Summary
MULTIPSK Version 3.3 Handbook

Author’s address and E-mail - Thanks

Limitations to the use of the freeware version

Description of the software, schematic of the connections and examples of how to use it

Minimum hardware requirements

Installation of the software

Multipsk programming

Access to the configuration screen

Selecting the serial port

Selecting the  sound card

Mixer setup

Sound input selection

Input level selection

Sound input level display

Speaker output level selection

RX/TX modes selection and their descriptions

Frequencies used

Setting up sequences (long macros) 1 to 12

Reading a QSO in progress or a previous QSO

Checking of the selected serial port

Use of the logbook

Personal data and macros

Playing and recording sound files (.WAV)

Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location

Tune function and opening of a repeater

Description of the beacon commands

Description of the MT63 commands

Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options

Description of the CW binaural reception options

Description of the Fax HF mode commands

Description of the SSTV mode commands

Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode

Panoramic reception for PSK modes (BPSK31, PSK63 and PSKFEC31)

IMD, signal quality  and S/N ratio

Control of the transceiver (RX/TX screen):

Preliminary and description of the windows and controls

Use in reception

Use in transmission

Manual control of the mixer by the user

Verification of the configuration file CONFPSER.SER, the files F1 till F12.SER, N1 till N12.SER, PERSO_PS.TXT and LOG_PSK.LO


Author's address and E-mail

Author’s address and E-mail - Thanks

Patrick LINDECKER (F6CTE)

4, rue du Square

91440 BURES-SUR-YVETTE

FRANCE

E-mail: f6cte@aol.com

WEB site:http://members.aol.com/f6cte (to download the last release of Multipsk)

A Yahoo group (in English language) exists for Multipsk users: Multipsk@yahoogroups.com. You can expose encountered problems or organize skeds...If necessary, contact the group arbitrator Terry at the adress: terry@aviationradio.plus.com

The author thanks in advance all persons who give him results regarding this software. These could include problems encountered, possible improvements, good and bad points, possibly compared with other software, and so on. It is better to send these with the description of the PC configuration, the transceiver, the antenna, etc...

Correction of the English mistakes in this text or in the program English interface are welcome too.

Thanks for helping me with this release to:

* YK1AO, Dr. Omar Shabsigh, President of the Syrian amateur society; TECHNICAL INSTITUTE of RADIO (TIR) for his help in re-translating most of this handbook and editing it,

* DK5KE (Ludwig) for their availability for tests,

and to all who have pointed out the program bugs and have participated to their solution.

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Limitations of the freeware version

Limitations to the use of the freeware version

The free limited version decodes and encodes all Multipsk modes. But the following functions are not free of charge:

* playing a sound file and recording in a sound file (see Playing and recording sound files (.WAV)),

* the alarm on callsigns in beacon mode (see Description of the beacon controls),

* the different alarms in panoramic PSK (see Panoramic for PSK reception (BPSK31, PSK63 and PSKFEC31)),

* the determination of the country, its latitude and longitude, according to a given prefixe or call (see Countries, World Map, Locator, Automatic Reception and Location),

* the positioning of a Locator, the distance and the azimuth to the user own Locator (see Countries, World Map, Locator, Automatic Reception and Location),

* putting a country according to the callsign ot its prefix on the world map, automatic reception and location on the world map, in the PSK panorama (see Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location and Panoramic for PSK reception (BPSK31, PSK63 and PSKFEC31)),

* the programmation of the reception to, for example, sweep alternatively the spectrum in one or several modes (see Multipsk programming).

Explanations relatives to the limited functions (see above) are displayed in red.

The purchase conditions can be found in the menu "Help and licence", option "Nature of the limitations and purchase conditions of the non-limited version", from the "Configuration" screen.

Limited or not, this software is destined to non-commercial use only, except upon explicit agreement of the author.

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Functions of the software, schematic of the connections and typical set-up
Description of the software, schematic of the connections and examples of how to use it

Hardware requirements:

Pentium 166 or more, under Windows 95, 98, NT or XP with graphical resolutions of 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768, the best resolution being 800x600.

Lower speed Pentium-based PC's (<166 MHz) are too slow to be suitable for this program, particularly, laptops, for which the display is in general slow.

Pentium 166 can receive and transmit on a 2500 Hz bandwidth.

The Pentium 450 or more may receive and transmit on 2500, 3300 or 4300 Hz bandwidth (in fact the necessary computing power depends on the selected mode).

A Pentium 1000 or more with a graphical resolution of 800x600 and 24 bits colors, allows is the  optimum for Multipsk.

Note about PSK panoramic, THROB/X, MFSK and FILTERS modes: the program may work with a Pentium 66 (in a degraded way), except for the PSK panoramic and in THROB , THROBX and MFSK modes where a Pentium P166 or more is necessary. A Pentium 450 will be a lot more satisfactory for the user. For FILTERS, a P450 is desirable.

Note about MT63 mode: this complex mode needs a minimum configuration of a Pentium 1000.

Description of the program

1) The program decodes the following signal text or image (fax or SSTV) modes when received as audio from an SSB receiver or decodes them from saved .WAV files:

- BPSK31 (at 31.25 bauds),

- QPSK31 (at 31.25 bauds),

- PSK63  (at 62.5 bauds) ,

- PSK63F  (at 62.5 bauds) ,

- PSK10 (differential two phases modulation at 10 bauds),

- PSKFEC31 (DBPSK modulation at 31.25 bauds with repetition of each bit),

- PSKAM50 (DBPSK modulation at 50 bauds with repetition of each character just like AMTOR FEC),

- PSKAM10: PSKAM at 10 bauds,

- PSKAM31: PSKAM at 31 bauds,

- CW (morse) between 10 and 52 words/minute,

- CCW (Coherent CW) at 12, 24 or 48 words/minute,

- THROB,

- THROBX,

- MFSK16  (with SSTV ability) and MFSK8,

- MT63,

- RTTY at 45, 50, 75 or 100 bauds,

- ASCII at 110 bauds (7 or 8 bits),

- AMTOR ARQ (LISTEN mode ), SITOR A,

- AMTOR FEC, SITOR B or NAVTEX,

- FELD HELL, PSK HELL or HELL 80,

- SSTV

- HF FAX (facsimile)

Automatic determination of the BPSK-kind modes is done.

2) The program transmits, as modulated audio, PSK10, BPSK31, QPSK31, PSKAM10/31/50, PSKFEC31, PSK63, PSK63F, CW, CCW, THROB, THROBX, MFSK16, MFSK8, MT63, RTTY 45 bauds, ASCII, AMTOR FEC, FELD HELL, PSK HELL, HELL 80 code, SSTV or HF Fax using a SSB transceiver.

The audio signal is modulated in:

- phase-shift keying (PSK) at a rate of 31,25 bauds for BPSK31, PSKFEC31, PSKAM31 or QPSK31, at 50 bauds for PSKAM50, at 10 bauds for PSK10 or PSKAM10, at 62,5 bauds for PSK63, at 245 bauds for PSK HELL at 5, 10 or 20 bauds for MT63 (on 64 carriers),

- on-off amplitude keying (OOK) for FELD HELL, CW and CCW,

- frequency-shift keying (FSK) for THROB, THROBX, MFSK16, MFSK8, RTTY 45 bauds, ASCII, AMTOR FEC (100 bauds), HELL 80, HF Fax or SSTV,

3) The program offers an audio filter (as lowpass, bandpass or band rejection) for audio signals received from the receiver. It can also lower the background noise (pseudo-mode FILTERS).

4) the program allow a binaural CW reception, i.e by the two ears, the signals going to the headphones being in quadrature. This reception improves the signal-to-noise ratio as physiologically felt by the user.

Notes:

* An experimental new mode called PSKFEC31 is introduced. This mode is derived from PSK10 mode for the set of characters and from PSK31 for the speed (31.25 bauds). Each bit (and not each character as in PSKAM) is transmitted twice with an interval of 13 bits between the two transmissions of the bit. The speed is about 28 wpm. This mode permits to lower appreciably the number of errors due to HF propagation conditions (without loss of synchronization as in PSKAM). The bandwidth is about 110 Hz. The lowest S/N is -14.5 dB (for a P166 computer or higher).

* PSK10 mode is designed to assure communications with weak ratio Signal-to-Noise ratios down to -17.5 dB with less than 2% errors. The speed is 18 wpm. This mode is very sensitive to the ionospheric Doppler modulation.

* the BPSK31 and QPSK31 modes are designed to assure communications with ratio Signal-to-Noise ratio down to 0.1 (-11.5 dB, for a P166 computer or more). The speed is 37 wpm in capital letters and 51 wpm in small letters. When we say  PSK31, it refers to a general term for BPSK31 and QPSK31. The convolutional encoding of QPSK31 allows it to lower the number of errors.

* the new PSK63 mode derives from BPSK31 but it is 2 times faster. The minimum ratio Signal-to-Noise ratio is about - 7 dB.

* the PSK63F mode has a same speed (62.5 bauds) as PSK63 but with a convolutional encoding. It is a powerful mode with the presence of noise. The minimum ratio Signal-to-Noise ratio is about - 12 dB.

* CCW (Coherent CW) has been created, for amateur radio, by Ramond Petit (W6GHM) in 1975. The CCW presented here derives from the "traditional" CCW with some modifications (F6CTE/DK5KE). For example, the standard speed is 12 wpm . Here the user can choose between 12, 24 and 48 wpm.

The minimum S/N ratio can be very low, down to -12 dB for the standard speed of 12 wpm, depending on the speed and the characters sent.

* CW, RTTY, ASCII and AMTOR are what we call as traditional modes used by radio-amateurs.

RTTY, ASCII and AMTOR use two frequencies which are filtered, each one corresponding to a binary digit (1 or 0). These two frequencies, separated by a shift, modulate the RF when transmitted and the modulation is called Audio Frequency-Shift Keying (AFSK), otherwise the modulation can be done directly on the RF carrier and it is called Frequency-Shift Keying (FSK). In HF amateur radio, only AFSK is used.

* THROB and THROBX are experimental multi-tone frequency shift keyed (MFSK) modes, good for low power transmission without being sensible to Doppler as are PSK transmissions. The use of raised cosine shaped tones pulses applied to each character gives a characteristic "throbbing" sound, hence the name of the modes. THROBX is an improved THROB mode but only for speeds of 1 and 2 bauds. The minimum Signal-to-Noise rato is about - 18.5 dB for THROBX at 1 baud.

* MFSK16 and MFSK8 are powerful modes MFSK (Multi Frequency Shift Keying) modes designed specifically for DX. They use a convolutional FEC (Forward Error Correction) coding and an interleaver, which disperse the symbols over a long period of time, in a way that counters the effects of noise and multi-path that affect reception. Bits are sent on a carrier chosen among 16 (MFSK16) or 32 (MFSK8). The minimum ratio Signal-to-Noise ratio is about - 13.5 dB for MFSK16 and -15.5 dB for MFSK8.

SSTV in MFSK16: it is possible to send and to receive small pictures during a QSO in MFSK16.

* MT63: 64 carrier frequencies are phase modulated. This mode is not sensitive to fading and, due to its interleaving, is considered as a very robust mode. The minimum Signal-to-Noise ratio is at 10 bauds is - 5 dB.

* Hellschreiber FELD HELL, PSK HELL and HELL 80 modes are graphical modes where characters are drawn and the interpretation done by the user. For FELD HELL, the transmission is done by On-Off keying (OOK) as in CW, by BPSK for PSK HELL and by AFSK in HELL 80.

* SSTV ("Slow Scan Television") allows the user to send fixed pictures (in general in colors), with a bandwidth similar to the one of HF Fax (« shift » of 800 Hz, white at 2300 Hz and black at 1500 Hz). Different SSTV modes are proposed,

* HF Fax is similar to the RTTY mode with a shift of 800 Hz, the white at 2300 Hz and the black at 1500 Hz,

The next three modes are inferior in performance compared to PSKFEC31 because of the weakness of its synchronization scheme. This could lead to loss of data due to bad propagation conditions. In better conditions, these modes are interesting especially PSKAM10 in long wave communication.

* the interleaved PSKAM50 mode (from Multipsk V. 2.3) derives from PSK10 mode for the modulation and for AMTOR FEC for the repetition of the characters (time diversity). The speed is 50 bauds but each character is transmitted 2 times at an interval of five characters (example: A X B Y C A D B…). The speed is about 31 wpm. This mode permits to lower appreciably the number of errors due to HF radio conditions (without transmitting random characters). The bandwidth is about 180 Hz. The lowest S/N is -11.5 dB (for a P166 computer or higher).

* the PSKAM10 mode (from Multipsk V. 2.3) is PSKAM transmitted at 10 bauds. The speed is about 6 wpm. This mode permits to slowly chat speed but down to very weak S/N (-19.5 dB). The bandwidth is about 40 Hz.

* the PSKAM31 mode (from Multipsk V. 1.7) is PSKAM transmited at 31.25 bauds. The speed is about 20 wpm. This mode permits to chat down to a weak S/N (-14 dB). The bandwidth is about 110 Hz.

The 3 following additional documents: PSKAM.DOC, PSKFEC31.DOC and RS232_EN.DOC are found in the file. These files describe respectively the PSKAM (10/31/50) and PSKFEC31 protocols and examples of the RS232 interface.

Transmission and decoding are done through the sound card of your PC, which is connected for the audio input to the speaker of the transceiver or toan auxiliary AF output and for the audio output, to the the transceiver (RTTY input, for example).

The sound card should be SOUND-BLASTER compatible.

It is taken for granted that your transceiver has VOX. If not, the Push-To-Talk terminals must be connected with an appropriate electronic set to the RQS or DTR pin of the selected serial port.

For CW (Morse),  the keying input of the transceiver is not normally used. It is done by sending a keyed carrier. However, a possibility to key the transceiver is given but not recommended.

SCHEMATIC OF THE CONNECTIONS

                                             |

                             +---------------+---+

      +----------------+     ¦USB/LSB transceiver¦

      ¦ RX/TX screen   ¦     +------------+-+----+

      ¦ (reception/    ¦                  | |

      ¦  transmission) +---+              | |

      ¦    SCREEN      ¦   ¦              | |

      +----------------+   ¦              | |cables

     /                /    ¦              | |

    /   KEYBOARD     /     ¦              | |

    -----------+----       ¦      (Input  | |

               ¦           ¦    connector)| |(Speaker out connector)

            +--+-----------+-------------++-+-+----+

            ¦                            ¦ s  ¦    ¦

            ¦                            ¦ o  ¦    ¦

            ¦    Pentium                 ¦ u  ¦    ¦

            ¦                            ¦ n  ¦    ¦

            ¦                            ¦ d  ¦    ¦

            ¦                            ¦card¦    ¦

            ¦                            +----+    ¦

            +--------------------------------------+

OUTSIDE CONNECTIONS OF THE SOUND CARD

   +-------------------------------------+----

   ¦                                     ¦

   ¦                                     O Line in connector (stereo

   ¦                                     ¦               3.5 mm jack)

   ¦      sound card                     O Mic in connector (mono

   ¦                                     ¦               3.5 mm jack)

   ¦                                     O Line out connector (not

   ¦                                     ¦                    used)

   ¦                                     O Speaker out connector

   ¦                                     ¦ (stereo 3.5 mm jack)

   ¦                                     ¦

   ¦                                     ¦

   ¦                                     ¦Game/MIDI connector (not

   ¦                                     ¦                    used

   ¦                                     ¦

   ¦                                     ¦

   +-------------------------------------+

Either the Line-in or the Mic-in connector is used as well as the Speaker out connector (which must be connected to the RTTY input of the transceiver (AFSK IN) except for pseudo-mode FILTERS)

In pseudo-mode FILTERS and in binaural reception, the AF signal issued from the receiver is directed to the sound card of the PC, filtered and then sent to the speaker. In binaural reception the sound is sent to the 2 channels (left and right).

Note: on some sound cards, Line in input and Mic input are geographicaly inverted.

Program use in BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSK10, PSKAM (10/31/50) or PSKFEC31

The user sets his transceiver to USB. A warm-up period (1.5 hour) for frequency stabilization is recommended.

In reception, the decoder is started up in "Slave" mode then the input level is set up if Automatic Control Gain (AGC) has not been chosen.

A PSK signal, is picked up by choosing a peak from the displayed spectrum.

The decoded text is shown in the reception window. The quality of the reception depends on the noise level and interference from other signals. If it is a PSKAM (10/31/50) signal, the “Synchro” LED will light up.

If the user wants to make a call, he switches to “Master” mode if he wishes to take over the frequency, or remains in "Slave" mode if he fears a too big frequency drift from the  correspondent’s frequency.

If he wants to call, he passes or in "master" mode if he wishes to impose their frequency either he reminds in "slave" mode if he fears a too big frequency drift of their correspondent.

Program use in RTTY or in ASCII

The user sets up the speed (45 to 100 bauds en RTTY, 110 bauds fixed en ASCII) and the mode (normal or reversed according to the speed and the SSB mode) then he adjusts the input level, if he has not chosen the Automatic Control Gain (AGC).

For 45 Baud RTTY and for ASCII, the lower sideband (LSB) is selected. In RTTY, for speeds above 45 bauds, the upper sideband (USB) is chosen. Operation should be done in the sections of the frequency bands dedicated to RTTY.

In RTTY and ASCII, there are two signal peaks on the spectrum display. The right hand peak is selected in the program by the mouse. The decoded text of the received signal is then shown on the receive screen.

In transmission, there is only one speed in RTTY: 45 Baud. In 45 bauds RTTY and in ASCII the shift is 170 Hz shift or, more rarely, 200 Hz.

In ASCII, the user may choose a 7 bits format (for English, for example) or 8 bits (for French, for example).

Program use in AMTOR

For reception, the user configures the mode (“normal“, by default) then he adjusts the input level, if he has not chosen the Automatic Gain Control (AGC). As AMTOR signals have two peaks on the spectrum display, the user, using the mouse, selects the right –hand peak. The mode should be LSB. The decoded text of the received signal is then shown on the receive screen.

Note: LSB is preferred for amateurs transmissions and USB for commercial ones.

In transmit: the user has no other choice but AMTOR FEC and it should be on LSB.

Program use in CW or in CCW

The user has to adjust the input level if he is not using Automatic Gain Control (AGC). The transceiver should be in USB. The decoded text appears in the receive window.  The received text quality in CW depends not only on the noise and input level, but also on the quality of the operator’s keying. In CCW, the keying is perfect because it is generated by a computer.

For the CW, the decoding is only reliable with good level signals close to the CW standard, which is unusual due to the fading and the different CW "styles" as practiced in reality. Therefore, the program works as an aid to the operator especially in High Speed Telegraphy (HST).

For the CCW mode, the decoding is only reliable if there is neither QRM/QRN nor quick fading.

Program use in THROB and THROBX

The user selects the mode (“normal“ by default) then adjusts the input level if he is not using Automatic Gain Control (AGC) and selects "slave" mode. The transceiver should be in USB. A warm-up period (1.5 hour) for frequency stabilization is recommended.

The user selects a THROB or a THROBX transmission ("throbbing" noise) by clicking between the two blue vertical bars or, if idling characters are sent (for THROB the display shows one peak, for THROBX the display will be one central peak and two peaks on the sides), then by clicking on the central peak, from the displayed spectrum ("waterfall"). The decoded text appears in the receive window.

If the user wants to call, then he can do that in "master" mode or remain in "slave" mode if he fears a too big frequency drift of the opposite station.

Program use in MFSK16 and MFSK8

The user selects the mode (“normal“ by default) then adjusts the input level if he is not using Automatic Gain Control (AGC) and selects "slave" mode. The transceiver should be in USB. A warm-up period (1.5 hour) for frequency stabilization is recommended.

The user selects MFSK16 or MFSK8 mode (characteristic minced signal on a 260 Hz broad band) by clicking between the two blue vertical bars on the waterfall spectrum display.

At the beginning or when idling, it is possible to tune on the lower peak (the left hand one).

After several seconds; (3 in MFSK16 or 5 to 6 in MFSK8), due to convolutional decoding and interleaving, the user can read the decoded text on the receive window.

If the user wants to call, then he can do that in "master" mode or remain in "slave" mode if he fears a too big frequency drift of the opposite station.

Note: MFSK16 allows the exchange of small pictures during a QSO.

Program use in MT63

The user selects the mode (“normal“ by default) then adjusts the input level if he is not using Automatic Gain Control (AGC) and selects "slave" mode. The transceiver should be in USB.

Using USB, the user chooses MT63 and puts the signal on the waterfall display between the two blue vertical lines. As these two blue lines are fixed on the display, tuning is done by changing the frequency of the radio receiver.

The program will determine first the exact offset in Hz and, secondly, the difference between the sound cards sampling frequencies.

Synchronization takes a few moments, after which the decoded text appears in the window.

Program use in FELD HELL, PSK HELL or HELL 80

With the transceiver in USB, the user selects FELD HELL mode (crackling sound type) and clicks on a peak in the displayed spectrum. The received text can be seen in the receive window. The user may choose between large and small characters (more readable but allowing less displayed lines).

Once the link is established in FELD HELL, the user will go to PSK HELL or in HELL 80 (either in "DX" position or "Super DX" position for difficult links). The commands are the same.

Note: the HELL 80 is an AFSK mode (2 frequencies as in RTTY), the user must compulsory be in USB and must select the transmission by clicking the peak the most to the left.

Program use in SSTV

In reception, the user tunes to one of SSTV frequencies (for example, 14230 KHz) in USB). The SSTV signal is selected by clicking on the synchronization signal in the displayed spectrum. Normally, the band used for picture transmission is between 1500 and 2300 Hz and the synchronization signal is on 1200 Hz. One may, then, observe and manage the produced image on the screen.

