HF Digital Communications The Sound Card Radio and FLdigi Check your sound before making the presentation. Slides with a speaker icon can be clicked on the hear what the mode sounds like John Clements KC9ON Stephen H. Smith WA8LMF Joe Miller KJ8O John Mathieson AC8JW Brian Johnston W8TFI August 1, 2015

Contents Introductions Why Digital? Olivia Fldigi software

Contents Flmsg message program Sound Card Station Hints and tips for digital operating Local traffic nets

Introductions Joe Miller KJ8O SWL since 1967, first licensed in 2006 and collects QSL cards President of OCARS (W8TNO) MI Affiliated Club Coordinator kj8o@arrl.net

Introductions John Mathieson AC8JW Licensed since 2004 Active in CW and digital modes jspokes@arrl.net

Introductions Brian Johnston W8TFI Licensed in 1976 Computer operator for a major newspaper Avid experimenter and home brewer w8tfi@arrl.net

Why Digital? Send and receive text, images, data, and audio Some modes work very well in noisy and weak signal environments If you can’t hear them you can’t work them is no longer true!

Why Digital? Some modes can provide error free or reduced error transmissions. A few provide ARQ (Automatic repeat request functions) Good for Emergency Communications For emergency work large data files such as needed supplies, lists of injured and other large amounts of health and welltfare traffic can be sent error free

Why Digital? Many modes use smaller bandwidths than voice 97.1(b) contribute to the advancement of the radio art. 97.313(a) use the minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications. We will see in upcoming slides how many of these modes will fit multiple conversations in the same voice bandwidth. A few FCC reasons why to go digital.

Digital Modes of Operation There are more digital modes than you can shake a stick at! RTTY, PSK,MFSK, Olivia, MT63, JT65, Contestia, Hellschreiber, Throb, Packet, WSPR, SSTV, FreeDV and many many more! All these are AFSK modes Some of these modes are experimental. Some have specific uses. Others have not caught on or have been out dated by newer technology modes. For example: I heard THOR mode the first and only time a few days ago.

MFSK16 Like RTTY but uses 16 different frequency shifts Old technology mode - required complicated hardware before sound card software was available Speed of 78WPM / 62.5 baud with a 316 Hz bandwidth ARRL Bulletins are transmitted in MFSK16

MFSK16 Uses forward error correction (FEC) Typically this is done by sending redundant data The cost penalty is extra time to send the data multiple times Result is greatly reduced errors from QSB, QRN and Multipath propagation

Olivia MFSK Variant used for traffic handling Has forward error correction like MT63 Good with QSB, QRM Will decode 10-14dB below the noise floor

Olivia Common bandwidth, shifts, and speeds Mode BW Shifts WPM 500/8 30 1000/32 1000 32 24

Software Many different programs Most run on windows and Mac A few run on Linux Most are free We will look at FLdigi

Software FLDigi The program of choice for EMCOMM Handles radiogram and ICS forms Note: additional software needed for these on the FLDigi site.

Software FLDigi FLDigi is FREE! Handles most modes including SSTV and WeFax Also contains a log book and radio control

Getting started on FLDigi Home: HTTP://www.w1hkj.com/ Downloads: HTTP://www.w1hkj.com/download.html Beginners’ guide HTTP://www.w1hkj.com/beginner

Install files circled in red for NEBEMS.

FLdigi FLdigi, FLmsg and FLwrap All are part of the NBEMS emergency management package. (Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software)

FLdigi Fldigi is main program and communication interface Works with multiple sound card modes Did we mention that it is free!

Software FLdigi

Olivia 8/500

Olivia 8/500

FLmsg Fldigi manages ICS and ARRL forms via FLmsg an attached program to FLdigi Will send CSV and files

Flmsg FLmsg allows the user to write ARRL radiograms or ICS forms and send them via one of the sound card modes.

FLmsg It allows an almost automatic process for sending text messages and even files.

FLmsg 1. The user fills out the blank and saves the message in preset folder. 2. In FLdigi let the receiving know you are ready to send 3. In FLmsg click on Autosend.

FLmsg The message when complete will open FLmsg in the recipients computer and port the formatted message to a web browser for printing

FLmsg This is the ARRL blank form

FLmsg ICS 213

Hardware Only 3 components needed Radio Computer Audio / PTT Interface Optionally a Computer Aided Tuning (CAT) interface Not required but nice to have if the radio supports it

Hardware How much does it cost? Assuming you have the radio and computer……. Build your own interface from free to $25 Buy commercial interfaces from $60-300

Hardware Radio Almost any USB HF Transceiver Older mechanical analog VFO rigs may NOT be stable enough for narrow modes like PSK31 but work well on modes like RTTY and SSTV. Newer radios with stable frequency synthesizers are best. Some high end rigs have PSK and RTTY built in!

