;s menu is non-standard for a Windows app &#8211; it&#8217;s in the titlebar. Click Settings, choose Manage Settings. On the left navigation panel, open Logging, then DXLab DXKeeper, and check the Enable checkbox at the top.<\/p>\n<p>You should now be all set. When you click Log QSO in WSJT-X it&#8217;ll bring up a little window in which you can add something, if you want, then click to log it directly into Keeper.<\/p>\n<p>In WSJT-X File-Settings&#8230; Reporting tab, checking the &#8220;Prompt me to log QSO&#8221; box eliminates having to click the Log QSO button. \u00a0There is apparently no way to automatically log a QSO once some point of completion is reached, like sending &#8220;73.&#8221;\u00a0 Sending &#8220;73&#8221; does bring up the logging window automatically.<\/p>\n<p>In WSJT-X File-Settings&#8230; General tab, checking &#8220;Double-click on call sets Tx enable&#8221; makes responding to CQs faster. \u00a0There is a 2-second scramble to answer after receiving a CQ and this makes it much easier.\u00a0 But if you&#8217;ve installed JTAlertX you can single click on a CQ-ing station in its display to have the same effect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">de W2PA<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is how I&#8217;ve configured my station for digital modes, specifically using WSJT-X and DXLab&#8217;s WinWarbler. I set up virtual COM ports using VSPE, which creates &#8220;pairs&#8221; of virtual com ports for PowerSDR\/OpenHPSDR mRX PS (referred to here as Px), <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/2017\/11\/19\/setting-up-for-digital-modes-and-logging\/\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-modes","category-receiving","category-transmitting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/SDR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}