The user can load a picture with a .BMP extension, write on it (CQ  CQ  de XYZ XYZ + K) and then transmit it.

In Europe, MARTIN1 mode is used, while in the USA, Japan and Australia the SCOTTIE1 mode is used.

Program use in HF Fax

In reception, the user tunes to one of the Fax frequencies (for example, 2616.6 KHz in the evening  for the Bracknell Meteo station) in USB. The speed is adjusted to 120  lines per minute (lpm) and the indice of co-operation (IOC) to 288 (or 576). The fax transmission is selected by clicking on  the right peak of the displayed spectrum. The frequency of this peak must be about 2300 Hz for a good quality of the picture. One may, then, observe and manage the produced picture on the screen.

The user can load a picture with a .BMP extension, and then transmit it.

In transmit, the user can only  send at a speed of 120 lpm and an IOC of 288.

Note: the scanning line frequency of 120 lpm is the most common speed. Ham transmissions are done with an IOC of 288 and meteo faxes in general, with an IOC of 576. But as transmitted pictures rarely take 19 minutes but rather 10 minutes, the IOC of 288 is the first choice.

Program use in FILTERS Mode (for full-duplex sound card)

The user selects, for a CW transmission a bandpass filter of 120 or 250 Hz. If the beat frequency varies, he clicks on “Carrier pursuit“. The lowpass filter, may also be activated to manage only the low part of the spectrum.

In SSB, an annoying carrier, may be canceled by selecting the band rejection filter with a bandwidth of 120 Hz.

In CW, the user may find advantage in activating a noise reduction filter.

Program use in CW Binaural Reception (for full-duplex sound card)

The user begins listening to the complete AF band in "MONO PASS-ALL" then he selects, by clicking on "BINAURAL", a CW transmission and choosing the appropriate bandpass filter (60, 120 or 250 Hz). If the AF frequency varies, he clicks on “Carrier pursuit“. The user may find advantage to activate a noise reduction filter.

GENERAL NOTES

The 65500 first characters received during a cession will be recorded in the

"QSO <Date> <Time>.TXT" file. That text can be read at wish by taking the option «Reading the QSO in progress or the preceding QSO».

The sent characters are, also, recorded in the "QSO <Date> <Time>.TXT" file.

Afterwards, a key is noted <key> (example: <Alt>).

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Minimum hardware requirements

* a Pentium 166 or more under Windows 95, 98 or NT,

* a 100 % SOUND-BLASTER compatible sound card. The card must be “full duplex“ type for the DSP modes,

* a speaker connected to the sound card output for the pseudo-mode FILTERS,

* two connection cables from the sound card to the transceiver (computer cable type),

* a SSB Amateur transceiver.

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Installation of the software

To install the software, double-click on "INSTAL".

This will create the directory «C:\MULTIPSK» (or the user can choose any other file) which, after installation, will contain all the necessary files.

A simple updating is also possible. In that case, only few files will be copied, one of which is MULTIPSK.EXE.

For more details, please refer to the text file "_READ ME".

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Multipsk programming

Multipsk gives the possibility to the user to program the reception with a little programmer, in a specific type language, without possibilty of internal loop.

Only the text modes are taken into account, which excludes graphical modes (Hell, Fax et SSTV) and DSP modes.

It can be possible, for example, to watch out all the AF band in a given mode, staying more time on powerful signals, then doing the same type of watching in an other mode.

Once started in automatic in the RX/TX screen, the program will be run regurarly (each second).

Programs can be saved and then loaded.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

From top to bottom, it is found:

* the user window where the programmer will be able to display the programming results. Click right to obtain "Copy/SelectAll" possibilities,

* the programming window where the program is written. Click right to obtain "Copy/Paste" possibilities,

* just below this window, from left to right:

- a label where the line number is displayed,

- the number of the call (number of the seconds from the beginning),

- a label with the results of the program control (see further on),

- a button to print the programming window,

- a button to print the user window,

* the controls window.

CONTROLS DESCRIPTION

"Load a program file": if the user has, before, saved a program, he can re-load it in the programming window,

"Program example": it is a little demonstation program. Comments allow the understanding. A confirmation is asked to avoid to overwrite a possible program.

"Save": if a program has been loaded and then modified, the file is up-to-dated. The last but one version is saved in the N_1.PRO file. So, in case of inintentional saving, the user will be able to recover the former file in N_1.PRO.

"Save as...": to save a program in a file (to the format "XYZ.PRO") in the sub-directory /PROGRAM,

"End": to finish,

"Control": to check the program. The first error is displayed by its line number.

"Execution": to test the program: it is run only one time.

"Automatic running":the program is regurarly started with a time interval of one second.

The RX/TX screen is in "Stop" position as long as the program is not automatically running.

"Pause": to pause during the automatic running.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Generalities

1) the instructions are written on only one line. They are in capital and composed of one macro possibly followed by one parameter, with one or several spaces between them (example: EQUAL F 1200),

2) the instructions can be preceded or followed by one or several spaces and can be followed by a comment,

3) there is no possibility of internal loop (no GOTO, FOR, WHILE or REPEAT). In fact, the loop is external as the program is run automatically.

Variables description (in bold)

Variables represent integers between -231 (about -2E9) and 231 (about 2E9). Nevertheless, M and N might be positive and L and F might be limited to physical values (see further on).

All the variables are in reading/writing.

Some (M, N, F and L) are associated with physical pieces of data (time, frequency and signal level). Others (G, H, I, J, K) are of free use.

"G", "H", "I", "J" and "K" are variables of free use. They can be used as constants or incremental values.

"M" and "N": are time variables which count the number of calls to the program (one par second). These variables always evolve. They allow to estimate durations. There initial value is -1 (to allow an initial initialization of the programme).

IMPORTANT: they might be are limited to positive values.

"F": is the variable representing the frequency (Hz). Its initial value is 200.

IMPORTANT: it might be limited by inferior value to 200 (Hz) and by superior value to the maximum frequency of the spectrum (2500 Hz as a minimum).

"L": is the variable representing the level of the received signal in dB (in fact it is the signal-to-noise ratio).

IMPORTANT: it might limited by inferior value to -30 (dB) and by superior value to 15 (dB).

Instructions description (in bold)

"SOUND Variable1 or a number Variable2 or a number" to produce a sound at a given frequency in Hz corresponding to the first parameter of a duration in ms corresponding to the second parameter.

Examples: "SOUND 1000 100" means a sound of 1000 Hz frequency during 100 ms and "SOUND J K" means a sound of J Hz frequency during K ms.

The minimum frequency is 50 Hz. The maximum frequency is 20000 Hz.

The minimum duration is 1 ms. The maximum duration is 800 ms.

To pass in a given text mode:

"PSKFEC31","PSK10","BPSK31","PSKAM50","PSKAM10","PSKAM31","PSK63F","QPSK31",

"PSK63","CW","CCW","ASCII","RTTY 45","AMTOR FEC","THROB","THROBX","MT63",

"MFSK16","MFSK8","RTTY 50","RTTY 75","RTTY 100","SITOR A","AMTOR ARQ".

"GETF": or F=Frequency: to assign the value of the AF frequency to the variable F.

"SETF": or Frequency=F: to assign the value of the variable F to the AF frequency (the frequency will be limited between the lower and upper limits of the spectrum).

"GETL": or L=Level: to assign the value of the signal level (-30 to 15 dB) to the variable L.

"WRITE X": writing, in the user window, of the value of the variable X ("F" to "L") without carriage return. For example, if the instruction is "WRITE F" and if F is worth 1000, then, it will be displayed " F=1000".

"WRITELN X": same instruction as "WRITE X" except that a carriage return (with a line feed) is inserted at the end of the writting.

"CRLF": simple carriage return (with a line feed).

"WRITEDATA": writing (without carriage return), in the user window, of the buffer of characters received from the last "WRITEDATA" instruction or the last "CLEARDATA". After a "WRITEDATA" the buffer is cleared (as with a "CLEARDATA").

"CLEARDATA": clear the buffer of received characters.

"CLEARWINDOW": clear the user window.

"EXIT": to quit immediatly the program (interesting for tests).

Operations on variables.

It is reminded that the variables M, N, F and L might be limited (by the user) to physical bounds (see above).

For example: EQUAL F 100 is impossibe because the lower limit of the spectrum is 200 Hz.

Another example: EQUAL L 20 is impossible because the higher limit of the level is 15 dB.

IMPORTANT: all the used numbers must be integers and not reals.

"EQUAL Variable1 Variable2 or number" to assign the value of the variable2 or a number (integer) to the variable1. Examples: "EQUAL I J" means I=J and "EQUAL I 300" means I=300.

"INC Variable1 Variable2 or number" to increase the value of the variable1 with either the value of the variable 2 or a number (integer). Examples: "INC I J" means I=I + J and "INC I 300" means I=I + 300.

"DEC Variable1 Variable2 or number" to decrease the value of the variable1 with either the value of the variable 2 or a number (integer). Examples: "DEC I J" means I=I - J and "DEC I 300" means I=I - 300.

"MUL Variable1 Variable2 or number" to multiply the value of the variable1 by either the value of the variable 2 or a number (integer). Examples: "MUL I J" means I=I x J and "MUL I 300" means I=I x 300.

"DIV Variable1 Variable2 or number" to divide the value of the variable1 by either the value of the variable 2 or a number (integer). Examples: "DIV I J" means I=I / J and "DIV I 300" means I=I / 300.

Comparisons:

An "IFinstruction" is one the following described instruction (IFEQUAL, IFABOVE or IFBELOW).

IMPORTANT: a comparison is true or false. If it is true, all instructions down to the "ENDIF" instruction finishing the block (IF...ENDIF) or to the end of the program (if no "ENDIF" instruction is found) will be run. If the comparison is false, the program goes directly to the instruction "ENDIF" of the block or to the end of the program (if no "ENDIF" instruction is found).

The blocks of instructions IF...ENDIF must be nested: it can be put a second IF...ENDIF block inside a first IF...ENDIF block (see the demonstration program).

"IFEQUAL Variable1 Variable2 or number": or "IFEQUAL Variable1=Variable2" or "IFEQUAL Variable1=number (integer)". Examples: "IFEQUAL I J" means "IF I=J" and "IFEQUAL I 300" means "IF I=300".

"IFABOVE Variable1 Variable2 or number": or "IFABOVE Variable1=Variable2" or "IFABOVE Variable1=number (integer)". Examples: "IFABOVE I J" means "IF I>J" and "IFABOVE I 300" means "IF I>300".

"IFBELOW Variable1 Variable2 or number": or "IFBELOW Variable1=Variable2" or "IFBELOW Variable1=number (integer)". Examples: "IFBELOW I J" means "IF I<J" and "IFBELOW I 300" means "IF I<300".

"ENDIF": this instruction does not execute anything. It is, in fact, an end label for the instructions block beginning by an "IFinstruction". For example:

IFEQUAL L 500      // beginning of the bloc

  SOUND 1000 100 // if IFEQUAL=TRUE

  WRITELN N         // if IFEQUAL=TRUE

ENDIF                   // end of the bloc

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Access to the configuration menu

Access to the configuration screen

From the directory A:\> or C:\MULTIPSK>, start up the program "MULTIPSK".

IMPORTANT: this is a stand-alone program. All that other applications must be closed while running Multipsk.

In case it should be necessary, the energy saving functions of the monitor will be deactivated.

In effect, these functions may, possibly, cause the loss of the picture (non recoverable with a click) with, therefore, the necessity to start the PC again.

A test is immediately started to determine the sampling frequencies (Fe) available on your sound card.

It must be equal to 11025, except in MT63 where Fe must be equal to 8000.

Two pushbuttons at the top of the screen: "Open "Configuration" screen after start-up / Open RX/TX screen after start-up" give the possibility to open the configuration screen each time Multipsk is started up (option by default). If you choose the contrary, the RX/TX screen will be displayed directly. The configuration screen is, of course, always accessible from the RX/TX screen.

PARAMETERS

The program works with a lot of parameters which can be modified by the user. These parameters are stored in the file CONFPSER.SER. Some management tools are given to the user:

* a button "Default parameters" allows the user to return to the default parameters of the software in case of necessity,

* a button "Save Para." allows the user to save the actual parameters in the file CONFPSER.BAK (if, for example, at one point, he wants to return, provisionally, to the default parameters),

* a button "Load Para." allows the user to load the previous parameters saved in the file CONFPSER.BAK (this file is then copied in the file CONFPSER.SER and then executed).

Note: in case of Multipsk up-to-date, the old parameters are renewed and the new ones are added to the file CONFPSER.SER  with their default value.

The configuration screen gives the user a choice of 12 pop-down menus:

The menus "Sound input", "Input level", "Speaker out level" and the option "Display of the level on sound inputs", will be displayed only if, the mixer is controlled by the software.

The option "Control mixer", will be displayed only if, the mixer is controlled by the user.

."Lang(u)age"	: to select the used language (English / French),

 "Help and licence": various items of information of help,

."Pentium"	: to select the processor (the operation will be degraded with less than a Pentium 166).

."Serial port"	: to select a serial port (none or 1 to 8)

."Sound card"	: to select the sound card

. "Mixer"	: to adjust the mixer either by the software or by the user

."Sound input"	: to select the sound card Input

."Input level" 	: to select the Inputlevel of the AF signal

."Speaker out level": to select the Speaker output level of the signal going to the transceiver

."Sequence"	: to create a sequence (Macro text) (1 to 12) (text and associated name)

."Fonts"	: to choose the display font for the transmitted and received characters in the display windows. The choices are:

- for all windows: the font name, the style and the character size (by default: Ms Sans Serif, bold, 8),

- for the transmitted characters: the font color (by default: red),

- for the received characters: the font color (by default: black),

- for all windows: the background color (by default: white).

This option is also available in the bottom of the RX/TX screen (button "Fonts").

."Actions":

Initial selection of the RX/TX modes

RX/TX screen

Reading the QSO in progress or a previous QSO

Checking of the selected serial port

Display of the level on sound inputs

Mixer control

Log book

Personal data

Panoramic PSK

XIT AND INITIAL RX/TX FREQUENCIES WINDOW

First notice: XIT is taken in account only for PSK modes (BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSK10, PSKFEC31, PSKAM(10/31/50)), CW, CCW, THROB(X), MFSK8 and MFSK16. In the other modes, the adjusting precision in frequency is not critical and only the initial reception frequency is taken into account (RTTY and AMTOR).

The commands necessary to give the possibility to transmit and to receive on two different frequencies appear on a big green screen. The XIT value, as an offset (in Hz), is equal to the difference between transmit and receive frequencies (TX Fx = RX Fr. + XIT). Initially, the XIT is equal to 0 Hz. Except for a particular need (for example, in old transceivers with bad frequency stability), there is no need to modify this value. Otherwise, the XIT will be adjusted to the required value.

The XIT, as a coefficient (in 0.0001 Hz/Hz), gives the possibility to correct the linear error of a bad sound card (TX Fx. = RX Fr. * ((10000+XIT) / 10000). For example, an error of 1 % will be corrected, putting XIT to 100.

Note: a bad sound card is the one which gives different RX and TX frequencies although these frequencies are supposed to be the same. This program accepts an error of less than 0.03 %.

The initial reception frequency is 1000 Hz.This can be adjusted otherwise, when necessary, when using a filter after the sound card.

After each modification of either the XIT or the initial reception frequency, the new transmission frequency is calculated and displayed. The adjustment of the XIT is limited to -4100 to 4100 Hz and the adjustment of the reception frequency is limited to 200 to 4300 Hz. For the transmission frequency, it’s, of course, also 200 to 4300 Hz.

For example, if the XIT (as an offset) is 1000 Hz and the reception frequency is 3500 Hz, the transmission frequency (in PSK) will be 4300 and not 4500 Hz. This is valid for the Reception/Transmission screen.

The window " Decoding: from the sound input or a sound file"

The commands that permit decoding the signal from sound input of the sound card and also from a .WAV file are shown in this small green window. To play and decode a sound file (.WAV), please refer to Playing and recording sound files (.WAV)

The window "Recording on a .WAV sound file"

The commands that permit recording the sound coming from the sound card in a .WAV as chosen by the user appear in this small green window. For details, refer to the chapter Playing and recording sound files (.WAV)

The window "Beacon mode (all modes)

Please refer to the chapter Description of the beacon commands.

The window " UTC start time for recording or beacon"

If the button "Yes" is clicked, the user will have the possibility to program the UTC start time (by quarter of hour) for either the recording or the beacon. As the duration of recording or beacon transmission is programmable, the beginning and the end of these operations may be determined by the user. For recording, the panoramic spectrum will be automatically started as well as a recording at 11025 samples/sec, 8 bits and "mono".

The end of the recording or the beacon will take place at the end of the time defined by the user or manually.

VARIOUS INFORMATIONS

The menus "Sound input", "Input level", "Speaker out level" and the option "Display of the level on sound inputs", will be displayed only if, the mixer is controlled by the software.

The option "Control mixer", will be displayed only if, the mixer is controlled by the user.

The use of the pop-up or pop-down menus is the same as for the other applications under WINDOWS.

Particularly, it is possible to select a menu by hitting <Alt> + the underlined letter of the wording (for example <Alt> <I>, to select the Input level).

Buttons allow “short cuts” to avoid the "Actions" menu.

A small yellow window above mixer control button on the right of the screen indicates if the sound card is a "simplex" or a "full-duplex" type (indispensable in FILTERS mode and in binaural reception).

The user can quit the application by clicking on the cross situated on the upper right hand corner of the screen or can exit to the main RX TX screen by clicking on "Exit to RX/TX screen".

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Selecting the serial port

If the user does not have the VOX function in his transceiver, then it is possible to control the PTT by one of the DTR/RQS pins of a serial port (COM 1 to 8). A menu gives the ability of choice of the COM  port.

The user must avoid the mouse port. About this problem, see: Checking of the selected serial port.

In «Decoding» mode, the DTR pin (n°4 on DB9 and n°20 on DB25) and the RQS pin (n°7 on DB9 and n°4 on DB25) will have about -10 V and the reverse in «Transmission» mode.

These pins produce only several milli Amps, so it is necessary to employ an adequate electronic interface (see RS232_EN.DOC which gives RS232 interface examples).

Of course, if the user disposes of the VOX function, he will choice «None» in the Serial Port pop-down menu.

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Selecting the sound card

On almost all computers, there is only one sound card. In that case, there is no selection to do, for lack of choice.

On some other computers, there could be two sound cards (for example, one for Ham applications and the other for the rest of the applications). In that case, two sound cards are detected and one has to be chosen.

The mixer, when called, will adjust the levels of the selected sound card.

MULTIPSK can detect up to 4 sound cards.

We remind you that a small yellow window above mixer control button on the right of the screen indicates if the sound card is a "simplex" or a "full-duplex" type. This latter type is indispensable for the operation of FILTERS mode and binaural reception.

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Mixer setup

If the user wants to keep the mixer as it was after adjustments done with another software (DIGIPAN, for example) or for another reason (if, for example, a non-standard mixer cannot be controlled by the software) then he selects the option "User adjustment". In this case, the menu items "Sound input", "Input level", "Speaker out level" and "Display of the level on sound inputs" will not be displayed.

In this case, in the RX/TX screen, the user will have the possibility to adjust the mixer (volume control and recording control). These controls appear also when clicking on the button "Mixer control" in the configuration menu.

Refer to Manual setup of the mixer.

If the option "Software adjustment" is selected, all menus will be displayed except the button "Mixer control" and the software will manage the adjustments of the mixer according to the user.

The user must know that the software, normally, keeps the mixer in the state encountered at the beginning. Nevertheless, on some mixers, the user may lose adjustments done before (due to the lack of real standard for mixers).

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Sound input selection

With this menu, the user selects either the Line-in input (left or right channel) or the Mic-in input (only if the signal is very weak) ), these inputs are found on the sound card which is to be connected to the receiver (see " OUTSIDE CONNECTIONS OF THE SOUND CARD" in Description of the software and connections schematic).

The normal input is Line-in left channel. Some cards as the PCI 128 do not accept the right channel.

The microphone input is preferable if the level on the line input is too weak (<30 %) even if it has some distorsion.

See also Display of the level on sound inputs.

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Input level selection

The input level of the AF signal received from the receiver can be attenuated with the help of this menu item. In fact, the ideal level (peak to peak) of the signal would be just less than the input range of the sound card, to assure the best quality possible of the signal, without overloading.

Therefore, if the input level is not adjustable from the transceiver, it is possible to multiply it by a factor 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 or 1.

Practically, the level must be set up just below the level which produces a signal overload

(see Display of the level on sound inputs).

If the option "AGC" (Automatic Gain Control) is selected, the software controls the gain (in the limits of the mixer): on overload it lowers the gain and on a very weak level, it increases it. This is the default option.

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Sound input level display

In order to display the root mean square level in percentage of the maximum value on each sound input (Line-in left channel, line-in right channel, microphone), the user can utilize a window showing the root mean square value of the signal for each input.

This option allows the user to know the input to which the signal is applied. The displayed value allows setting up the input level (see Input level selection).

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Speaker output level selection

The speaker output level of the sound card to the transceiver may be adjusted with the help of this menu. "/ 1" means that the signal is at its maximum level (peak-to-peak voltage depending on the sound card), "/ 2" that the signal is half of the maximum and so on until the minimum ("/ 256").

The user will adjust the speaker output level to that suitable for the transceiver (for example 100 mV maximum).

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RX/TX modes selection and their descriptions

RX/TX modes selection

Except for HF Fax, FILTERS, binaural reception and Hellschreiber modes, it is possible to choose a  transmission (TX) mode different from the one chosen for reception (RX).