Hardware Computer Big and fast not required Most “XP” computers work fine! Minimum Requirements Available USB or RS-232 port Sound Card 1GHz CPU, 100MB free RAM 300MB Drive space Depends on software - YMMV The latest and greatest for HRD V6 asks for 1-4GB RAM and 50GB hard drive which sounds excessive. My current HRD 5.0 (Running CAT, Logbook, and DK780 at the same time) uses about 30Mb RAM and 300MB hard drive. FLDigi uses 20MB RAM and 20MB hard drive.

Start today with a simple attenuator cable Interfaces Receive Start today with a simple attenuator cable Parts are about $10 at Radio Shack, cheaper elsewhere! wa8lmf.net/miscinfo/Univers al-Sound-Card-Cable.pdf It may be good to have a few hard copies of this interface on hand! Some RigBlasters make you believe putting a cable from radio Speaker out to PC “Line In” will work. Sometimes….maybe with the right touch! If your PC supports “Line IN” Great! Otherwise save some problems by using an attenuator cable

Interfaces Receive

Interfaces Transmitting Transmitting is a little more complex PTT keying Isolate the audio to prevent ground loop issues You can try an attenuator method like receive. Sometime it works and sometimes not!

Interfaces Commercial Several Manufacturers MFJ West Mountain (Rig Blaster) TigerTronics (SignalLink) Some models include cables Other models require purchasing cables for your rig

Interfaces Commercial Better models include a sound card built in Your internal PC sound card is available for regular use Prices from $60 - $300 The models with a built in sound card will require an additional USB port connection to your PC. Depending on your PC and setup you may need to purchase a USB hub. For example the PC only has 2 USB ports and you have a CAT, PTT, and sound card interface!

Interfaces Homebrew As basic as two 600-600 ohm audio transformers, a few resistors, and a $1.00 opto-isolator chip for PTT keying. Note: Make sure the Mic is unplugged, turned down or off. Some radios, such as the IC-725 will mix the back port and mic together is the Mic gain is turned up! More Advantages: homebrewing can be cheaper….sometimes Disadvantage…. Time to collect the parts and built it up Possible print a schematic or two for those interested.

Interfaces Homebrew Radio Spkr/Aux Audio Out Computer Audio In Computer Speaker/Line Audio Out Radio Mic/Aux Audio In Serial Port RTS Pin Radio PTT Line

Interfaces Typical Setup Depending on manufacturer, the MIC/PTT interface is usually a generic cable with jumper wires set inside the interface or a custom cable made for the specific radio model.

Tips and Tricks Power Reduce your power! Unlike SSB, these modes either run at 100% duty cycle, or use multiple tones sensitive to intermodulation distortion! Be kind to your finals! Keep peak power out well below key-down CW maximum to minimize distortion. Keep ALC to zero Turn off speech processing or compression

Tips and Tricks Jacks Use the Auxiliary, Accessory, “Data”, or “Packet” jacks on the radio. Most radios from the major manufacturers have one or more of these jacks on the rear panel May have constant audio input, output, and PTT lines

Tips and Tricks Jacks Typical Jacks 6-pin Mini-DIN 13-Pin Full-size DIN

Tips and Tricks Jacks No need to adjust the volume or mic gain all the time No need to unplug the speaker to hear the radio No need to swap the mic in and out You may need a mic switch! Some radios, such as the ICOM IC-725 will combine the mic audio and Accessory mic audio! Fortunately the mic gain control ONLY adjusts the mic input and not the accessory jack Alternatively a Mic on/off switch could be used

Tips and Tricks Jacks Some radios have an audio out line in the microphone jack. This can help reduce extra cables.

Tips and Tricks RSID Use Reed-Solomon Identification Short code at the beginning of a transmission which identifies the mode Several programs automatically detect this and pop up a box

Tips and Tricks Sound Device Check your sound card settings in the control panel! Turn off special effects Turn off pass-thru or “Listen to this device” modes Set rate to 16 bit 48000Hz When I got a Vista machine it was a pain to get ANY program running! However, once the bugs were fixed the machine ran great in digital. Then I got a Windows 8 computer....... Digital modes were OK but some things didn't work right. Weak signals would not decode. JT9 did not work at all! Problem was the “Special Effects” turned on by default! All is well now :)

Tips and Tricks Sound Device Use the mixer to adjust your transmit audio using a dummy load and short 5- 10 second intervals More tips..... Pass through mode causes an echo, most noticable on Echolink! JT9 requires 48KHz, many modes get by fine with less. Try setting your mixer Mic and Speaker to 50%, then adjust within your software. You still may need to make other mixer adjustments after that.

Tips and Tricks References Commercial Sites Software: Ham Radio Deluxe V6 www.hrdsoftwarellc.com Interfaces MFJ www.mfjenterprises.com RigBlaster www.westmountainradio.com SignalLink www.tigertronics.com

Local Digital Traffic Nets Kentucky Digital Net 3.585mHz 8/500 Olivia Wednesday 7PM

Local Digital Traffic Nets Michigan Digital Traffic Net 3.583mHz 8/500 8PM Tues, Thurs, Sat. State nets welcome out of state stations

Local Digital Traffic Nets Ohio Digital Net: 3.580mHz, 8tones 500hz (8/500) Tues at 8PM

Questions?