The possible receive modes are: BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSK10, PSKAM10/31/50, PSKFEC31, CW, CCW, THROB(X), MFSK8, MFSK16 (with SSTV capacity), MT63, RTTY at 45, 50, 75 or 100 bauds, ASCII at 110 bauds, SITOR A, AMTOR ARQ LISTEN, SITOR B/AMTOR FEC/NAVTEX, FELD HELL, PSK HELL, HELL 80, SSTV, HF Fax, FILTERS and CW binaural reception.

In AMTOR (SITOR/NAVTEX) and in PSKAM10/31/50, the errors are indicated by ‘¿’.

An automatic detection of the mode is possible for BPSK mode type as follows: PSK10, BPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKAM10/31/50, PSKFEC31.

The pseudo-mode FILTERS and the CW binaural reception are particular cases as they are DSP  processings of the signal.

The possible modes in transmit are the following: BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSK10, PSKAM10/31/50, PSKFEC31, CW, CCW, THROB(X), MFSK8, MFSK16 (with SSTV capcity), MT63, RTTY 45 bauds, ASCII 110 bauds, AMTOR FEC, FELD HELL, PSK HELL, HELL 80, SSTV and HF FAX.

With a graphical resolution of 800x600 or more, the mode can be chosen directly from the mode table on the upper right hand side of the screen. Mode names written in bold are currently used for amateur radio. Others that are bold italic are either commercial (RTTY 50, 75 et 100 et SITOR A and HF FAX) or rarely used (PSK10...).

For CW, CCW and RTTY 50 to 100, parameters can be chosen but only in reception mode.

Except for Hellschreiber modes, MT63, SSTV, HF Fax, FILTERS and CW binaural reception, there are two transmit possibilities:

- either to have the same mode in transmit and in receive, in which case choose "TX mode=RX mode". If the receive mode is RTTY 50, 75 or 100 bauds, then it will be considered that no mode was chosen and the user will not be able to pass to transmit,

- or to have a different mode. In this case, a menu allows the choice among the following modes: BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSK10, PSKFEC31, CW, CCW, THROB(X), MFSK16, MFSK8,  RTTY 45 bauds, AMTOR FEC.

Two buttons allow the user to have information about:

* the different sets of characters used, each one for a given mode. Moreover, for CW/CCW, a list of keys to type is given for the purpose of transmitting special characters such as <VA> for example,

* frequencies used in the different modes.

A window allows the choice of the RTTY shift (for 50 bauds and more): 85, 425, 450 or 850 Hz. The normal shift is 425 Hz. 850 Hz is rarely used. The shift of 85 Hz for 50 bauds corresponds to the German station DDH47 (20 kW) on 147,3 Khz and the shift of 450 Hz for 50 bauds corresponds to the German stations DDH7,8 and 9 and DDK2 and 9. For example, DDK2 (1 kW) may be found on 4583 Khz and DDK9 on 10100.8 Khz (10 kW).

A window allows the choice of the CCW parameters (in transmission):

* the user can choose the keying speed of 12, 24 or 48 wpm. The standard is 12 wpm. The slower the spedd, the better is the detection of QRP signals.

* the prefix "CCW" at the beginning of the transmission may be omitted to win time. The standard is to keep it because that way the other operator knows that it is a CCW transmission and not a CW one.

The button "Standard" allows the selection of the CCW default parameters: 12 wpm and the prefix "CCW".

A window allows the choice of the CW parameters:

 * on transmit and for Pentiums P166 or more (and no other software in operation): the standard way is to use the sound card to transmit CW in USB (as for the other modes), the software is transformed into a Morse keyer. In this case, with the mean of an electronic intefarce (see, for example, the first diagram from the RS232_EN.DOC replacing the PTT plug with the standard KEY plug), the user can be choose to key from serial port DTR pin or RQS pin (see Selecting the serial port). This can be useful for exclusive CW transmitters. If the transmitteroperates also USB, then this option is without any interest and the user should operate USB.

It must be noted that if the keying is done by the DTR pin or the RQS pin, and then the audio side tone can be heard from the PC speaker by choosing ("Yes with sound") (option not available on NT and XP computers).

The keying from DTR pin or RQS pin is not advised for Windows XP, because the cursor diseappears during a character sequence transmission.

* on receive: the user can choose between an automatic decoding speed detection (default option) or a fixed speed (in wpm) if this one is known and stable,

* on transmit: the user can choose his keying CW speed in wpm. The initial proposed CW speed is 20 wpm, most of Morse transmissions being done around this speed.

In general, we can say that:

- 10 words/mn	: slow keying speed,

- 20 words/mn	: medium keying speed,

- 30 words/mn	: fast keying speed,

- 52 words/mn	: exceptional keying speed.

The button "Standard" allows the selection of the CW standard parameters: sound card transmission, automatic detection of the decoding speed and keying speed of 20 wpm.

Note: it is to be noted that the transmit mode may be decided in the sequences (see Sequences 1 to 12 creation and Personal data and macros).

IMPORTANT: all the minimum signal-to-noise ratios are given for 2% of error obtained from a sequence of "8" symbols. The noise power is normalized on a 3 Khz bandwidth. The signal power is a mean power and not a peak power. As the ratio between mean power and peak power ("Pmean/Ppeak") is given, it is easy to deduce the peak power-to-noise ratio.

RX/TX modes description

BPSK31 and QPSK31

Created by: Peter Martinez G3PLX

Description :

Baud rate 	: 31.25

Speed 	: 37 wpm in capital letters and 51 wpm in small letters (average)

Modulation 	: DBPSK

Receive mode: indifferent (LSB or USB) for BPSK31 only, for QPSK31 USB is mandatory

Character set 	: ASCII characters + ANSI extended characters + an error reset character  (« Varicode » characters)

Shape of pulse 	: raised cosine

Bandwidth 	: about 80 Hz,

Demodulation 	: coherent,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no for BPSK31, yes for QPSK31 (Rate=1/2, Constraint length=5, use of Viterbi decoder with soft decison)

Interleaving 	: no

Automatic Frequency Correction: about +/- 10 Hz depending on signal-to-noise ratio,

Drift tolerance 	: 1 Hz/sec (depending on level)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.79 for BPSK31 and 0.35 for QPSK31

Lowest S/N	: -11.5 dB

Waterfall range 	: 200 to 4300 Hz for Multipsk

Note 	: the BPSK31 mode is very much used, QPSK31 is not used that much.

PSK63

Created by: Moe Wheatley (AE4JY) and Howard Teller (KH6TY)

Description :

Baud rate 	: 62.5

Speed 	: 74 wpm in capital letters and 102 wpm in small letters (average)

Bandwidth 	: about 160 Hz,

Lowest S/N	: - 7 dB

Note: for the remainder, the characteristics are identical to the ones of BPSK31.

PSK63F

Created by : Nino Porcino IZ8BLY

Description :

Baud rate 	: 62.5

Speed 	: 42 wpm (average)

Modulation 	: DBPSK

Reception mode: indifferent (LSB or USB)

Character set 	: ASCII characters + almost all ANSI extended characters + an error reset character (« Varicode » characters)

Shape of pulse 	: raised cosine

Bandwidth 	: about 200 Hz,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: R(Rate)=1/2, K (Constraint length)=7  with Viterbi type decoder, both coder outputs being sent successively,

Drift tolerance 	: 1 Hz/sec (depending on signal-to-noise ratio)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.79

Lowest S/N	: - 12 dB

Interleaving 	: no

PSK10

Created by: Patrick Lindecker F6CTE (2001)

Description :

Baud rate 	: 10

Speed 	: 18 wpm

Modulation 	: DBPSK

Reception mode: indifferent (LSB or USB)

Character set	: 56 "Varicode" characters " A..Z 0..9  <CR> <ESPACE> . , " : - = + ? $ ' ( ) ! / @ & # * with an error reset character and an idle character (displayed by ">").

Small characters are transformed in capital characters and special characters as

" é " are transformed in standard capital (in the example above: " E ").

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular but the transition between 2 successive different bits is done by a 	decreasing sine then by an increasing sine (each one during a quarter of period)

Bandwidth 	: about 40 Hz

Demodulation 	: coherent,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving	: no

Repetition 	: no

Drift tolerance 	: 40 Hz/mn (depending on signal-to-noise ratio)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.86

Lowest S/N	: -17.5 dB

For precise specifications about PSK10, see the PSK10.DOC file.

PSKFEC31

Created by: Patrick Lindecker F6CTE (06/2003)

Description :

Baud rate 	: 31.25

Speed 	: 28 wpm

Modulation 	: DBPSK

Reception mode: indifferent (LSB or USB)

Character set 	: 56 "Varicode" characters " A..Z 0..9  <CR> <ESPACE> . , " : - = + ? $ ' ( ) ! / @ & # * with an error reset character and an idle character (displayed by ">").

Small characters are transformed in capital characters and special characters as

" é " are transformed in standard capital (in the example above: " E ").

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular but the transition between 2 successive different bits is done by a 	decreasing sine then by an increasing sine (each of one during quarter of period)

Bandwidth 	: about 160 Hz

Demodulation 	: coherent,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving	: no

Repetition 	: each bit is repeated 13 positions later (so 0.42 s between 2 transmissions of the same bit). This time diversity allows the correction of an erroneous bit. The synchronization is easy.

Automatic Frequency Correction: from +/-3 Hz to +/- 10 Hz depending on signal level,

Drift tolerance 	: 60 Hz/mn for PSKFEC31 (depending on signal-to-noise ratio)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.86

Lowest S/N	: -14.5 dB

Due to the FEC process, this mode permits to reduce appreciably the number of errors due to HF propagation conditions, compared to BPSK31.

For precise specifications about PSKFEC31, see the PSKFEC31.DOC file.

PSKAM10/31/50

Created by: Patrick Lindecker F6CTE (2002/2003)

Description :

Baud rate 	: 10 (PSKAM10) , 31.25 (PSKAM31), 50 (PSKAM50)

Speed 	: 6 wpm (PSKAM10), 20 wpm (PSKAM31), 31 wpm (PSKAM50),

Modulation 	: DBPSK

Reception mode: indifferent (LSB or USB)

Character set 	: 56  « fixed length » characters A..Z 0..9  <CR> <SPACE> . , : - = + ? $ ’ ( ) ! / @  %  with an error reset character and an idle character (displayed by ‘>’). Small characters are transformed in capital characters and special characters as « é »  are transformed in standard capital (in the example above: « E »)

Shape of pulse 	: for PSKAM10 and PSKAM50: rectangular but the transition between 2 successive 	different bits is done by a decreasing sine then by an increasing sine (each one during

a quarter of period)

for PSKAM31: raised cosine

Bandwidth 	: about 50 Hz (PSKAM10), 80 Hz (PSKAM31), 260 Hz (PSKAM50),

Demodulation 	: coherent,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving	: no

Repetition 	: each character is repeated 5 positions later (0.8 s in PSKAM50, 1,28 s in PSKAM31 or 4 s in PSKAM10)  between 2 transmissions of the same character) (example: A X B Y C A D B…). This time diversity allows the correction of an erroneous character. Its detection is easy due to the particular content of a character (5 « space » and 3 « mark »).

Automatic Frequency Correction: from +/-3 Hz to +/- 10 Hz depending on signal level,

Drift tolerance 	: 60 Hz/mn for PSKAM31 and PSKAM50 and 40 Hz/mn for PSKAM10 (depending on signal-to-noise ratio)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.86 for PSKAM10 and 50, 0,79 for PSKAM31

Lowest S/N	: -11.5 dB for PSKAM50, -14 dB for PSKAM31 and -19.5 dB for PSKAM10

For precise specifications about PSKAM modes, see the PSKAM.DOC file.

THROB and THROBX

Created by : Lionel Sear G3PPT, in 2000 for THROB and 2003 for THROBX

Preliminary	: THROBX is an evolution of THROB.

Description :

Baud rate 	: 1, 2 or 4 (1 or 2 in THROBX)

Speed 	: 10, 20 or 40 wpm (=10 x baud rate) or 60, 120 or 240 characters/min (=60 x baud rate) (10 or 20 wpm in THROBX)

Modulation 	: for THROB: FSK 9 tones with 1 or 2 tones send  in the same time (which give 45 possibilities including the idle tone)

for THROBX: FSK 11 tones with 2 tones send at the same time (which give 55 possibilities including the 2 possible idle characters)

Reception mode: only one side (USB or LSB), USB is recommended

Character set 	: for THROB: 46 « fixed length » characters: A..Z 0..9 , . ’ / ( ) ? @ =  <SPACE>  (with use of a « shift » character for ?@=). No error reset character.

: for THROBX: 53 characters: A..Z 0..9 , . ’ / ( ) ? @ = # " + - ; : ! <SPACE> . No error reset character.

Shape of pulse 	: for the 1 or 2 bauds modes: rectangular at the center with leading and trailing quarters as raised cosine. For the 4 bauds  mode (THROB only): raised cosine

Space between tones : for THROB: 8 Hz (1 or 2 bauds) or 16 Hz (4 bauds), for THROB: 7.8125 Hz ,

Bandwidth 	: for THROB: 72 Hz (1 or 2 bauds), 144 Hz (4 bauds), for THROBX: 94 Hz

Demodulation 	: non-coherent,

Synchronization: automatic on incoming « throbs »

Correction code	: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: no

Automatic Frequency Correction: +/- 3 Hz,

Drift tolerance 	: 4 bauds: 40 Hz/mn max, 2 bauds: 20 Hz/mn max, 1 baud: 10 Hz/mn max according to signal-to-noise ratio,

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.35 for 1 and 2 bauds modes, 0.19 for 4 bauds

Lowest S/N   	: THROBX:  -18,5 dB for the 1 baud, -17.5 dB for the 2 bauds

  THROB: -16 dB for the 1 baud, -14.5 dB for the 2 bauds et -12 dB for the 4 bauds

MFSK16 and MFSK8

Created by : Nino Porcino IZ8BLY and Murray Greenman ZL1BPU

Description :

Baud rate 	: 15.625 for MFSK16 et 7.8125 for MFSK8

Speed 	: 42 wpm (average) (62.5 bits/sec) for MFSK16 and 26 wpm (average) (39.06 bits/sec) for MFSK8

Modulation 	: FSK 16 tones (4 bits) for MFSK16 and 32 tones (5 bits) for MFSK8

Reception mode: only one side (USB or LSB), USB is recommended

Character set 	: ASCII characters + almost all ANSI extended characters + an error reset character (« Varicode » characters)

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Space between tones : 15.625 Hz for MFSK16 et 7.8125 Hz for MFSK8,

Bandwidth 	: 316 Hz,

Demodulation 	: non-coherent,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Convolution code: R(Rate)=1/2, K (Constraint length)=7  with Viterbi type decoder

Interleaving 	: yes (for example, spreading of 120 bits for MFSK16)

Drift tolerance 	: 10 à 20 Hz/mn for MFSK16 and 4 to 7 Hz/mn according to signal-to-noise ratio,

Pmean/Ppeak	: 1

Lowest S/N	: -13.5 dB for MFSK16 and -15.5 dB for MFSK8

Note: pieces of information about these modes can be found on the WEB site of ZL1BPU (Murray Greenman).

SSTV in MFSK16

Created by : Nick Fedoseev (UT2UZ) and Denis Nechitailov (UU9JDR) in 2003

Description :

It is a SSTV mode without transmission of a synchronization ray, in color or in black and white mode, where the picture may be transmitted among MFSK16 text.

The picture format is not fixed as in classical SSTV but variable (limited to small pictures).  Multipsk proposes to use the standard "320x256" to take advantage of the SSTV "workshop" and the stored SSTV pictures.

The band of frequencies used is 234,375 Hz (15 x 15,625 Hz), which is the width between extreme peaks of a MFSK16 transmission. The duration of a pixel is exactly 1 ms. In color mode, the colors are transmitted in the following order: Red, Green, Blue. In black and white mode, the black color corresponds to the lower frequency and the white color to the higher frequency.

To be recognized, the picture must be MFSK16 prefixed by:

* "Pic:320x256C;" for example for a color picture of 320x256 dimension whose transmission will last 320x256x3x0,001=246 sec,

* "Pic:320x256C;" for example for a black and white picture of 320x256 dimension whose transmission will last 320x256x1x0,001=82 sec.

Note: on this program, for a better appearance, the grey level is computed according to a "physiological" formula: Grey level = 0,30 x Red level +  0,59 x Green level + 0,11 x Blue level

MT63

Created by : Pawel Jalocha SP9VRC in 1997

Description :

Baud rate 	: 5, 10 or 20

Speed 	:  5, 10 or 20 characters/sec so 50, 100 or 200 wpm

Modulation 	: DBPSK on 64 carrier tones. the tones are separated by 7.81 Hz for the 500 Hz bandwidth, 15.625 Hz for the 1000 Hz bandwidth or 31.25 Hz for the 2000 Hz bandwidth mode. The data is encoded using a Walsh-Hadamard transform to provide high degree of redundancy.

Note: the matrix dimension used is 128x64dimension, where the first 64 lines are the 64 standard orthogonal combinations of the Hadamard matrix. The next 64 lines are their opposite. Therefore any couple of lines are either orthogonal (zero scalar product) or bi-orthogonal (negative scalar product).

Receive mode	: only USB

Character set 	: ASCII 7 bits (128 characters)

Bandwidth 	: 500 Hz (500 to 1000 Hz), 1000 Hz (500 to 1500 Hz) or 2000 Hz (500 to 2500 Hz)

Synchronization : automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: two levels (short over 32 bits or long over 64 bits)…which when associated with the different baud rates give a delay of decoding between 1.6 to 12.8 seconds. The codes used for interleaving respond to two problems connected with diversity:

a) give the biggest distance between two interleavings on two adjacent frequencies (for example, we do not use a code that increases the interleaving position by unity with every increase of the frequency,

b) never have the same distance for the 64 frequencies (the 64 possible positions must be occupied).

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.1

Lowest S/N 	: – 8 dB for 5 bauds,  - 5 dB for 10 bauds and -2 dB for 20 bauds (without sampling frequency offset).

Note: the standard mode for calling is the 1000 Hz wide with long interleaving.

Additional  specifications by F6CTE

The MT63 specifications require a precision of +/- 0.01 % for the sampling frequency. However Windows MT63 softwares accept +/-0.5 % offset and many sound cards have an offset of up to 0,7 % or even more for the nominal sampling frequency of 8000 samples/second, which does not allow the decoding of MT63 (as the offset of RX and TX can reach 1,4 %). To correct this situation, Multipsk automatically determines the offset between receive and transmit up to 1.5 % (only with good signals).

On the other hand, the chosen idling character is not CHR(0) one (which is the standard in MT63 and which is the worst for this problem) but the choice is for CHR(6).  And not to lose the tracing of offset calculation:

* the characters CHR(32), CHR(96) and CHR(112) are preceded by two idling characters,

* the characters CHR(48) and CHR(80) are preceded by one idling character.

A simplified example of how a character is sent in the 1000 Hz mode (without consideration of digital techniques used in the source code: inverse FFT, decimation, interpolation, analytic signal...:

* going through the Hadamard transform of the ASCII code of the letter, determination of the frequencies affected with a 180 degrees phase shift, and taking the phase shift into consideration,

* generating even frequencies for the duration of 0,256 second, but with a phase angle increase corresponding to 0.1 second interval (for 10 bauds) and saving in a buffer,

* filtering of the buffer and adding the result to a collecting buffer of 0.256 second capacity,

* sending to the soundcard (after scaling) of samples corresponding to the first 0,05 second of the collecting buffer,

* shifting the collecting buffer by 0,05 second,

* generating odd frequencies for the duration of 0,256 second, but with a phase angle increase corresponding to 0,1 second interval (for 10 bauds) and saving in a buffer,

* filtering of the buffer and then adding the result to a collecting buffer of 0,256 second capacity,

* sending to the sound card (after scaling) of samples corresponding to the first 0,05 second of the collecting buffer,

* shifting the collecting buffer by 0,05 second.

Decoding MT63 is equal to decoding of 64 BPSK signals in parallel. The main difficulties are in determining:

* the offset in frequency on transmit,

* the difference between the sampling frequencies of the corresponding soundcards.

CW (MORSE)

Morse is a digital mode because it can be easily decoded by a computer but it can be seen as a sort of non-digital code for Ham people who decode a Morse character no as a series of dashes and dots but as a particular « music ». That is why, in reading Morse, humans are better than programs.

Description :

Speed 	: currently 10 to 40 wpm (standard speed: 20 wpm)

Modulation 	: On-Off keying of an audio tone (currently between 500 and 800 Hz) or of a HF simple carrier but in that case, there must be a difference between reception and transmission frequencies,

Receive mode	: indifferent (LSB or USB)

Character set 	: A..Z 0..9 ? = / + and some others signs more or less used (« Varicode » characters type)

A carriage return is transformed in space

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: up to about 100 Hz according to speed,

Demodulation 	: non coherent,

Synchronization: on reception of a dash or a point

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: no

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.5 but very variable

Lowest S/N 	: the slower is the CW, the easier is the decoding (for example, one can reach –15 dB/-20 dB for a 20 wpm Morse decoded by a human being), this down to about 10 mpm (for humans)

CCW (Coherent CW)

The coherent CW is a pure digital mode because it is only done for computers (although it is readable by a human being). The keying produced by the computer is perfect so as to allow synchronization and correct evaluation of the bit (dot or dot abscence).

The description done hereafter corresponds to the CCW of Multipsk, which has introduced some modifications (F6CTE/DK5KE).

Created by: Ramond Petit (W6GHM) in 1975

Description :

Speed 	: 12 wpm in standard. Here 12, 24 or 48 wpm respectively corresponding to a dot length of 100, 50 and 25 ms

Modulation 	: On-Off keying of an audio tone,

Receive mode	: indifferent (LSB or USB)

Character set 	: A..Z 0..9 ? = / + and some others signs more or less used (« Varicode » characters type). An idling character (.......) has been added. It is specific to the CCW (of Multipsk) to keep the synchronization in case of absence of characters to send. A carriage return is transformed in a space followed by an idling character.

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: up to about 100 Hz according to speed,

Demodulation 	: coherent,

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: no

Drift tolerance 	: 15 to 25 Hz/min  (depending on the CCW speed and on the signal-to-noise ratio)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.5 but very variable

Lowest S/N 	: the slower is the CCW speed, the better is the decoding.

The minimum S/N ratio depends on the speed and the letters sent. For the standard speed (12 wpm) the minimum S/N is about -12 dB (-8 dB at 24 wpm and -5 dB at 48 wpm).

Note 1: at the beginning of transmission, "CCW", a space and an idling character (.......) are transmitted. The user, to win time, can supress the prefix CCW and its space but the opposite operator will ignore that it is CCW.

Note 2: in order not to lose the synchronization, it is not possible to type more than one space between two words.

Mapping of Morse characters into ANSI characters

There are not always letters to represent directly the CW/CCW characters, for example the code Error  signal which is a serie of dots (........).

Therefore, a conventional letter is associated to display the CW/CCW character. For example, the code Error signal (........) is displayed as the letter "*".

Mapping of CW/CCW characters to ANSI characters received or transmitted (displayed between brackets) is described in the following:

A ... Z	--> <A> à <Z> (small letters translated in capital letters)

é=è=ë	--> <é>

0 ... 9	--> <0> à <9>

Ä , à	--> <Ä> , <à>

Ñ , "CH"	--> <Ñ>(<Alt> 165), <ç>

Ö , Ü	--> <Ö> , <Ü>

. , "," , ";"	--> <.> , <,> , <;>

: , ? @	--> <:> , <?>, <@>

' , - , =	--> <'> , <-> ,<=>

/ , ( , )	--> </> , <(> ,<)>

Underlined	--> <_>

Understood	--> <&>

Error, +, "	--> <*> , <+>, <">

Waiting	--> <£>

Message start	--> <!>

VA (Message end) --> <$>

Separator	--> <%>

Space	--> space bar (7 dots duration)

Amateurs use most of all the Morse characters: A..Z  0..9  ?  =  /  .  +  VA  Error

Note.: + and VA are only used at the end of the message.

In CW, a carriage return is transformed into space.

In CCW, a carriage return is transformed into a space followed by an idling character.

In CCW , the idling character (7 dots) is not displayed.

RTTY

Description :

Baud rate 	: 45. A character is composed of a « start » bit (1 « space »), 5 bits and a « stop »  bit (1.5 « mark »)

Speed 	:  60 wpm

Modulation 	: FSK two tones (« mark » and « space ») with a shift between tones of 170 Hz (or, sometimes, 200 Hz),

Receive mode: LSB

Character set 	: ITA2 (32 letters and 32 figures) without error correction character (« fixed length » characters). Small characters are transformed in capital characters and special characters as « é »  are transformed in standard capital (in the example: « E »)

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: about 600 Hz (due to rectangular shape),

Demodulation 	: non coherent,

Synchronization: on « start »

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: no

Pmean/Ppeak	: 1

Lowest S/N 	: -5.5 dB

For radio amateurs, the transmission speed is 45 bauds with a 170 Hz shift.

In commercial RTTY, the transmission speed may be, theoretically, 50, 75 or 100 bauds with a 85, 425 Hz, 450 or 850 Hz shift. In reality, only 50 and 75 bauds are available (in fact only 50 bauds).

Mapping of RTTY Baudot codes and received or transmitted characters

For 45 to 100 bauds speeds, mapping (ITA 2 standard) between the RTTY Baudot codes and the received or transmitted letters, figures and signs, as considered in this program, is as follows:

3	--> "A" or "-"

25	--> "B" or "?"

14	--> "C" or ":"

9	--> "D" or "$"

1	--> "E" or "3"

13	--> "F" or "!"

26	--> "G" or "@"

20	--> "H" or "#"

6	--> "I" or "8"

11	--> "J" or * and bell (short bell)

15	--> "K" or "("

18	--> "L" or ")"

28	--> "M" or "."

12	--> "N" or ","

24	--> "O" or "9"

22	--> "P" or "0"

23	--> "Q" or "1"

10	--> "R" or "4"

5	--> "S" or "'"

16	--> "T" or "5"

7	--> "U" or "7"

30	--> "V" or "="

19	--> "W" or "2"

29	--> "X" or "/"

21	--> "Y" or "6"

17	--> "Z" or "+"

4	-->  Space

8	-->  Carriage return

2	-->  Line feed

27	-->  Figures

31	-->  Letters

The small letters keystroke at the editor are translated in capital letters.

The short bell is associated to the sign "*" when editing (tranmitting) and to saving in the

QSO <Date> <Time>.TXT file.

In other words, if the sign "*" is keystroken when editing, the correspondent will hear a short bell.

When receiving, * is also displayed * for memory (besides the short bell).

The 27 and 31 codes (shift to figures or to letters) are only managed by the program and are transparent to the user.

The 2 code (LF) is ignored because redundant.

ASCII

Used by radio amateurs since 1980.

Description :

Baud rate 	: 110. A character is composed of a « start » bit (1 « space »), 7 or 8 bits and a « stop » bit  (2 « mark »)

Speed 	:  110 wpm (7 bits) or 100 wpm (8 bits)

Modulation 	: FSK two tones (« mark » and « space ») with a shift of 170 Hz (or, sometimes, 200 Hz),

Receive  mode	: LSB

Character set 	: 7-bits ASCII (or 8-bit ASCII for some languages), no parity,

Shape of pulse	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: 700 Hz (due to rectangular shape),

Demodulation 	: non coherent,

Synchronization: asynchronous with start bit,

Correction code: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: no

Pmean/Ppeak	: 1

Lowest S/N 	: -2 dB

AMTOR

AMTOR ARQ (called also SITOR-A for the navy (as a maritime mobile service system) or simply TOR)

Description :

Baud rate 	: 100. A character is composed of 4 « space » and 3 « mark » bits. A block of characters (called « Block 1 » or « Block 2 ») is composed of three characters (total duration: 3 x 70 = 210 ms) and a pause of 240 ms duration. During this pause, the receiving station emits a control signal of 70 ms duration to say « please next block » (symbol "ACK" for acknowledge) or to ask for a repetition of the last block, in case of erroneous character (symbol "NACK" for not acknowledge)

Speed 	: between 0 and 67 wpm (67 wpm corresponding to the 50 bauds RTTY) depending of the number of repetitions

Modulation 	: FSK two tones (« mark » and « space ») with a shift between tones of 170 Hz

Reception mode: USB (LSB is preferred for amateur radio)

Character set 	: CCIR476-4 (32 letters, 32 figures and 6 control, idle or phasing signals) with no error reset character (« fixed length » characters).

In SITOR A, the character set may be extended to the Cyrillic characters by using the character for « un-perforated tape » (third shift)

In AMTOR A, the character set may be extended to the ASCII characters (32 to 128) by using the character for the « un-perforated tape »

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: about 800 Hz (due to rectangular shape),

Demodulation 	: non coherent

Synchronization : automatic using the signal

Correction code	: yes via automatic repetition and easy detection of an erroneous character due to the particular content of a character (4 « space » and 3 « mark » bits)

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: no

Pmean/Ppeak	: 1

Note: 	in AMTOR ARQ LISTEN, characters are tranlated the best possible way because no repetition can be requested. Therefore, receive quality is not generally very good.

AMTOR FEC (called also SITOR-B for the navy (as a maritime mobile service system) or simply FEC) collective B-mode

Description :

Baud rate 	: 100. A character is composed of 4 « space » and 3 « mark » bits. It is an uninterrupted stream of characters, contrary to AMTOR ARQ.

Speed 	: 71 wpm

Modulation 	: FSK two tones (« mark » and « space ») with a shift between tones of 170 Hz

Reception mode: USB (LSB is preferred for amateur radio)

Character set 	: CCIR476-4 (32 letters, 32 figures and 6 control, idle or phasing signals) with no error correction character (« fixed length » characters). Small characters are transformed in capital characters and special characters as « é »  are transformed in standard capital (in the example: « E »)

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: about 800 Hz (due to rectangular shape),

Demodulation 	: non coherent

Synchronization: automatic using the signal

Correction code	: no

Convolution code: no

Interleaving 	: each character is repeated 5 positions later (that is 350 ms between 2 transmissions of the same character). This diversity in time allows the correction of an erroneous character. Its detection is easy due to the particular content of a character (4 « space » and 3 « mark »).

Pmean/Ppeak	: 1

Lowest S/N	:  about -5 dB

Note 	: There are 2 FEC modes: the collective B-mode (described before) and the selective B-mode (little differences as an inversion of bits).

NAVTEX  system (for information)

Description 	: it’s a world-wide system which allows the transmission of navigational and meteorological warnings, and urgent information through coastal stations. Transmissions take place on 518 kHz or 490 kHZ in AMTOR FEC mode with special specificities of the message.

The user will set his receiver on USB at 517 or 489 khz. The transmissions are done at fixed time, for example for NITON (GB): 7h00 and 19h00 UTC on 518 khz in English, 5h20 and 17h20 on 490 kHz in English, 7h10 and 19h10 on 490 kHz in French.

The character set  of SITOR A and SITOR B/AMTOR FEC is the same of the one used for RTTY.

On SITOR A, the reception of the "un-perforated tape" is used by Russians ships to pass in traffic on Cyrillic. In that case, MULTIPSK passes to "letters".

The character set of AMTOR ARQ is an extended character set which allows the transmission of ASCII characters (32 to 128) thanks to the use of the "un-perforated tape".

FELD HELL

Feld Hell is a Hellschreiber mode. All Hellschreiber modes are "Fuzzy" modes. The rules to be "Fuzzy" are:

- the transmitter uses no coding,

- the receiver does not decide when data is present,

- the receiver does not decide what data is present.

These modes are only human readable. They cannot be read by computers unless sophiticated neural system are used. In fact, hypothesis that human eye/brain character recognition in its context was better than a computer could do,

Created by	: Rudolph Hell in 1929

Description :

Baud rate 	: 245 bauds but, in fact, it is a pseudo-122.5 bauds (one "pixel" is 8.163 ms long)

Reading direction: column by column, from down to up and from left to right,

Matrix	: height: 7 pixels et width: 7 pixels…so a total of 49 pixels per character

Speed 	: 25 wpm

Modulation 	: On-Off keying of an audio tone

Reception mode: indifferent (USB or LSB) but in general USB

Character set 	: all ASCII printable characters except small letters, carriage return (+ line feed) and error correction character. The used font (FeldHell) is derived from the font of G3PLX (Peter Martinez),

Shape of pulse 	: raised cosine profile

Bandwidth 	: about 300 Hz,

Synchronization	: no need, each column is displayed vertically 2 times (but transmitted once)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.25

Lowest S/N 	: - 12 dB

Note: pieces of information about Hellschreiber modes can be found on the WEB site of ZL1BPU (Murray Greenman).

PSK HELL

Psk Hell is a Hellschreiber mode.

Createad by : Nino Porcino (IZ8BLY) and Murray Greenman (ZL1BPU)

Description :

Baud rate 	: 105 or 245 (only 245 bauds on Multipsk)

Matrix	: for PSK HELL 105 bauds…height: 6 pixels and width: 7 pixels

  for PSK HELL 245 bauds…height: 7 pixels and width: 14 pixels

Speed 	: 25 wpm

Modulation 	: DBPSK

Receive mode: indifferent (USB or LSB)

Character set 	: all ASCII printable characters except small letters, carriage return (+ line feed) and error correction character. The used font (FeldHell) is derived from the font of G3PLX (Peter Martinez),

Shape of pulse 	: raised cosine profile

Bandwidth 	: about 170 Hz for 105 bauds and 400 Hz for 245 bauds,

Synchronization: no need, each column is displayed vertically 2 times (but transmitted once)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 0.62

Lowest S/N 	: - 10 dB for 245 bauds mode

HELL 80

Hell 80 is an Hellschreiber mode.

Creator : Siemens company in the 1960's

Description :

Baud rate 	: 315 (one pixel is 3.175 ms long)

Reading direction: column by column, from down to up and from left to right,

Matrix	: height: 9 pixels et width: 7 pixels…so a total of 63 pixels per character. For each character, 2 lines and 2 columns are reserved for the frame.

Speed 	: 50 wpm (5 characters by second)

Modulation 	: FSK two tones with a shift between tones of 300 Hz. Normally, the white is at 1625 Hz and the black at 1925 Hz.

Receive mode	: USB

Character set 	: all ASCII printable characters except small letters, carriage return (+ line feed) and error reset character. The used font derived from the one used for FELD HELL,

Shape of pulse 	: rectangular

Bandwidth 	: about 800 Hz (due to rectangular shape),

Synchronization	: no need, each column is displayed vertically 2 times (but transmitted once)

Pmean/Ppeak	: 1

Lowest S/N  	: - 4 dB

Note 1 	: a start-stop mode also exists in the original system (not described here and not emulated by Multipsk).

Note 2 	: it is added a "DX" and a "Super DX" sub-mods (provided also for FELD HELL and PSKHELL).

Additive F6CTE specification: when no character has to be transmitted, the power is reduced by a factor 9, this  to keep the trace of the frequency associated to the white color, so as to signal that the transmission is still in progress.

SSTV

The SSTV ("Slow Scan Television") allows the user to send fixed pictures, in colors or in grey scales, with a transmission band similar to the one of HF Fax (« shift » of 800 Hz, the white at 2300 Hz and the black at 1500 Hz). Different SSTV modes exist.

SSTV is, as Fax mode, an analog mode, not a digital mode.

In SSTV "grey scales" (as in B/W24), frequencies are situated between 1500 and 2300 Hz from the black (1500 Hz) to the white (2300 Hz). In a color picture, the grey nuance is defined as equal to the mean value between the three fundamental color levels (green, red and blue).

For example for the "B/W 24" mode, the picture is defined on a width of 320 columns and a height of 240 lines. In this mode, the following are sent successively:

* the VIS code for B/W24: this binary code allows to define the used mode. It is available for classical modes as Martin 1 or Scottie 1. The bit "0" is defined by a frequency of 1100 Hz and the bit "1" by a frequency of 1300 Hz. Therefore starting from a state when the mode is unknown, the VIS code will allow to define it.

* a synchronization signal of 7 ms long at 1200 Hz,

* a transmission of 93 ms long to define the grey level.

* this process is repeated (synchronization then grey level) for each of the 240 lines. So the transmission of a picture is 24 seconds long.

Note 1: for a better appearance, the grey level is computed according to a "physiological" formula:

 Grey level = 0,30 x Red level +  0,59 x Green level + 0,11 x Blue level

Note 2: 256 grey nuances are distinguished which is sufficient.

In SSTV "color" (as in Martin1), the color of each pixel is defined from the fundamental colors, the proportion of each of these three components allows to define a big number of colors (256x256x256).

As an example of color mode, we can start with the "Martin1" mode, where the picture is defined on a width of 320 pixels and a height of 256 pixels. In this mode are sent successively:

* the VIS code for Martin1,

* a synchronization signal of 5 ms long at 1200 Hz,

* a passage of 147 ms long to define the green level,

* a passage of 147 ms long to define the blue level,

* a passage of 147 ms long to define the red level. Here, the line is complete,

* this process is repeated (synchronization, green, blue, red) for each of the 256 lines. So the transmission of a picture is 114 sec long.

The modes proposed by the author are the following:

* Martin 1: color mode, transmission time: 114 sec,

* Martin 2: color mode, transmission time: 58 sec,

* Scottie 1: color mode, transmission time: 110 sec,

* Scottie 2: color mode, transmission time: 71 sec,

* Scottie DX: color mode, transmission time: 268 sec,

* Robot 36: color mode, transmission time: 36 sec,

* Robot 72: color mode, transmission time: 72 sec,

* B/W 24:  grey scales mode, transmission time: 24 sec,

Notes:

* Martin and Scottie modes are all in a picture format of 320x256, the others in 320x240,

* Martin modes have been developped by Martin Emmerson G3OQD,

* Scottie modes have been developped by Eddy Murphy GM3BSC,

* the B/W 24 and Robot 36/72 are modes developped by the firm "Robot" (USA),

* S/N ratio must be high (>0 dB) to distinguish the picture.

HF Fax

In HF Fax, such stations as meteorological transmissions of official stations exist, for example:

* Bracknell Meteo on 2618.5, 4610 or 8040 Khz,

* RN London on 3652, 4307 or 6446 Khz,

* Hambourg Meteo on 3855, 7880 or 13882.5 Khz.

There are two types of fax: "black and white" or with 8 grey scales, but only the first seems to be used.

In " black and white" fax, two AF frequencies are transmitted: one at low frequency (1500 Hz), the other at high frequency (2300 Hz), the first tone corresponding to black and the second to white. These two frequencies, separated by a shift (800 Hz in SW), can effectively modulate the RF when transmitted (AFSK) or be artificially produced by a simple shift of RF frequency (FSK). For the listener, they both sound the same.

The listening is on USB, the user must adjust the receiver frequency 1900 Hz ((1500+2300)/2) below the transmitter frequency (for example, BRACKNELL METEO on 2616,6 KHz).

In grey scales, frequencies are located between 1500 and 2300 Hz.

The scan speed or number of lines produced per minute (lpm) may be of 60, 90 ou 120. In Western Europ, the speed is 120 lpm. In Eastern Europ, the speeds are 60 and 90 lpm.

The indice of co-operation (IOC) is an exploration characterictic of the transmitted picture. This indice corresponds to the ratio between the cylinder diameter to the scan step (between two successive lines). In practice, the IOC defines the maximum transmission duration. For example, for 120 lpm, the duration will be of 9.4 minutes for an IOC of 288 and 18.8 minutes for an IOC of 576. For 60 lpm, durations would be doubled.

The official stations use IOC of 288 and 576 and rather this second value, but as the maximum duration is rarely used, an IOC of 288 may be utilized.

Hams use an IOC of 288 and a speed of 120 lpm. Pictures are transmitted either in "black and white" or in grey scales.

The fax transmissions are preceded and followed by "APT" signals (alternation of black and white). The first "APT" signal could be used to determine the IOC but MULTIPSK does not do it. After the first "APT" signal, there will be a phasing signal (30 sec. of white band alone). This signal allows to synchronize and to determine the sweeping speed in lpm. MULTIPSK allows to synchronize but not to determine the sweeping speed.

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Frequencies used

The following is a list of recommended frequencies (in Khz) used by the modes of MULTIPSK, for the LF, HF, VHF bands (based on IARU region 1).

BPSK31, QPSK31 (USB)

1838, 3580, 7035, 10140, 14070, 18100, 21080, 24920, 28070, 28120, 50000, 144000 (144605 in France and 144144 in Italy).

PSK10, PSKFEC31, PSK63F, PSKAM10/31/50 (USB)

We suggest the use of the same frequencies as for BPSK31 mode.

Note: around 21115-21119 Khz, are realized DX QSO in PSKFEC31 (at, preferably, 15h00 UTC).

PSK63 (USB)

14072.5 - 14080 Khz. It is recommended to use fixed frequencies multiple of 100 Hz: 14072.5, 14072.6, 14072.7... For that, the user sets his transceiver on 14072 Khz in USB and operates on 500, 600, 700,..., 2400 or 2500 Hz... on the spectrum indicator.

CW

135.7-137.8, 1810-1838, 3500-3580, 7000-7035, 10100-10140, 14000-14070, 18068-18100, 21000-21080, 21120-21149, 24890-24920, 28000-28050, 28150-28190, 50000-50100, 144000-144150 (call on 144050 or 144060)

CCW (USB)

For CCW which is a QRP mode, the following frequencies are suggested:

1844, 3561, 7031, 10107, 14061, 21061, 24907, 28061 Khz USB (QRP frequencies + 1KHz).

MFSK16, MFSK8, THROB, THROBX (USB)

1838, 3580, 7037, 10147, 14080, 18105, 21080, 24929, 28080 Khz

Note: for SSTV in MFSK16, in general, it is not authorized to transmit a mix of text and pictures because the authorized frequencies, for these modes (MFSK16 / SSTV), are different.

MT63 (USB)

1822, 1838, 3580, 3590, 3635, 7035, 7037, 10140, 10145, 14106, 14109, 14114, 18100, 18105, 21130, 24925, 28130 Khz

RTTY 45 bauds (Ham) and ASCII 110 bauds (Ham)  (LSB)

1838-1842, 3580-3600, 7035-7045, 10140-10150, 14070-14099, 18100-18109, 21080-21120, 24920-24929, 28050-28150, 50100-50500, 144600, 144800-144990

RTTY 50 bauds (commercial) (USB, examples)

85 Hz shift: DDH47 (20 kW) on 147.3 Khz

450 Hz shift: DDK2 (1 kW) on 4583 Khz and DDK9 (10 kW) on 10100.8 Khz

425 Hz shift: Hambourg Meteo on 4583 Khz

RTTY 75 bauds (commercial) (USB, example)

425 Hz shift: Bracknell meteo on 4489 KHz

AMTOR ARQ or FEC (Ham) (LSB)

Same frequencies as for RTTY 45 bauds (Ham), in particular around 14075 KHz.

SITOR A (ARQ) or SITOR B (FEC) (commercial) (USB, examples)

4210-4218, 6314-6329, 12579-12646

NAVTEX (commercial) (USB, examples)

The NAVTEX frequencies are 518 et 490 Khz. The user will set his transceiver on USB at 517 or 489 Khz. The transmissions are done at fixed time, for example for NITON (GB): 7h00 and 19h00 UTC on 518 Khz in English, 5h20 and 17h20 on 490 Khz in English, 7h10 and 19h10 on 490 Khz in French.

FELD HELL, PSK HELL and HELL 80 (USB)

3580, 7035, 10135, 14063, 21063 and 28063 KHz

SSTV

3730 (LSB), 7035 (LSB), 14230 (USB), 21340 (USB), 28680 (USB), 144500 (FM)

HF Fax (Ham) (USB)

3730-3740, 7035-7045, 14230, 21340, 28680, 50550, 144700 KHz

HF Fax (commercial) (USB, 120 lpm, examples)

Hambourg Meteo on 3855, 7880 Khz

Bracknell Meteo on 2618,5, 4610, 4782, 8040 Khz

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Setting up sequences (long macros) 1 to 12

Setting up of sequences (long macros) 1 to 12

The user can set  up messages utilizing a special text editor. These messages can be either sent out any text mode or utilized to control certain functions

Note: it is possible to call up this sequence editor by a right click on the mouse over the button of the sequence on the TX/RX screen.

The user, to simplify and automate the writing of the sequences, may use macros.

For example, to say in BPSK31:

CQ CQ CQ DE F6CTE F6CTE F6CTE +K , the user may write in the sequence 1:

CQ CQ CQ DE <MY CALL><SPACE><MY CALL><SPACE><MY CALL><SPACE>+K

The user can add commands such as <TX> to pass into transmit when clicking the sequence 1 button, <BPSK31> to force this transmission mode, <RX> to pass into receive at the end of the sequence, "CQ CQ CQ DE" in the macro "NOTE 1", to put "+K" in <NOTE 2> and to put a space in the fiels <MY CALL> (or put it simply with the space bar !), which will give (there are many variations on how to arrange that depending on the imagination of the user):

<TX><BPSK31><NOTE 1><MY CALL><MY CALL><MY CALL><NOTE 2><RX>

The macros <TX>, <BPSK31>, <NOTE 1>, <NOTE 2>, <MY CALL>, <SPACE> and <RX> are obtained by clicking on the corresponding buttons.

All the macros are described in Personal data and macros.

It is possible to control the typed text. For this purpose, in the window "Text control according to the selected mode", one clicks on the button which corresponds to the selected mode. The characters not belonging to the selected mode will not be displayed. The user may also choose not to control anything.

AMTOR FEC, PSK10, PSKFEC31, PSKAM, ASCII 7 bits, RTTY, CW and CCW, MT63 and THROB(X) have a reduced character set compared to  the one of PSK31.

For example, if the transmission is done in PSK10, the small letters are transformed in capital, some special characters as "ß" (beta) are not transmitted and some others as "é" or "é" are transformed in capitals with no accentuation (here "E" and "A", respectively).

However, in AMTOR FEC, PSK10, PSKFEC31, PSKAM, RTTY, CW and CCW and THROB(X) the characters "<" et ">" will be accepted for the definition of the macros but will not be transmitted. In CW and in CCW, the carriage returns will be accepted for the text readability but wil not be transmitted either.

The special character ® for <TX TO RX> and ASCII control characters (below CHR(32) are not be accepted.

Transmissions in AMTOR FEC, BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSK10, PSKFEC31, RTTY 45 bauds, ASCII, CW, CCW, THROB(X), MFSK8 or MFSK16  may be mixed in a sequence.

However, changes in mode are not taken into account in Hellschreiber modes (FELD HELL...), because these modes function alone.

The user has the possibility to control his writing according to the chosen mode by clicking on the corresponding mode button.

Once, the sequence is edited, one only has to click on the button "Save and close" to save the sequence in a type Fx.SER file (x being the sequence number).

The sequence may also be saved without return to the menu (button "Save"). On the other hand, return to the menu can be done, without automatic record (button "Close").

The editor operation is standard.

The short bell is done with "*" in RTTY and AMTOR.

The maximum length of a sequence is 5000 characters. It can be put, of course, as numerous carriage returns as the user wishes (in the limit of 5000 characters).

Example of a sequence: "CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ OF FW5XYZ FW5XYZ FW5XYZ + K".

Each sequence can have a name of up to 10 letters/numerals. For example, the sequence 1 may be called « 1 » or « CQ ». Once the name is created, the user may save it with the button «Save sequence name ».  If there is only the name to save, the user may return to the menu with the button "Close". The file of the sequence name is Nx.SER type, with x=sequence number.

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Reading a QSO in progress or a previous QSO

It is possible:

- to read a QSO in progress,

- or, thanks to the button "Load a previous QSO file", any previous QSO (from the file named QSO <Date> <Time>.TXT) with <Date>: year-month-day so as to arrange the QSO files in a chronological order.

Note: to have the order of the files beginning with the most recent one, on the "Open" menu, the user must click on the button "Details" and, then, click twice  in the "Name" column.

In fact, the received characters during the last session (a "session" extends from the program start to the program end  with the "Exit"button) are recorded in the file named QSO <Date> <Time>.TXT of the QSO directory (when the program ends).

This last file can hold a maximum of 65500 characters.

From then on, it will be possible, if desired, to read this text thanks to the option "Reading the QSO in progress or the previous QSO".

At each new session, a new QSO file is created. To read the file, just load it. It’s possible to print the file.

Note: when the user passes from the decoder to the editor, a line feed character and the characters string <TX> + mode are saved. On the other hand, when the user passes from the editor to the decoder, a line feed character and then the characters string <RX> + mode are saved.

Each mode change is also noted with <RX> + mode.

Thus, it is easy to distinguish in the QSO text the edition phases from the decoding phases.

In beacon mode, we should remember the two sequences used and then at each new transmission: "mode + Message 1 or 2...<RX>:" are saved, followed by the received characters.

To go to the end, the user may type <CTRL><End> and to go to the beginning <CTRL><Home>.

It is reminded that the bell sound in RTTY or in AMTOR is noted "*".

With a right click, a pop menu appears which proposes either, doing a copy of the selected text, or to select all the text.

Another option, relative to RTTY and AMTOR modes, consists to converting letters into figures or the other way around according to the ITA2 mapping of characters. This function allows the user to correct a mistake on the character set related to several characters. The modifications done are saved.

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Checking of the selected serial port

The selected serial port is checked if it exists, and, on the other hand, if it is not opened yet.

At the initial selection or during a checking, if it is determined that the serial port is not available, the "No serial port" option is automatically selected.

See Selection of the serial port.

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Use of the logbook

The logbook (or simply "log") allows registering the accomplished QSO's. The log is saved in the file LOG_PSK.LO. The information relative to a QSO is the following:

* the UTC / GMT date and time (given automatically by the software when the QSO is recorded)…field "UTC/GMT", of 17 characters maximum,

* the call of the opposite station…field "CALL", of 15 characters maximum,

* the name of the opposite operator…field "NAME", of 18 characters maximum,

* the frequency used…field "FREQ", of 12 characters maximum in Megahertz (for example 14.070),

* the transmission mode…field "MODE", of 10 characters maximum,

Note: by default, the displayed mode is the one selected in reception.

* the "RST" given to the opposite station (for example: 599)…field "UR RST", of 7 characters maximum,

* the "RST" given by the opposite operator for you…field "MY RST", of 7 characters maximum,

* the QSL card to receive...field "R" of one character for which the meaning must be the following:

* "Y" for "Yes, requested" and after reception:

* "R" for "Yes, received" or,

* "I" for "Invalid received QSL";

* "N" for "Not requested",

* the QSL card to send...field "S" of one character for which the meaning must be the following:

* "Y" for "Yes, requested" and after sending:

* "S" for "Yes, sent",

* "N" for "No requested",

* field "Wkg" ("Working") of 35 characters maximum,

- for Ham’s, it is the description of the opposite station particularly the power in watts ("Working 	conditions"),

- for SWL’s, it is the call of the second correspondent station’s ("Working station").

* the QTH and the locator...field "QTH", of 40 characters maximum.

* the notes or comment…field "NOTES", of 79 characters maximum.

The data of the QSO are recorded in the decoder-editor part (RX/TX)…see Introduction and description of the windows and commands ( Description of the QSO recorder for the logbook).

The possibilities given by this log book are the following:

* navigation in the logbook either QSO by QSO or page by page (10 QSO's). The user may, also, go directly to the beginning and to the end of the logbook. The total number of QSO's (after data filtering) and the number of the last QSO (for the user to know where he is located in the log), are displayed.

* call filter: the user writes the call in the filter editor and clicks on "Call filter". He may use the character “*” behind a letter or a group of letters. For example, to select all the French calls, he will write "F*" or "GM*" for Scottish amateurs,

* mode filter: the user writes the mode in the filter editor and clicks on "Mode filter". He may use the character “*” behind a letter or a group of letters. For example, to select all the CW and CCW QSO, he will write "C*",

* date filter: the user writes the date on the editor ("Day/month/year") and clicks on "=" (for example he selects all the QSO's of the 17/02/02). In the same way, he can select all the QSO's recorded at a date superior or equal to the edited date by clicking on ">=" or, reversely, all the QSO's recorded at a date equal or inferior to the edited date by clicking on "=<".

CAUTION: the filters are voluntarily cumulative. For example, if the user wants to select all the QSO's done with French amateurs before 01/01/02, he will filter first on the call "F" ("F*") and then on the date ("=<" of the 31/12/01),

* display of all QSO's recorded by clicking on "Display all". This is useful if after having filtered, the user wants to do new data filtering starting with all records,

* modification of the QSO located under the cursor. A window containing all the information about the QSO appears. The user may modify the QSO. Then he may save or not the modifications done,

* export of the present QSO's to a text file whose name, proposed by the program, is composed of the word "Export" and the date. The suffix is always ".TXT" (for text file). The name of the file may be modified by the user. The file must be read in "Courier" or "Courier New" type font,

* export of the present QSO's to an ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) file whose name, proposed by the program, is composed of the word "Export" and the date. The suffix is always ".ADI" (for ADIF file). The name of the file may be modified by the user,

Note: ADIF format permits transfert of data conforming to this standard, between various amateur programs.

* removal of the QSO located under the cursor or removal of all present QSOs (obtained by possible data filtering). Thus the user may, for example, after having done a data filtering on the QSO's of the year 2001, judge useful to export them and then to delete them (to avoid a too big logbook),

*compression of the logbook. When a QSO is deleted, the file keeps its size. In the file, the program simply notes the removal of the QSO. To avoid a too big file containing only few "active” QSO's, it is useful to compress the file to let all the useless (deleted) QSO's. If no QSO has been deleted, this operation is of course useless.

* archiving of the log file LOG_PSK.LO to the archive file LOG_PSK.AR. This is a simple backup. If, for any reason, the user loses the log file, then only rename LOG_PSK.AR in LOG_PSK.LO to start again. The archive file is, in fact, the compressed log file.

NOTE: this log allows, theoretically,  to manage a maximum of 100,000 QSO but it is recommended not to pass 10,000 QSO, in order not to lengthen delays for loading or compressing etc…

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Personal data and macros

Reminder: if the user wants to simplify and automate the writing of the sequences (Setting up Sequences 1 to 12) , he can avoid writing complete sequence text but opt for writing squences that contain text and macros. For example, if the operator wants to write the following sequence CQ CQ CQ DE F6CTE F6CTE F6CTE +K in CW, with a passage to transmit at the beginning and to receive at the end, he might write: <TX><CW>CQ CQ CQ DE <MY CALL><SPACE><MY CALL><SPACE><MY CALL><SPACE>+K<RX>.

The macros are divided into 3 categories :

* those that are personal to the operator himself: his personal data,

* the ones concerning the other operator whose information has been received and recorded in the fields of the log book,

* diverse macros.

PERSONAL DATA

Here the fields have an obvious meaning.  The operator has only to fill in the fields.

We should notice here  that <NOTE 1> to <NOTE 4> have no predefined meaning. The user fills them in at wish.

The fields have a maximum length of 255 characters. These data are saved in the file PERSO_PS.TXT.

Don't forget to add a space at the beginning or at the end of each data, in order not to have to add it each time  you use it.

DATA FROM THE CORRESPONDENT OPERATOR

Theses are : <CALL>, <NAME>, <QTH> and <MY RST>.

These fields are filled in the RX/TX screen...see Introduction and description of the windows and commands (Description of the QSO recorder for the logbook).

They are described in Use of the logbook.

DIVERSES MACROS

<UR RST> is filled in the RX/TX screen...see the preceding paragraph.

<UTC/GMT> gives UTC date and time (for example : " 02/03/02 11:42:09 UTC") .

<SPACE> insert a space and <LINE> a line feed (LF + CR). In fact, <SPACE> and <LINE> are not real macros because when they are clicked,  a space is inserted in the text or a line feed happens (there is no further interpreting).

<BPSK31> allows the transmission of the text which follows it in BPSK31.

It is the same principle for all the other "mode" macros <QPSK31>, <PSK63>...

Note: all these "mode" type macros are transmitted through not used ASCII or ANSI characters as CHR(127), CHR(128) and the display shows some sort of a black vertical bar.

<PRECED> allows the user to return to the preceding mode after having transmitted a given mode. The standard use will be to transmit a CW text among a text of another mode. Example: if one supposes that the TX mode is MT63, then "<CW> CQ DE F6CTE <PRECED>" will mean "Transmission of a CW text and return to MT63".

<TX> allows to pass immediatly from receive to transmit. This macro has to be put at the beginning of the text.

<RX> (® in the text) allows to pass from transmit to receive. This macro has to be put at the end of the text. After this macro, there is no need to continue the text. Any further text will be ignored.

<RXCLR> (® in the text) is equivalent to the macro <RX> with a clearing of all windows.

USE OF MACROS FROM THE RX/TX SCREEN

The macros are also directly available from the RX/TX screen, with the button "Macros" of the text editor. They may be used either for decoding or in transmission. When clicking on the button, "Macros", a window containing all the macros will open. Clicking on a macro, the text of the macro will be put on the text editor ready for transmission. The macros may be useful in the cases where a sequence is not provided for what the user has to say.

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Playing and recording of sound files (.WAV)

Playing and recording sound files (.WAV)

While decoding, the operator has the possiility to record the received sound in a ".WAV" type sound file. Then, he might play back this sound file later to decode it in one of the Multipsk proposed modes.

Playing and decoding of a sound file

In the "Configuration" screen, in the window "Decoding: from the sound input or a sound file", a little green window appears with the necessary commands that enable to decode not only the signal coming from the sound input of the sound card but also from a sound file.

The decoding of a sound file may be very quick and depends very much on the power of the Personal computer. The “sound file” is interesting in the case of absence of the user when the sound file was received and recorded. The operator can then decode the prerecorded sound file (see paragraph below). The sound file may then, for example, be exchanged with other hams or SWL.

By default, the "Input sound" mode is proposed. The example sound file is called "EXAMPLE_BPSK31.WAV". The user may load any other .WAV file.

Except for MT63, the recording must be done at 11025 samples/sec, 8 bits and in "mono". It is the recording mode of MULTIPSK (see further on). In MT63, recording should be done at 8000 samples/sec, 8 bits and in "mono".

When the option "Sound file" is chosen, on the "RX/TX" screen and on the "PSK panoramic" screen, a scroolbar and a counter show up. The counter indicates the percentage of recording read (and the corresponding time). By holding the index of the scrollbar, the user may go to any position on the record. By clicking on the position button, the reading starts at the beginning of the recording.

The reading can be temporarily stopped with the "Pause" button.

Note: during this time no transmission is possible.

Recording a sound file

In a little green window in the field "Recording on a .WAV sound file" on the "Configuration" screen, the operator can see the commands necessary to give the possibility to record, in the planned user configuration, the sound coming from the sound card. The record is done in the standard format:  11025 samples/sec, 8 bits and in "mono" (except for MT63 where the sampling is 8000 sample/sec), to reduce the space occupied on the hard disk (0,66 Moctets by minute of recording at 11025 samples/sec).

By default, it is proposed the "No recording" mode. The recording file proposed by default is called "RECORDING.WAV". The user may load an other .WAV file or define another name.

The maximum recording duration may be adjusted between 5 to 240 mn (240 mn equaling 4 hours initially). The user may, manually, stop the recording.

This option is only intended for the operator to use it as a tape recorder with possibility to decode any mode but the mode can’t be changed during the recording. The user will not be allowed to pass to transmit or to pass from the PSK panoramic spectrum to the RX/TX screen and vice versa.

When starting the PSK panoramic spectrum or the RX/TX screen, the recording begins. When coming back, the recording is completed. If a decoding is started again, the recording starts from the beginning. The recording elapsed time is displayed.

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Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location

Search for a country by prefix or callsign

Introduction

1) The prefix is the part of the callsign taht indicates the country. For example, in "F6CTE", the prefix "F" indicates that the country is "France").

2) Coutries can have one or more prefixes. Somtimes, one of the prefixe indicates a DXCC entity inside a country. For example, the prefix "FM" is a french prefix attributed to the Martinique (a French department in the Caribbean sea).

3) A DXCC country such as the Martinique should achieve certain criteria with the ARLL (for more informations, see Internet).

4) We have to remind the kind readers that this function is given as a demo function for three minutes and for one go for the limited un-licensed version of this software.

Search for DXCC countries

* The “Country” button allows finding the DXCC country together with latitude and longitude depending on the prefix or the callsign.  If, for example, the prefix is F, that will indicate that the country is France and the latitude is 47 degrees North and 2 degrees south. The country is given in English. The “Enter Key” can also be used.

For every prefix, one DXCC country is given For example FM is given as a prefix for the Martinique even if it is France.

The latitude and longitude are given for the center of the country approximately taking into account the denser population zones (for the northern countries).

Note: The determination of the country can be directly done from the receive window by making a right click on the prefix or callsign.

I shall be grateful for any corrections or suggestions.

The “WORLD” button is optional. When active, the DXCC country contacted will show as a red point on the world map.

* the button "Position the country or the locator on the world map" is an option. If it is active, the entity is immediatly pointed by a spot on the world map.

Positioning of a Ham by his Locator

Introduction

1) The  Locator is defined by a sequence of 6 characters: 2 letters from A to R then 2 figures then 2 letters from A to X. It permits to give the geographic position of the Ham. For example, the author situated at 48° 41' 58" North latitude and 2° 09' 21" East longitude has the Locator: JN18CQ. It exists freewares which compute the Locator from the latitude and the longitude.

2) The locator, if well defined (ie rounded to the closest Locator), has a precision of 3 km.

Positioning of a Locator

The button "Lat/Long" permits to determine the latitude and the longitude of the Locator. Moreover, if the user Locator is valid, it will be given the distance between the 2 Hams and the azimuth to apply to a directive antenna to be aligned with the other Ham.

Note: The user Locator must be defined in the field <MY LOCATOR> of the personal data. Click on the button "Personal" to have access to it.

Positioning of a DXCC country on the world map

Introduction

1) The map is not complete as the un-inhabited parts near the poles (part of Greenland, South pole) are not shown (due to the used projection).

2) The very small countries are not shown because the scale of the map does not permit it.

3) The borders shown are those known to the author by 21th of april 2004.

4) The map can be adjusted according to the operator's requirements. These are saved by the program.

5) We have to remind the kind readers that this function is given as a demo function for three minutes and for one go for the limited un-licensed version of this software.

Offered possibilities

1) Manual positioning according to a prefix, a call or a Locator,

2) Automatic positioning during reception through the RX/TX screen when a callsign appears,

3) Automatic positioning during reception through the panoramic screen when a callsign is displayed (monitoring 23 channels at the same time).

4) Automatic decoding and positioning (red point) of received Locators and calculation of the distance and the azimuth if the user Locator is valid (see "Positioning of a Locator", below).

IMPORTANT: teh moment the map is opened, reception and automatic positioning are started whether it is from the RX/TX screen or on the panoramic screen.

Manual positioning

If the operator wishes to position a country by using a prefix or a callsign, he can do so by using one of the two buttons "Country" (see above), using the option "Display on map".

Automatic reception and positioning on the RX/TX screen or the panoramic screen

The program monitors the received texts. If it detects a callsign, there will be two possibilities:

* either it is the callsign of a station already received in the last ten 10 minutes (which is the time considered that a QSO normally takes), then the call is displayed in the first yellow line (which sends the other twol lines downward),

* or it is a new callsign (or received after 10 minutes), then the callsign is displayed and saved to be used in "Reception report" ou "Received calls") and the country (DXCC entity) is immediatly indicated by a point on the world map. The size of the point depends on the number of  positionings done on the map for the country and on the realtive area of this country.

Note: it is assumed that the callsign is 4 to 10 characters long. The 3 first must include 1 letter and 2 figures ou 1 figure and 2 letters. Other characters must be either letters or the character "/".

The callsign should be preceded by 'DE ' or 'de ', because only the callsign of operators who are actually transmitting are taken into account. Specials call are not taken into account.

The type of transmission going on is determined whether it is a: CQ, CQ DX or QSO with another Ham. The displayed "wkg" means "working" for "working with")

* the black rectangle over a given country expands as the number of stations worked in that country increases, that goes on until a maximum which depends  (in général) on the country's area (tin order to not generate overlapping areas).

The program watches if a Locator has been received. If so, there are 2 possibilities:

* either it is a repetition of an already received Locator (from less than 10 minutes, this time being supposed the duration of a QSO), then the Locator is just displayed in the blue line,

* or it is a new Locator (or received more than 10 minutes ago), then the Locator is displayed, stored to be used in "Received calls" and it is immediatly pointed by a blue spot on the world map.

Note: the  Locator is defined by a sequence of 6 characters: 2 letters from A to R then 2 figures then 2 letters from A to X.

The Locator must preceded by '  ' or ': '  and the 6 characters must not be separated. A space must follow the 6 characters.

It will be calculated and displayed the distance between the 2 Hams and the azimuth to apply to a directive antenna to be aligned with the other Ham, if the user Locator is valid (see "Positioning of a Locator", below).

The peculiarities of automatic reception and location on the panoramic screen: the reception is, in this case, fully, automatic as the operator does not have to click on any signal on the waterfall display. 23 frequency channels are monitored at the same time. It is very interesting, here, to observe, after, for example, adjusting the receiver on a very used PSK31 band (as 14070 Khz USB), to observe the localizations of the signals received. The operator, after a certain time (say one half-hour, for example) can determine the propagation conditions or the antenna directivity, according to which stations is receiving.

Available commands

* "Print": the button [image] allows to print the map,

* "Record": the button [image]  permits saving the map in a "WORLD date time.BMP" file under the sub-directory WORLD created automatically by MULTIPSK),

* "Re-initialization": this button cancels all positioning points,

* "Report": this button permits editing a report listing all countries received, with information about each country: the number of demands for positioning (manual or automatic). The countries are listed in decreasing order of the number of demands for positioning. The total gives the number of prefixes handled.

With controls "Print", "Save", this report can be printed or saved in a fileof the type "REPORT date time.TXT" in the sub-directory WORLD created automatically by MULTIPSK. With the control "Stop updating", the updating can be stopped to allow the user to scroll the report. The report may be enlarged by the button "Large". The user can quit the report by clicking on "Exit".

* "Received calls": this button permits listing of approximatively the 100 last calls (or locators) received with each line containing, for a call:

- the time of reception,

- the callsign and its country,

- the AF frequency value on the spectrum analyser,

- the type of transmission ("wkg" for "working with") this Ham does (CQ, CQ DX or QSO with another Ham). If it is a QSO with a Ham, it is given his call and his country.

For each line and for a Locator:

- the time of reception,

- the Locator,

- the AF frequency (on the spectrum)

- if the user Locator is valid, the distance to the Ham and the azimuth in °,

With controls "Print", "Save", this list can be printed or saved in a file which type is "CALLS date time.TXT" in the sub-directory WORLD created automatically by MULTIPSK). With the command "Stop updating", the updating can be stopped to allow the user to scroll the list. The list may be enlarged by the button "Large". The user can quit the report by cliquing on "Exit".

Important: if only the 100 last calls (or Locators) are displayed, it's all the received calls (or Locators) which are stored in the limit of 10 Mo of data. The CALLS file may be read as a standard text file.

It is found, for a call, successively the fields: Time / Call / AF Frequency / Country

It is found, for a Locator, successively the fields: Time / Locator / AF Frequency / Distance and azimuth (if the user Locator is valid)

* "Alarm": this button permits to warn the operator of receiving a callsign. In case of alarm, it rings during a short time.

* "Stop": this button permits to stop the alarm.

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Tune function and opening of a repeater

This function is available for adjusting the transmitter power. "Tune" sends a pure carrier (a sinusoidal wave). The frequency is that which will be sent by the transmitter (= RX frequency + XIT) (see Access to the configuration screen). The maximum level of the RF sent is equal to the maximum level sent with the modulated signal in BPSK31, PSKAM...

Therefore, the tune carrier level is adjusted so that the transmitter is not saturated.

The power transmitted by the transmitter due to the Tune function is proportionate to the signal level at the output of the sound card (see speaker out level).

IMPORTANT: the mean power of BPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKAM31 modes is about 79 % of the one obtained with Tune (in Tune, the mean power is the same as the peak power).

The one for QPSK31 is about 35 % compared to Tune.

The one for PSK10, PSKAM10/50 and PSKFEC31 modes is about 86 % compared to Tune.

The one for THROB 4 bauds is 19 %.

The one for THROBX and THROB 1 and 2 bauds is 35 %.

The one for MT63 is 10 %.

For example, in BPSK31, the transmitter is adjusted to 60 watts on Tune to obtain 47 watts on average, and in PSK10 to 55 watts to obtain 47 watts on average.

It is reminded that the mean power of RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR, MFSK16, MFSK8, HELL 80, SSTV and fax modes is 100 % of the one obtained with Tune, and only about 50 % for CW/CCW mode (still compared with Tune). Therefore, the transmitter power must be reduced in RTTY (not used in CW/CCW). The mean power for FELD HELL is about 25 % and the one for PSK HELL about 62 %.

The buttons "67", "88.5", "1750" allows the user to open repeaters by transmitting a tone at the frequency displayed on the button (during about 2 seconds).

TUNE function, is stopped by clicking on the "End of tune" button.

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Description of the beacon commands

Introduction

The beacon function is related to all modes except PSKAM10/31/50 and the graphical modes (fax and SSTV): PSK31, PSK63, PSK10, PSKFEC31, MT63, CW, CCW, THROB(X), MFSK8, MFSK16, AMTOR FEC, FELD HELL, PSK HELL, HELL 80, ASCII ou RTTY 45 bauds.

The beacon allows the automatic operation of reception and transmission, in alternatively (one after the other) in any of the above-mentioned modes. The program works independently in a stand-alone way. Except for a particular need, the beacon does not work for more than one or two hours long. The transmitted message is prepared before hand. The receiven duration is adjustable. An alarm (beeps and blinks) can be started on reception of the operator call.

Start-up

Beacon mode may be started from the "Configuration" screen (see below) or with the button "Beacon" located in the upper taskbar of  the "RX/TX" screen. Details are given hereafter.

Description of the "beacon mode" window (in the "Configuration" screen)

If the button "Yes" is clicked, then the user will have the possibility to program the beacon operation. For that, the user will have to choose:

* the total working duration of the beacon (transmission + pause): from 15 minutes to infinity,

* the pause duration after a message: from 3 seconds to 15 minutes (900 s). During this pause, the software passes to receive in the last mode transmitted by the beacon, to decode possible answers,

* the sequence (see sequence (1 to 12) ) to be transmitted for odd messages (the first, the third,...),

* the sequence (see sequence (1 to 12) ) to be transmitted for even messages (the second, the fourth,...),

An example of beacon programming:

* 4 hours (240 minutes) of total beacon duration,

* 2 minutes (120 secondes) of pause (after each message),

* sequence 1 in BPSK31 (+ heading in CW) for odd messages: <CW>....<BPSK31>...,

* sequence 2 in PSKFEC31 (+ heading in CW) for even messages: <CW>....<PSKFEC31>... .

Notes:

* as MT63, FELD, PSK HELL and HELL 80 Hellschreiber modes are very particular, they must work alone, so both chosen sequences must be identical,

* In PSK, the beacon works on master mode in order not to change the transmission frequency,

* the transmission and reception modes cannot be changed,

* the received characters are saved up to a maximum of 65500 characters,

* the transmitted characters are saved only  once at the beginning of the QSO file,

* if the user wants only one transmission mode (compulsory for Hellschreiber and MT63 modes), it is sufficient to program the same sequences for the odd and for the even messages,

* a SSTV picture transmission in a MFSK16 sequence is not possible.

* in MT63, one can transmit a prefix in CW using the macros <CW>...<PRECED>. The transmit frequency will be fixed but the receive frequency may change.

Description of the alarm on reception of the operator call

In the "RX/TX" screen, at the start-up of the beacon, the operator can use the button "Beeps on your call". The considered call is the one given in the personal data (<MY CALL> in Personal data and macros). In the pushed position, if the call is decoded during receive, beeps and blinking are started for the operator's benefit. The operator will not have to observe the screen, he will be automatically warned. The button "Stop" stops the beeps as long as it stays pushed.

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Description of the MT63 commands

Introduction

1) This mode needs a minimum of Pentium 1000.

2) In MT63, the frequency on the spectrum in the range 200 to 2800 Hz is fixed. Therefore, the receiver frequency must be adjusted.

The lower limit is fixed at 500 Hz and the width can be either: 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz.

3) The displayed S/N ratio (signal to noise ratio) is between -10 and 15 dB.

4) It is only possible to go to CW from MT63.

Receive commands

- "Bandwidth (Khz)" and "Interleaving" fields

MT63 is defined by its bandwidth: 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz and by the interleaving (see RX/TX mode selection and description).

The standard mode for calling is 1000 Hz one with long interleaving.

-  "Squelch" button

This button limits the random characters received in the presence of noise. However, weak signals can be affected by the squelch.

To be precise, this squelch is slow (10 sec to act)

- Buttons "< >" and "Co" (for "Correction") label

The RX sound card sampling frequency must be artifically modified to correct a systematic sampling frequency offset due to the sound card. For example, if the sampling average offset is "+ 1%", it must be set "- 1 %" to correct this offset.

IMPORTANT: it is very advised to do this operation in case of systematic offset, because it is easier to make up for a TX speed offset from a beforehand corrected sound card: the adaptation capacity varies from +/-0.5 % (correct or adjusted sound card) to +/0.2 % (bad sound card without adjustment).

Note 1: a correction of "-1 %" means that the sound card has a real sampling frequency superior to 8000 samples/sec.

Note 2: the TX sampling frequency is also modified with the same amplitude as it is supposed that the TX and the RX sound card sampling frequencies are identical.

Note 3: in fact, the sampling frequency of 8000 samples/sec is standard, the effect of a speed different from 8000 is very variable. So, it is not modified. In reality, it is the reception or transmission speed of the signs done by the software which takes into account this correction, which is less good but more sure.

- "Offset Sf" field

Here the operator sees the offset of the sampling frequency as calculated by Multipsk. If the decoding is correct, the operator has an interest in locking the current value by clicking on "Lock". The calculation is done in about 14 seconds in 5 bauds, 7 seconds in 10 bauds and 4 seconds in 20 bauds. If the signal is too weak, then the delay will be longer. If the offset is systematic, the sound card has not the nominal speed and the user must correct its speed (see above " Buttons "< >" and "Co" (for "Correction") label").

Note: MT63 requires a precision of +/- 0.01 % for the sampling frequency. Many soundcards have an offset up to 0,7 % (and sometimes more) compared to the nominal frequency of 8000 samples/second, a thing that makes the decoding of MT63 impossible on many PC's. To correct this, Multipsk calculates automatically the offset between TX and RX sound cards sampling frequencies, up to a maximum of 1,5 % (with not too weak signals).

- Label "RX Offset"

The reception frequency offset computed by Multipsk is displayed. If the translation is correct, the user would do well to lock the current value by clicking the button "Lock". The determination is done in about 14 sec in 5 bauds, 7 sec in 10 bauds and 4 sec in 20 bauds. If the signal is weak, the delay will be larger.

Nota: as the program reception frequency is fixed and the one of the receiver has, in general, a possibility to adjust from 10 to 10 Hz, in MT63 it is compulsory to correct the reception frequency until a frequencial distance equal to the half of the maximum Hamming distance recoverable by MT63 i.e 8 times the interval between two MT63 carriers.

So it is possible to correct the reception frequency up to: +/-62.5 Hz in 5 bauds, +/-125 Hz in 10 bauds and +/-250 Hz in 20 bauds.

- Buttons "Lock"

These buttons allow the user to lock either the sampling frequency offset or the reception frequency offset when the translation is correct. As the sampling frequency offset is a fixed value, it must be locked in priority.

- Buttons "< >"

If the sampling frequency offset is known by the user (due to a preceding QSO for example), he can lock it and adjust it to the right value.

The same principle applies to the reception frequency offset.

- Buttons "0"

As the reception frequency offset or the reception frequency offset may move randomly on noise, these buttons allow the user to bring back the offsets to 0 Hz (standard value).

For reception, see Use in reception

Transmission control

In transmission, the MT63 characteristics mode can't be modified.

- Button "Tune"

This control allows the user to transmit the 2 extreme frequencies of the considered MT63 band (500, 1000 or 2000 Hz), if no text is being transmitted. This can help a ham to adjust on the transmission.

For transmission, see Use in transmission

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Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options

Introduction

1) The sound card must be a  "full-duplex" type and not a "simplex" one. This indication may be found in the configuration screen.

2) If the processor used in the PC is at least a Pentium 450, then the display can be arranged as 200-2500 Hz, 200-3300 Hz or 200-4300 Hz. For a less Pentium processor, the display will be only done in 200-2500 Hz.

For the following explanations, it will be considered a 200-2500 Hz display.

3) The initial bandwith is 5512 Hz.

Latency time in 1/10 s

The latency time in full-duplex is the delay of the output sound compared to the input sound. It is mainly due to the Windows buffering. This delay is initially of one second in WAVEFORM-AUDIO mode and about 0.4 second in DIRECTSOUND mode (see more further).

This latency time may be reduced if the used Pentium is sufficiently powerful.

With "No filter" option selected, adjust your receiver on a BLU or an AM transmission (people talking). Apply this signal to the sound card input plug. Connect louders or headphones to the sound card output plug. You will, easily,  observe the delay between the output and the input sounds.

You will try to reduce the delay down to the value where the speech becomes difficult to understand. One time determined, select the value just above the found value.

The modification of latency time is also applied to the DIRECTSOUND mode. Possibly, a too small latency time which does not work under WAVEFORM-AUDIO mode will work in DIRECTSOUND mode.

You will do some tests to determine the minimum delay.

N Order

It is the order of the lowpass, bandpass and rejection filters. The bigger the order is, the more powerful the filter is. The maximum is 1000. It is reached with a P450.

No filter

The bandwidth is maximum between 0 and 5512 Hz.

Lowpass filter

The cut-off frequency is adjustable by clicking on the spectrum, between 200 and 2500 Hz.

At the beginning, the inital RX frequency configured in the configuration menu is chosen.

The selected bandwidth will be, for example, 1000 Hz for CW.

Noise reduction filters (weak or strong)

These filters apply to the whole AF spectrum (0 à 5512 Hz)

The reduction may be weak or strong.

With this noise attenuator, it may be possible to reduce the noise of the phone signals keeping their intelligibility (this will be limited when using the «strong attenuator»).

Noise reduction filter for CW

This filter gives to a reduced spectrum (400 à 1000 Hz). It is adapted by the user as he wishes.

Bandpass and rejection filters

The central frequency is adjustable by clicking on the spectrum, between 200 and 2500 Hz.

At the beginning, the inital RX frequency configured in the configuration menu is chosen.

The user can choose between 5 bandwidths: 60, 120, 250, 500 and 2500 Hz,

This bandwidth is that selected for the bandpass filter and the one for the rejection filter.

If the option "Carrier capture" is selected, then the filter by clicking will automatically be centered on the carrier (CW transmission for example).

If the option "Carrier pursuit" is selected, then the carrier will be followed as its drifts.

The choices about the bandwidth and two preceding options are stored.

With the bandpass filter, the user may, for example, separate two distinct CW transmissions.

With the rejection filter, an annoying carrier may be suppressed (in SSB, for example).

Choice of the full-duplex digital treatment

There are two possible options:

* either the standard multimedia API (programmation functions) of Windows called "Waveform-Audio Interface": these API are universal but between the captured sound and the reproduced sound, the latency time is about one second (see, above, "Latency time"),

* or the Microsoft DirectSound interface, part of DirecxtX® which is designed for games and others high-performance applications. This interface depends on a DLL (library) under the form of a file called DSOUND.DLL whose functions are variable from one release to another. The latency time in full-duplex is only about 0.4 second (see, above, "Latency time"). Moreover, two potentiometers are proposed: one for the balance and the other for the volume. They are located in series with the mixer so that the volume at the mixer level must be at the maximum. By experience, the DSOUND.DLL version of Windows 95 does not work while that of Windows 98 and beyond is good.

For information, are displayed the number of processed buffers (Nb tr).and the number of buffers which with problems (Nb pb) due to a transitory overload.

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Description of the CW binaural reception options

IMPORTANT

The binaural reception is, normally, obtained in an analogical receiver when passing from HF (direct receiver) or from MF (super-heterodyne receiver) to AF.

Please refer, on this subject, to the excellent paper "A Binaural I-Q Receiver" by Rick Campbell, KK7B, written in QST on march 1999.

In our case, from AF (obtained from the sound card), one can only obtain, on a binaural way, a narrow band corresponding at what is necessary for CW.

Hence, it is not , here, more that the experimentation of a concept.

Preliminaries

1) The sound card must be a  "full-duplex" type and not a "simplex" one. This indication may be found in the configuration screen.

2) If the chosen type of Pentium is P450, then the display can be done in en 200-2500 Hz, 200-3300 Hz or 200-4300 Hz. In the contrary case, the display will be only done in 200-2500 Hz.

For the following explanations, it will be considered a 200-2500 Hz display.

Latency time in 1/10 s

The latency time in full-duplex is the delay of the output sound compared to the input sound. It is mainly due to the Windows buffering. This delay is initially of one second in the mode used in binaural reception (WAVEFORM-AUDIO).

This latency time may be reduced if the used Pentium is sufficiently powerful.

With "MONO PASS-ALL" option selected, adjust your receiver on a BLU or an AM transmission (people talking). Apply this signal to the sound card input plug. Connect louders or headphones to the sound card output plug. You will, easily,  observe the delay between the output and the input sounds.

You will try to reduce the delay down to the value where the speech becomes difficult to understand. One time determined, select the value just above the found value.

You will do some tests to determine the minimum delay.

N Order

It is the order of the lowpass, bandpass and rejection filters. The bigger the order is, the more powerful the filter is. The maximum is 500. It is reached with a P450.

Mono pass-all

The bandwidth is maximum beween 0 and 5512 Hz. The headphones receive the same signal (mono).

Mono Band-pass

The headphones receive the same signal (mono).

This option allows the user to do the difference between a mono reception (this one) and a binaural reception. This difference is sensitive in presence of noise.

The central frequency is adjustable by clicking on the spectrum, between 200 and 2500 Hz.

At the beginning, it is chosen the inital RX frequency configured in the configuration menu.

The user can choose between 3 bandwidths: 60, 120 and 250 Hz,

If the option "Carrier capture" is selected, the filter is automatically configured on the carrier when clicking.

If the option "Carrier pursuit" is selected, the carrier is followed on its drift.

The choices about the bandwidth and two preceding options are stored.

According to the bandwidth, the user may, for example, separate two distinct CW transmissions.

Binaural

The headphones receive two signals in quadrature.

The use is the same as for the option "Mono band-pass". The reception must be better in presence of noise (gain of 3 dB).

Noise reduction filter

This filter apply to the whole AF spectrum (0 à 5512 Hz)

With this noise attenuator, it may be possible to reduce the noise keeping the intelligibility of CW signals.

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Description of HF Fax mode commands

Description of the HF Fax mode commands

Introduction:

The used PC must be a P166 or more, preferably.

The normal graphic format is a screen in 800x600 or more and 16 or 24 bits colors.

The fax decoder commands are:

* "Slant": a set of buttons intended to correct the sound card sampling frequency and thus to correct the possible slant of the picture. According to the necessary correction, the user will click on one of the buttons //, /, \, \\, with / and \ for light correction and // and \\ for strong correction. The applied correction is indicated.

The corrected samplig frequency will be of: 11025 + Correction/10.

For information, the software CLOCK ("The radio-driven digital clock") of the same author (F6CTE) calculates, over 3 minutes, the sound card sampling frequency (RX side). Knowing this value (real Fe), it will be possible to compute, as a first approximation, the correction to apply: (real Fe -11025) x 10.

* "LPM": a spin button allows the sweeping (scanning) speed choice (60, 90 or 120 lpm) with 120 lpm as a reference...see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description

* "IOC": a spin button allows the IOC choice (288 or 576) with 288 as a reference...see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description

* "Shift": a double button (< (left) / > (right)) allows the user to shift the picture to left or to right,

* a button "W/B" allows to display the picture only in black and white rather than in grey nuances...not recommended except for particular requirements,

* a button "Clear" allows cleaning what is present on the screen,

* "Print": the button [image] allows printing the fax,

* "Record": the button [image] allows storing the picture in a file of the type "FAX date time.BMP" in the sub-directory FAX (automatically created by MULTIPSK),

* a button "Stop down" allows to automatically stop the reception when the picture reaches the screen bottom, which allows the user not to be present during reception,

* a button "RX stop" allows the user to manually stop the reception and, thus, the picture display,

* a button "Synchro." allows to synchronize the picture on the white band transmitted just before the picture itself,

* a button "1:1 (Normal)" allows to display the picture in normal size. In reality, the presented size is correct for a Ham transmission (120 lpm, IOC=288) but in 1:2 (in width and length) the size will be fit to a weather fax transmission in 120 lpm, IOC=576,

Note: the Pentium speed limits the performances of the decoder: with a P66, the user will get fax in 640x480 format and 256 colors, with a P166, he will get fax in 800x600 format and 65536 colors, with a bigger PC, he will use the 1024x768 format and 65536 colors. The bigger is the format, the more numerous are the colors and more the PC must be powerful, otherwise the "Problem" label will light...

The fax transmission commands are:

* a button "Load" allows the user to load an picture under xyz.BMP file form,

If the picture is not a BMP format (but a JPG one, for example), the user must transform it to a 24 bits BMP format thanks to "Paint" software (or equivalent).

* a button "Transmit" allows the user to transmit the loaded picture.

Note: it is advised to transmit on the standard frequencies (white at about 2300 Hz).

The transmission in progress may be stopped by clicking again the button "Transmit".

*- a label indicates the percentage of the picture transmited if the transmission has been initiated.

Note: if the picture is in black and white or in grey scale, it will be transmited as it. If it is in colors (screen copy for example), the colors will be transformed in grey scale before transmission.

1) If the chosen type of Pentium is P450, then the display can be done in 200-2500 Hz, 200-3300 Hz or 200-4300 Hz. In the contrary case, the display will be only done in 200-2500 Hz.

For the following explanations, a 200-2500 Hz display will be considered.

2) The initial bandwith is 5512 Hz.

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Description of the SSTV mode commands

Introduction:

Ther are for command groups:

* on the left bottom: a window "SSTV TEXT" to process the text to pasted in the picture to transmitted,

* on the left: the commands of the transmission (TX),

* at the middle: the global commands (RX and TX),

* on the right: the receive commands (RX).

Below that, two windows are found:

* on the left: the display window of:

- the picture to transmit,

- or the RX and TX historic pictures,

* on the right: the display window of the picture to receive.

The used PC must be a P166 as a minimum (P450 would be ideal).

The normal graphic format is a screen in 800x600 and 24 bits colors.

Thanks to James M. Ward (WA3AAJ) for taking a beautiful picture of the Moon with his telescope and authorizing me to use it.

Thanks to Antonio Sanchez Aldama (EA2AB) for taking a beautiful picture of the port of Bilbao and authorizing me to use it.

The SSTV decoder (RX) commands are:

* "Shift": four buttons (<<, < (for left shift) / >, >> (for right shift)) allows the user to shift the picture to left or to right. This is to be used after the complete reception of the picture.

* "Slant": a set of buttons intended to correct the sound card sampling frequency and thus to correct the possible slant of the picture. According to the necessary correction, the user will click on one of the buttons //, /, \, \\ with / and \ for slight (fine) correction and // and \\ for strong (coarse) correction. The applied correction is indicated. This is to be used after the complete reception of the picture.

Note: the corrected samplig frequency will be of: 11025 + Correction/10.

* "Auto": this button allows doing automatically:

- the necessary shift to center the picture,

- the necessary correction to suppress the slant of the picture.

The correction is done 3 times during the reception of the picture.

It can be passed in "Auto" only before starting the picture reception or at its beginning (before the first correction).

The buttons "Shift" and "Slant" are, then, no more active except after the complete reception of the picture. This option is proposed by default.

* "RX historic": the button [image] allows displaying one of the last 9 received pictures (they are saved with the date/time of their file name storage). When the picture is displayed, by clicking on a mini-picture, it expands to the window size. It is then available for a possible processing before transmitting it.

* "Load": the button [image] allows the user to load a picture under xyz.BMP or xyz.JPG file form from the sub-directory SSTV_RX (under XP, check the sub-directory).

To have a selection of files beginning by the most recent one, on the "Open" menu item, the user must click on the button "Details" and, then, click two times in the "Name" column.

* "Record": the button [image] allows to store the picture in a file of the type "SSTV_RX date time.BMP" in the sub-directory SSTV_RX (automatically created by MULTIPSK),

* an button "Auto Save" allows the software to work in a standalone way. This one listen to the frequency. Each time a picture is detected, there is an automatic synchronization, reception and then saving of the picture (in the format described in "Record").

All the buttons except "RX historic" and "Load" are rendered inactive.

* a button "RX stop" allows the user to manually stop the reception and, consequently, the picture display,

* a button "Synchro." allows to start the display of the picture once the synchronization signal is received (for example, 5 ms at 1200 Hz in Martin 1),

* a button "Clear" allows to clear the RX window,

The SSTV transmission (TX) commands are:

* "Correction": a spinbutton allows to choose the correction for the sound card output sampling frequency and thus to correct the possible slant which could be produced when the TX picture is transmitted. The applied correction is indicated.

The corrected samplig frequency will be: 11025 + Correction/10.

For the reader's information, the software CLOCK ("The radio-driven digital clock") of the same author (F6CTE) calculates, in 3 minutes, the sound card sampling frequency (RX side). Knowing this value (real Fe), it will be possible to compute, in first approximation, the correction to apply: (real Fe -11025) x 10.

* a button "Header" allows loading the Multipsk header (320 columns x 16 lines) at the beginning of the picture. This option is activated on the next loaded picture, not on the present one. For the reader's information, the file recorded in the Multipsk main directory has for file name 'header.bmp".

* a button "Clear" allows cleaning the TX window, loading the header if required (see the option "Header").

* "TX historic": the button [image] allows a display of the 9 last TX stored pictures (with their file name). When the display comes up,  clicking on a mini-picture makes it expand to full the window size. It is then available for a possible editing before transmitting.

* "Load": the button [image] allows the user to load a TX picture under xyz.BMP or xyz.JPG file form from the sub-directory SSTV_TX (under XP, check the sub-directory).

Note 1: this picture may have been realized under the Windows software "Paint", the only condition would be that the picture has 320 columns by 256 lines.

Note 2: initially the file "Port.bmp" (on "Multipsk" directory) is loaded. The user may initially load another picture but by keeping the same name "Port.BMP" and the same directory.

* "Record": the button [image] allows storing a TX picture in a file type "SSTV_TX date time.BMP" in the sub-directory SSTV_TX (automatically created by MULTIPSK),

* a button "Transmit" allows the user to transmit the loaded picture. A label indicates the percentage of the picture transmited if the transmission has been initiated.

The transmission in progress may be stopped by clicking again the button "Transmit".

* a button "1750 Hz" allows the user to open repeaters by transmitting a 1750 Hz tone (for a duration of approximately 2 seconds).

The global (RX and TX) commands are:

* "Print": the button [image] allows to print the screen,

* a label indicates if RX or TX is selected and if the reception is in progress or not.

The "SSTV TEXT" window commands are:

* "Font": the button [image] allows the selection of the characters font,

Note: it has been observed, on a laptop, the necessity to press also on the "Alt" key (left one).

* "Size": a spinbutton allows the selection of the font size. It's quicker than passing by the Font button.

* "Horizontal scrollbar": the button "<==>" allows to add a horizontal scrollbar, if the texte becomes too long.

* "Cancel": the button [image] allows cancelling the last text "paste" operation.

* "Paste": to paste the text, simply  click where you want to display it in the TX window. As long as the left button is down, the text may be moved.

* "Clear": to clear the window.

In BW24 and Robot 36 and 72 modes, a control of the text position is done. In fact, these modes are in 240 lines and not in 256 lines as for the other modes, so the 16 last lines are not sent. It is the reason for which if the bottom is below 240 lines, the user is warned. Moreover, in BW24 and in Robot 36 and 72, the 16 last mines are blackened.

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Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode

Transmit commands

Loading of a picture file

The buttons "Send color picture" and "B/W" of the RX/TX screen allows the user to load a little color or black and white picture under xyz.BMP or xyz.JPG file from the sub-directory SSTV_TX (under XP, check the sub-directory). It appears under the shape of a thick "I". When transmitting, it will generate a prefix: "Pic:320x256C; for example. The picture must be inserted in text.

IMPORTANT: the picture format is not fixed as in classical SSTV but can be anything. The maximum  dimensions of the transmitted picture are 1600x1200.  Multipsk proposes to use the standard "320x256" to take advantage of the SSTV facilities and the stored SSTV pictures...see Description of the SSTV mode commands

To take advantage of the slant and shift correction functions, the picture must not be bigger than 400x300 in color mode (in fact, the duration of transmission must not exceed that for a color picture in 400x300).

A little yellow label gives the number of available pictures to be transmitted. The maximum (initial) is 5. After programming the transmission of one picture, there will be 4 left, this goes on until 0 is left. The transmission of a picture increases this counter by one unity.

Transmission of the picture

After passed in transmission ("TX"), the picture is transmitted automatically. To follow the progress, the user disposes of  the percentage of the picture sent given by a little yellow label.

After transmission of a picture, the program returns automatically to MFSK16 mode.

It must be noted that the sampling frequency taken into account is the one adjusted for SSTV transmission (see Description of the SSTV mode commands). When adjusted, the classical SSTV and the SSTV in MFSK16 transmissions will be done at the adequate speed.

Receive commands

Introduction

At the reception of a prefix labeled "Pic:320x256C;" for example for a color picture of 320x256 dimensions or "Pic:320x256;" for example for a black and white picture of 320x256 dimensions, a window appears at the top left corner "Reception of a SSTV picture in MFSK16 mode". The yellow label carries a title composed of the format ("320x256 color",  for example), of the date and the UTC time of the beginning of picture reception.

The maximum size of the picture that can be decoded is 1600x1200 (beyond this value, it is considered as a decoding mistake). But the slant and shift correction functions are only available for pictures equal or smaller than 400x300 (except if the number of pixels is less than the one of a color picture in 400x300).

After reception of a picture, the program switches automatically to MFSK16 mode. The picture may still be corrected or printed. However, if a new picture is received, the previous picture will be cleared and lost...

In the commands block, three parts can be found:

* at the left: the print and record buttons,

* in the middle: the shift and slant corrections buttons (for pictures smaller than 400x300),

* at right: the closing button.

The used PC must be a P166 as a minimum (P450 would be ideal).

The normal graphic format is a screen in 800x600 and 24 bits colors.

The commands are:

* "Record": the button [image] allows saving the picture in a file type "MFSK date time.BMP" in the sub-directory SSTV_RX (automatically created by MULTIPSK),

* "Print": the button [image] allows printing the screen,

* "Shift": a quadruple button (<<, < (left) / >, >> (right)) allows the user to shift the picture to left or to right. To be used after the completion of the picture reception, except if the PC is very powerful.

* "Slant": a set of buttons intended to correct the sound card sampling frequency and thus to correct the possible slant of the picture. According to the necessary correction, the user will click on one of the buttons //, /, \, \\ with / and \ for fine corrections and // and \\ for coarse corrections. The applied correction is indicated. To be used after the complete reception of the picture, except if the PC is very powerful.

Note: the corrected sampling frequency will be: 11025 + Correction/10 (it is the same as the one used to receive classical SSTV).

* "Close": to close the window if no more pictures will be received.

* a label indicates the percentage of the received picture or if it is finished (if so, the decoding is switched automatically to MFSK16).

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Panoramic reception for PSK modes (BPSK31, PSK 63 and PSKFEC31)

Introduction

The user may with "panoramic" reception read BPSK31, PSK 63 or PSKFEC31 QSO's in progress, on a 2.3 KHz band (from 200 to 2500 Hz). The maximum number of QSO's displayed is 23 (so one decoding channel every 100 Hz : 200 to 300 hz,..,2400 to 2500 Hz).

For example, by adjusting the receiver on 14070 KHz USB, the user will see all BPSK31 transmissions from 14070.2 to 14072.5 KHz.

Automatic reception and location is done in panoramic mode (PSK31 for example)...please see Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location.

To deal with a Pentium 166, used algorithms have been simplified:

* selectivity is weak, so a close powerful station may stop decoding of a QRP station,

* decoding is not perfect but sufficient to detect interesting calls or CQ,

* a transmission located between 2 decoding channels (at 301 Hz, for example) might be decoded on 2 adjacent channels (200-300 Hz and 300-400 Hz for the example).

The decoding is much better with a Pentium 450 (but lower than the PSK decoding of the TX/RX screen).

IMPORTANT: the "panoramic" reception may be called either by the configuration screen or from the RX/TX screen after having choosen the same PSK mode that one expects for the panoramic. In this last case, by clicking on a channel, one will return in decoding to the selected transmission. Not to lose too many characters due to this passage, the 100 last received characters will be decoded from the clicked line of the panoramic to the RX/TX screen. However some characters will be lost during the passage (due to the absence of decoding during about 1 second).

Start up:

As soon as this option is started, a screen opens which contains:

* a real time spectrum ("waterfall") between 200 to 2500 Hz to be able to observe events in real time,

* 23 decoding lines. If the "panoramic" is called from the RX/TX screen, by clicking on one of these 23 lines, the user returns to the decoder keeping the selected channel frequency,

* the decoder controls (with display, for information, of UTC time and date).

Note: this screen can be positioned and resized by the user, with, however, a minimum size of resizing.

Decoder commands:

They are described below:

* If the mixer is controled by the software:

- the radio buttons to select the input level of the signal, with a factor: 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, or 1, or to choose the AGC (Automatic Control Gain) option.

Initially, this factor is selected with the Input level option.

- a window named "Level/Gain (%)" gives pieces of information about the signal level and the gain (which may change is "AGC" is selected).

*If the mixer is controled by the user:

- a button named “Recording control” allows the access to the recording manual control for the input signal, to choose between the line input and the microphone input, the level being selected to avoid overload,

- a button “Output volume“ allows the control of the output signal.

If necessary, see Manual control of the mixer by the user.

- a window named "Level" gives the level of the input signal.

* a pseudo-led "Overload" shows that the signal is overloaded. In that case, the input level will be lowered.

* a window "Squelch" allows the user to reduce the number of random characters due to radio noise. The squelch level is situated between 0 (standard) to decode QRPP signals and 10 (where only strong signals are decoded). The following rule is taken: when the signal-to-noise ratio goesbelow "Squelch level/10", no characters will be displayed. For example, if the level is 10, only strong signals (S/N>1) are decoded.

* the button "Return..." to return either to the configuration screen or to the decoder without having selected a channel.

* the button "STOP" may be used if the user want to block the decoding lines to see hiden , left moved, characters,

* the button "RX" to start up again decoding after a stop,

* the button "Clear all" to clear all the 23 decoding lines,

* the buttons ">=P450" and ">=P166" to choose the available PC processor power. Of course, the decoding with a Pentium 450 (a P350 may be sufficient) will be much better.

* a general pseudo-led "Problem" alerts the user that the PC is not powerful enough for this application. This led may also come on if, for example, the window is translated.

It is reminded that a Pentium 166 or more is required.

* two buttons "BPSK31" and "PSK63" allows the user to pass from one mode to the other.

ALARM MANAGEMENT WINDOW

Generalities

The inferior window gives controls allowing the user to be warned in case of reception of a general call "CQ CQ ", of his/her call or one of the texts "Note 1" to "Note 4".

The call and the notes 1 to 4 are specified by clicking the button "Personal data" and filling the corresponding squares.

As all the frequencies on a 2300 Hz band are permanently examined, one can easily program an alarm on the reception of his/her call if, for example, the user is waiting a ham call for a "sked", or on the reception of  "CQ CQ" if the user wants to do a QSO.

At the time of the alarm, beeps and blinking are sent to the user. The frequency of the transmission is also given. The operator does not have any more to observe the screen, he will be warned automatically. The automatic return to the RX/TX screen at the received transmission frequency may be programmed. This will allow a precise decoding and will give to the operator the possibility to answer.

PSKFEC31 mode is preferred for the alarm use because this mode gives few errors due to its time diversity (repetition of each bit).

* the button "CQ CQ" allows the user to be warned in case of reception of a general call "CQ CQ "CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE...",

* the button "Call" allows the user to be warned in case of reception of his/her call,

* the buttons  "Note 1", "Note 2", "Note 3" and "Note4"  allow the user to be warned in case of reception of the text specified for Note x in the personal data,

* the button "Personal data" allows the user to specify his/her call and the text of the notes 1 to 4.

* the button "Stop beeps" stops the beeps as long as it stays pushed.

* the button "Return to RX/TX on alarm" allows the user to return automatically to the RX/TX screen at the received transmission frequency for a precise decoding. Of course, for this function, the panoramic should have been started from the RX/TX screen (and not from the configuration screen).

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IMD, signal quality and S/N ratio

To characterize the signal of a digital transmission, three measures are proposed:

* the IMD (intermodulation distorsion) only for BPSK31, QPSK31 and PSK63 modes,

* the signal quality for all BPSK modes (PSK10, BPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKAM10/31/50 and PSKFEC31),

* the S/N ratio (signal-to-noise ratio) for all modes except FILTERS.

IMD

This measurement permits to know the linearity of the sound card and transmitter of the contacted station. In fact, in PSK31 and PSK63, when nothing is transmitted by the user, idling characters are nevertheless transmitted.

Explanation for PSK31 (same principles for PSK63)

This transmission is such that two frequencies appear clearly separated by a 31.25 Hz space. If the sound card or the transmitter is not linear, second or third order intermodulation products are going to appear at different frequencies. In particular, two third order products appear below and above the signal (+/- 46,875 Hz from the central frequency). Computing the ratio between the power of these intermodulation products and the power of the fondamental frequency, one deduce the IMD.

The IMD is significant only if the signal is strong (S/N ratio>10 dB) and if there is no QRM close to the signal.

A good IMD will be inferior or equal to -25 dB (note: the minimum, connected to measurement precision, is about -35 dB).

A bad IMD will be superior to -20 dB. In that case, QRM will be produced par the transmitter on different frequencies. For an example, play the file "EXAMPLE.WAV" where the IMD is very bad and where it can be found clearly the product at 1500 Hz correspondent to 3 times the signal frequency. In that case, the user will have to lower either the AF level (Output volume) or the transmitter microphone gain.

Note: it is préférable to measurer the IMD close to 500 Hz, the measurement precision seeming to be better.

Signal Quality (Q)

A BPSK signal generates 2 phases: 0 and 180 °. More the signal is pure, the more the decoded phase is close to one of these two preceding phases. The average distance to these phases is computed then filtered over 2 seconds. According to the obtained distance, it is given a note between 1 to 5:

* distance>30 °: 	Q=1 (very bad),

* distance between 16 and 30 °:	Q=2 (bad),

* distance between 8 and 16 °: 	Q=3 (medium),

* distance between 4 and 8 °: 	Q=4 (good),

* distance <4 °: 	Q=5 (very good).

Note: a random signal has an average distance of 45 °.

S/N ratio

This measure is obtained by the following manner: S/N ratio=signal power in a frequency band according to the used mode / noise power on 3 KHz.

The noise band really considered is, in general, 300 Hz (+/-150 Hz from the signal central frequency). The probable noise power on 300 Hz is, then, normalized on a 3 Khz noise band, multiplying it by 10.

The S/N ratio is situated between -30 and 15 dB. Beyond these values, il is displayed >15 dB or <-30 dB.

It can be considered that a strong signal has a S/N ratio superior to 0 dB and vice versa.

The S/N ratio is not only connected to the signal power and to noise stricly speaking but also to the IMD. In fact, if the IMD is high the intermodulation products will be seen as noise and will lower the S/N ratio.

The S/N ratio is not precise with modes transmitting no filtered signals (CW; CCW...).

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Control of the transceiver (RX/TX screen);Preliminary and description of the windows and the controls

Control of the transceiver (RX/TX screen)

Introduction and description of the windows and commands

Introduction:

* for the pseudo-mode FILTERS, the user can refer to the chapter Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options

* for the CW binaural reception, the user can refer to the chapter Description of the CW binaural reception options

* for the FAX mode, the user can refer to the chapter Description of the FAX mode controls

* for the MT63 mode, the user can refer to the chapter Description of the MT63 mode controls

* for the SSTV mode, the user can refer to the chapter Description of the SSTV mode controls

* for the SSTV in MFSK16 mode, the user can refer to the chapter Description of the SSTV controls in MFSK16 mode

* The shortcut key <Esc> allows to pass from the decoder to the editor and conversely,

* The "DSP modes"  correspond to "Filters" and "CW binaural reception".

As soon as the option "Reception / Transmission" is started, a screen opens which contains, from up to down:

* the global commands ("About", "Help",...),

* the commands relative to the PC and to the sound card adjustment,

* the QSO recorder for the log book,

* the commands for mode of choice,

* the commands and indications of the signal,

* the spectrum display and its commands

* the editor and display windows, for all modes except HF Fax and DSP modes,

* the RX, STOP, TX... controls, for all modes except HF Fax and DSP modes.

* the commands in HF Fax mode...see Description of the FAX mode commands

* the commands in MT63 mode...see Description of the MT63 mode commands

* the commands in SSTV mode...see Description of the SSTV mode commands

* the commands for SSTV in MFSK16 mode...see Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode

* the commands in "Filters" mode...see Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options

* the controls in CW binaural reception...see Description of the CW binaural reception options

Note 1: in 800x600 or more graphic format, a quick selection mode window (modes table) opens, in the right top corner to allow the user to select a mode directly. The modes in bold are currently used in Ham communication. Others (bold italic) are either commercial (as RTTY 50, 75 et 100 et SITOR A, HF FAX) ou more less used (PSK10...).

For the CW, CCW and RTTY 50 to 100 modes, the user may select (but only on reception) the parameters of each of these modes.

Note 2: this screen can be positioned and resized by the user, with some limits:

* there is a minimum size of resizing,

* the SSTV and FAX modes which must have a full screen can't be resized,

* once the screen definitively resized by the user, it is advised to stop and start again the 	software so as the spectrum be well sized.

Description of the global commands ("About", "Help",...):

* the buttons About, Help, Licence, QSO (see Reading the QSO in progress or a previous QSO), Personal data (see Personal data and macros) or Beacon (see Description of the beacon commands)  are there to help the user without going to the configuration menu (see Access to the configuration screen),

* the button "Country" allows the user to find the country (DXCC entity) according to the prefix and its latitude and longitude (see Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location).

* the button "World" allows the user to locate the country on the world map, manually from the button "Country" or automatically from the detection of a prefixe in the received text.

Automatic reception and location are done in panoramic mode (PSK31 for example). Please refer, for details, to  Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location.

* the button "Configuration" to return to the configuration menu (see Access to the configuration screen),

*the button "Tune" to tune the TX (see Tune transmission),

*the button "Program" allows the user to program the reception (see Multipsk programming). One can, for example, sweeps alternatively the spectrum in one or several modes.

*the button "PSK panoramic" to observe all the BPSK31, PSK63 or PSKFEC31 QSO between 200 and 2500 Hz (see Panoramic reception for PSK modes),

*the button "Exit" allows the user to quit the application.

Description of the commands relative to the PC and to the sound card adjustment,

* except for MT63, a general window "Pentium>=" with three radio buttons:

- "P450" (decoding on 200-2500, 200-3300 or 200-4300 Hz) to click if your Pentium is a P450 or more,

- "P166" (standard choice for decoding on 200-2500 Hz) to click if your Pentium is a P166 or more,

- "P66" (degraded mode) if your Pentium is in the scale P66 to P166.

Note about "P450" : according to the mode, the calling power is different: in PSKAM, PSK31 and CCW, a P350 or P400 will be sufficient, in the other modes a P230 will be OK.

Note about "P166" : the P166 is at the frontier of the two low categories. If you have a P166, click first "P166". If it is not enough fast, the pseudo-led "Problem" will light and you must click on "P66".

Note about MT63 mode: this complex mode needs, as a minimum, a P1000.

The selected choice is recorded.

* a general pseudo-led "Problem" alerts the user that the PC is not powerful enough for this application. This led may also come on if, for example, the window is translated or when the window is open.

* Several small windows for controlling the sound card which differ according to the mixer control: by software or by the user (see Access to the configuration screen):

- If the mixer is controled by the software:

° the radio buttons to select the input level of the signal, with a factor: 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, or 1, or to choose the AGC option (Automatic Control Gain).

Initially, this factor is selected with the Input level option.

° a window named "Level/Gain (%)" gives pieces of information about the signal level and the gain (which may change is "AGC" is selected),

° a pseudo-led "Overload" shows that the signal is overloaded. In that case, the input level will be lowered.

-If the mixer is controled by the user:

° a button named “Recording control” allows the access to the recording manual control for the input signal, to choose between the line input and the microphone input, the level being selected to avoid overload,

° a button “Output volume“ allows the control of the output signal.

If necessary, see Manual control of the mixer by the user.

° a window named "Level" gives the level of the input signal.

° a pseudo-led "Overload" shows that the signal is overloaded. In that case, the input level will be lowered.

Description of the QSO recorder for the logbook

The QSO will be recorded in the log book all along the use of the program without necessity to quit the decoder.

The fields to fill are described in the chapter devoted to the logbook.

UTC / GMT date and time are given automaticaly by the software when the QSO is recorded.

To fill a field, there are two possibilities :

* write on the field,

* first click on the field, then, on the decoded text (window at the right bottom), double-click on a word or select a set of characters then unclick. The word or the set of characters will be  automatically copied to the selected field.

It is possible to clear all the fields.

The QSO will be saved (button "Save") when the fiels are filled. The QSO will be inserted on the data base of the log book. If the user want to search or edit, he will click on "Log book". For more details, he will refer to the use of the log book.

NOTE : if the log is edited while the user is in decoding phase, the decoder will keep on working. If it is desired to devote all the calculation power to the log book, this one will be called from the configuration menu (see Access to the configuration screen).

Description of the commands for choice of mode

Introduction: according to the selected RX mode, what is displayed may change.

* the pseudo-led "Transmission" lights up if transmission is in progress. The user cannot pass in decoding mode until all characters to be sent are transmitted.

* a button "Frequencies" shows a list of the frequencies used in the different modes,

* a button "Sound card" allows the user who wants to start another application needing a sound card to free the sound card resource without leaving Multipsk. At the return from the other application, he will "pull" the "Sound card" button to make Multipsk work again,

* a button "Mode" allows the user to choose the RX and TX modes (see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description). The selected RX and TX modes are displayed at each side of the button.

It is reminded that the transmission mode may be planned in the sequences (see Sequences 1 to 12 creation and Personal data and macros).

* a button "Auto mode" allows the user to detect automatically the BPSK transmission clicked on the spectrum. The choice can be one of the modes PSK10, BPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKAM10/31/50 and PSKFEC31. This operation is done in cycles. In the first time (2 seconde), the speed is determined (0 if nothing is received, 10, 31, 50 or 63 bauds). In the second period, the BPSK mode is determined. The detection duration depends on speed. The less the speed (in PSK10, for example) the more the duration (13 secondes at 10 bauds, 5 secondes at 31 bauds and 3 secondes at 63 bauds).

The previously detected mode is displayed in italic. When a mode is detected, display is done in bold and remains such for 2 seconds, which is necessary to determine the new speed in bauds.

A click on the spectrum starts a new cycle.

On noise, or an insufficient transmission time or a too weak signal, displayed speed and mode may be wrong.

If at 31 bauds, no mode is found, the program supposes that it is BPSK31.

IMPORTANT: detection is not done by tentative test decoding of the mode, which might be very complex but by taking into account the peculiarities of bits arrangements. This method is not 100 % sure (for example, from this point of view, the difference between PSK63 and PSK63F is weak) and the more the Signal/Noise is small, the more the probability of exact detection is degraded.

* For the QPSK31 mode, a button "Reverse" allows the user to receive in USB a QPSK31 transmission transmitted in LSB, or vice versa. The inversion is also taken into account when transmitting.

* For the receive of PSK, THROB(X), MFSK, and CCW modes: there are two radio buttons to pass from "master" mode to "slave" and vice versay (see further the description of the spectrum for more details).The choice is recorded.

* For the receive of PSK modes: buttons permit to select B(or Q)PSK31, PSK10, PSKFEC31, PSK63 or PSK63F mode. Decoding and transmission will be done in the selected mode.

* For the receive mode CW:

- the radio buttons to enable or disable the signaling tone (at 800 Hz) of the keying such as «seen» by the program. It is one of the methods (with the led's and the decoding quality) to know if it is well adjusted. The tone is transmitted with a certain delay compared with the keying as heard at the speaker of the transceiver.

Note: in WINDOWS NT, this command is not available.

- the radio buttons to select the bandwidth. Two filters are available: bandwidth of 100 Hz (narrow) and 600 Hz (wide).

A narrow bandwidth filter is less sensitive to noise that a wide filter but it is more delicate to adjust the frequency.

* For the receive mode CCW:

- three buttons permit to select between CCW at 12, 24 or 48 words per minute.

* For the receive mode THROB(X) or MFSK(16/8):

- the radio buttons to select the reception mode (« Normal » or « Reverse ») if the transmission is done in LSB instead of USB.

* For the receive mode MFSK16:

- two littles yellow windows are used in case of transmission of pictures in MFSK16. The first one gives the percentage of the picture sent and the second one gives the number of available pictures to be transmitted. The maximum is 5. After one picture transmission programmed, 4 pictures remain and so on until 0. See also Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode.

* For the receive mode MT63:

- the radio buttons allow the choice of  (« Normal » or « Reverse ») to allow reception for example, of LSB to a USB transmission.

* For the receive mode RTTY:

- the radio buttons allow teh choice of the reception mode (« Normal » or « Reverse ») with a view of staying in LSB to listen to RTTY commercial stations.

N.B.: the listening of 50 bauds stations or higher stations is done in USB because the transmission is done in a non-reversed mode (mark (bit 1) for the low frequency and space (bit 0) for the high frequency). The listening to amateur radio stations (45 bauds) is done in LSB because the transmission is done in a reverse mode (mark (bit 1) for the high frequency and space (bit 0) for the low frequency).

To respect this convention, the reception must set in « Normal ». On the contrary (for example, listening in LSB in place of USB), the reception must set in « Reverse ».

* For the receive mode ASCII:

- radio buttons allow the choice of the reception mode (« Normal » or « Reverse ») to allow reception for example, of LSB to a USB transmission.

The listening of amateur radio stations is done in LSB for the same reason as for RTTY 45 bauds.

To respect this convention, the reception must set in « Normal ». On the contrary (for example, listening in LSB in place of USB), the reception must set in « Reverse ».

* For the receive modes AMTOR, SITOR or NAVTEX:

- radio buttons allows the choice of the reception mode (« Normal » or « Reverse ») to allow reception of LSB to RTTY commercial stations in USB.

N.B.: listening to AMTOR stations is normally done in USB with a non-reversed mode: mark (bit 1) for the low frequency and space (bit 0) for the high frequency.

To respect this convention, the reception must set in « Normal ». On the contrary (for example, listening in LSB in place of USB), the reception must set in « Reverse ».

* For the receive mode HF fax:

- radio buttons allow the choice of the reception mode (« Normal » or « Reverse ») to allow reception for example, of LSB to USB transmission,

* For the receive mode SSTV:

- the SSTV mode must be chosen among those proposed by the author. In Europe, the MARTIN1 mode will be chosen and in USA, Japan and Australia the SCOTTIE1 mode.

The choice concerns only the transmission because on receive, the SSTV mode (MARTIN1, SCOTTIE1..) is automatically recognized.

- in SSTV, the « Normal » or « Reverse » option is not furnished. The reception must be done imperatively in USB.

* For the receive mode FELD, PSK HELL or HELL 80:

- the radio buttons to select the reception mode (« normal » or « reversed ») to see black characters on white background or reversely.

Description of signal commands and indications

Introduction: according to the selected RX mode, what is displayed may change.

* For the receive mode MT63: please see Description of MT63 commands.

* a window "TX frequency  RX frequency  Fr. difference" gives the TX/RX frequencies and their difference.

For PSK, THROB(X), MFSK and CCW modes, the locked mean frequency of the internal PLL (pseudo-PLL for THROB(X) and MFSK(16/8)) is also displayed. If the XIT is worth 0 Hz, the difference between these two frequencies is zero in "Slave" mode but may be not null in "Master" mode. If the XIT (as an offset) is different from 0 Hz, a difference equal to the XIT or slightly different in "master" mode will be found. For the XIT, see  Access to the configuration menu.

For CW mode, the receive frequency is also displayed (initial RX frequency first and then frequency clicked on the spectrum). The XIT is taken into account.

Note: in RTTY 45 and AMTOR FEC, the transmit frequencies (Mark/space) are the same at the receive frequencies.

* For the receive mode THROB or THROBX:

- in the window "Speed (bauds)" three buttons permit to select between THROB speed: 1, 2 or 4 bauds. In THROBX, only the 1 and 2 bauds modes exist,

- the button "AFC" for "Automatic Frequency Control" permits to follow a drift of the THROB(X) transmission. This option can be stopped if the THROB(X) transmission is frequency stable, so as to avoid possible drift of the receive frequency in case of momentary absence of signal and presence of QRM.

- a little window "Received " allows the user ro read the last received character in THROB(X) including the idle character(>).

* For the receive mode MFSK8 or MFSK16:

- the button "AFC" for "Automatic Frequency Control" permits to follow a drift of the MFSK transmission. This option can be stopped if the MFSK transmission is frequency stable, so as to avoid possible drift of the receive frequency in case of momentary absence of signal and presence of QRM.

* For the receive mode MFSK16:

- the buttons Send color picture and B/W allows the user to load a little color or black and white picture. For the details, see Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode.

* For the receive mode PSKAM10/31/50:

- a little window "Received " allows the user to read the last received character in PSKAM including the idle character(>) and the correction character (<).

- a pseudo-led "Synchro." lights if the received signal is PSKAM (the led stays ON).

* For the receive mode PSK10 or PSKFEC31:

- a little window "Received" allows the user to read the last received character in PSK10 or PSKFEC31 including the idle character(>) and the correction character (<).

- for PSKFEC31, a window "Squelch" allows the user to reduce the number of incorrect characters due to radio noise or due to a non PSKFEC31 transmission (the principle is not based on level but on a probability estimation of the PSKFEC31 presence). The normal position is on "1" ("0" for all characters displayed, "1" for a low squelch level and "2" for a high level),

* For the receive modes PSK31 (BPSK31 or QPSK31), PSK63, PSK63F, MFSK, CW or CCW:

- a window "Squelch" allows the user to reduce the number of incorrect characters due to radio noise. The squelch level is situated between 0 (standard) to decode QRPP signals and 10 (where only strong signals are decoded). The following rule is taken: when the signal-to-noise ratio goes below "Squelch level/10", no characters are displayed. For example, if the level is 10, only strong signals (S/N>1) are decoded. When the squelch is in progress, the text "On" is displayed.

In PSKAM, there are very few useless characters, so the squelch is of  no interest.

* For the receive mode CW:

- the indication "CW S." informs of the decoding speed selected by the user (between 10 and 52 wpm) or detected by the program (in automatic mode).

* For the receive mode RTTY:

- the button «Letters/Figures» is a toggle switch allowing to change between letters and figures (and signs). This toggle is principally used when, as a result of an decoding error (due to noise, in general) the «figures» set has been selected and, naturally, the user desires to come back in the «letters» set.

* For the receive mode ASCII:

- the button «7/8 bits» permits when pressed, to receive the 8 bits format. The 7-bits more used format is for English text. For other languages (as French, for example), the 8 bits format allows to write text with accented characters.

* For the receive mode RTTY or ASCII:

- the "Squelch" button permits to reduce the rubbish characters due to noise.

- in RTTY of 45 bauds and in ASCII, the "Shift" button allows the reception and transmission with a shift  of 200 Hz (difference between Mark and Space). This is not the standard shift used (170 Hz) but is used by some.

- two pseudo-led's for "Mark" and "Space" start flashing in RTTY or ASCII.

- a window "Mark/space frequencies" gives these for RTTY and ASCII after a click on the right hand peak in the AF spectrum.

* For the receive mode  AMTOR, SITOR or NAVTEX:

- the button «Letters/Figures» is a toggle switch as for RTTY.

- two pseudo-led's blink if an AMTOR signal is present.

- a window "Mark/space frequencies" gives the frequencies of the Mark and the Space of the AMTOR transmission frequency (after clicking on the right peak on the AF spectrum).

- a "Synchro" pseudo-led allows the user to know if the decoder has synchronized on the received AMTOR signal.

* For the receive mode FELD, PSK HELL or HELL 80:

- for HELL 80, a window "White/black frequencies" gives the frequencies of the black and the white after clicking on the right peak on the AF spectrum. The shift between black and white frequencies is 300 Hz.

- a button "Save" allows to store the FELD HELL characters in the display window in a file which type is "F_H date time.BMP" ("P_H date time.BMP" format for PSK HELL and "H_80 date time.BMP" format for HELL 80) in the sub-directory Hellschreiber (automatically created by Multipsk),

- a button "Big" allows to display big characters. It is the default option. The small characters are less readable but permit to display more lines.

Note: big characters display needs more computing power, especially on laptops. In case of a problem, pass on to small characters.

- a button "DX" allows to double the number of columns. The characters are more readable for the listener but the character transmission speed is 2 times less.

- a button "Super DX" allows to quadruple the number of columns. The characters are even more readable for the listener but the character transmission speed is now 4 times less.

- In FELD HELL and HELL 80, a double button " [image] [image] " allows to correct the inclination when writing is not horizontal in case of a sampling frequency difference between transmit and receive.

Note: in PSK HELL the synchronization is automatic.

- three buttons "FELD HELL", "PSK HELL" and "HELL 80" allows the user to pass from one mode to the other mode.

* For the receive mode HF Fax:

- a window "Black/white frequencies" gives the frequencies of the black and the white after clicking on the right peak on the AF spectrum. The white frequency must be about 2300 Hz.

- the date and time.

* For the receive mode SSTV:

- a window "Synchro/Black/white frequencies" gives the frequencies of the synchronization signal, the black and the white after clicking on the synchronization peak on the AF spectrum. The synchronization must be situated imperatively between 1150 and 1400 Hz (normal: 1200 Hz).

- the date and time.

* For a mode DSP mode (Filters or CW binaural receiver):

- a window "Filtering frequencies (low, average and high)": gives the selected band of frequencies (see Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options or Description of the CW binaural reception options),

- the date and time.

* For all modes except SSTV, fax and DSP modes

There is a little window and a button "Reset n="8"": this is to count the number of  "8"'s received and "Reset" to put back the counter to 0. To test a radio link, one operator will send a known number of  "8"'s (see, for example, the sequence 2 where there are 500 "8") and  the other operator in reception will note, at the end, the number of  "8"'s received. The number of errors compared to the number of "8"'s sent will determine the quality of transmission.

* To characterize the signal quality of a digital transmission, three measurements are proposed:

- the IMD (intermodulation distorsion) only for BPSK31, QPSK31 and PSK63 modes,

- the signal quality for all BPSK modes (BPSK31, PSK63, PSK10, PSKFEC31 and PSKAM),

- the S/N ratio (signal-to-noise ratio) for all modes except DSP modes.

For explanations, the user will refer to the chapter IMD, signal quality and S/N ratio.

Description of the spectrum and its commands

Introduction: according to the selected receive mode, what is displayed may change.

By default, the "real time" spectrum displays the AF frequencies from 200 to 2500 Hz (2.5 KHz).

* For PSK, THROB(X) MFSK and CCW modes. In "master" mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, a transmit frequency which will remain locked (the receive frequency may change). In "slave" mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, a peak with the vertical blue band. The new central frequency corresponds to the biggest peak under the blue band.

The user may choose between a standard spectrum and a "waterfall". The second one is preferable because it displays also the time evolution (time axis). The cursor of the "waterfall" is a blue line.

* For CW mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, a peak with the vertical blue band (if the spectrum has been selected). The new central frequency corresponds to the biggest peak under the blue band. Decoding starts immediately. In CW, it’s better to be in "spectrum" option rather than in "waterfall" to see the filtered band.

* For RTTY, ASCII, fax HF  or AMTOR mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, the right peak of the RTTY, fax HF or AMTOR transmission with the vertical blue band. The new Mark and Space (white and black for fax HF) frequencies correspond to the peak under the blue band and the other one at its left. Decoding starts immediately. For fax mode, the user must aim at a frequency closer to 2300 Hz (nominal), by adjusting the receive frequency .

The user may choose between a standard spectrum and a "waterfall".

* For SSTV mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum (special for SSTV), the peak correponding to the synchronization frequency. This one is normally of 1200 Hz. On the spectrum, two vertical lines appear, one at 1150 Hz and the other at 1400 Hz. These lines show the selection limits of the synchronization frequency. The user shall, if necessary, adjust the receive frequency .

Note: it will be noted, on the spectrum, that the 1150 - 1400 Hz band is amplified in such a way as to show the synchronization signal in a sharp peak shape.

The user may choose between a standard spectrum and a "waterfall".

* For the DSP mode (Filters and CW binaural receiver), the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, the selected band of frequencies  (see Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options or Description of the CW binaural reception options),

* For all modes, if the option "P450" has been selected, the user may select a receive/transmit bandwidth of 200-2500Hz (2.5 KHz), 200-3300Hz (3.3 Khz) or 200-4300Hz (4.3 KHz). In fact, only the 200-3300 Hz and 200-4300 Hz bandwidths need a Pentium 450.

* For all modes except DSP modes, the user may select 2 frequencies with the buttons "Mar1" (Mark 1 or bookmarked frequency n°1) and "Mar2" (Mark 2 or bookmarked frequency n°2). It is then only necessary to click on the button "Go M1" (Go to the mark 1) ou "Go M2" (Go to the mark 2) to return to the frequencies defined before.

* For all modes except DSP modes, the user may search for transmissions in progress by using the buttons "<<" downwards low frequencies and ">>" upwards high frequencies. Each time the user click on either "<<" or ">>", the cursor goes and positions itself on the closest used frequency in the chosen direction.

* For all modes except DSP modes, with the button "Lock", the user may lock the cursor on the nearest transmission. It is the default option. This lock depends of the receive mode used. Otherwise (no lock), the position of the cursor is fixed by the user.

* For all modes except DSP modes and SSTV:

- with the two vertical arrows, the user may adjust the colors scale of the waterfall according to his/her taste. The standard value is 10.

- with the button "AGC", the user may put on or off the spectrum Automatic Gain Control. If all the signals are weak (28 Mhz band, for example), it is more convenient to switch on the AGC to give amplification so as to better see the signals. In the presence of a strong QRM on a weak signal, it is more convenient to swith off the AGC in order not to hide the QRP signal.

- with the buttons "< >", the user may change his receive/transmit nominal frequency in a very precise way.

Description of the edit and display windows, for all modes except SSTV, HF Fax and DSP modes

Introduction for PSK and MFSK modes: at the start-up of the editor and each time that no text is being transmitted, idle characters (">" in PSKAM, PSK10 and in PSKFEC31) are continuously transmitted. The last character before starting decoding is also an idle character.

Introduction for THROB(X) modes: at the start-up of the editor and each time that no text is being transmitted, idle characters (">" on the receiver) are continuously transmitted.

Note: in THROBX, the idle character sent is the Space.

Introduction for RTTY mode: at the start-up of the editor and each time that no text is being transmitted, idle caracters ("Letters") are being transmitted.

Introduction for ASCII mode: at the start-up of the editor and each time that no text is being transmitted, idle caracters (CHR(0)) are being transmitted.

Introduction for AMTOR FEC mode: at the start-up of the editor and each time that no text is being transmitted, idle caracters ("phasing signal 2"/"phasing signal 1")  are being transmitted.

Introduction for CCW: each time that no text is being transmitted, idle caracters (7 points) are being transmitted. To not lose the synchronization, it is not possible to type more than one space between two words.

Introduction for FELD, PSK HELL and HELL 80 modes: the display window is graphical and no display is done by the software.

General description of the text editor

The text editor allows to edit the text to be transmitted (the preparation of the text to transmit may be done during receive).

Sequences 1 to 12 and UTC buttons may be used to write the text. Copy/paste function may also be used.

The text is limited to 40000 characters.

To go to the beginning of the text, <CTRL> <Start> (up arrow to the left) and to go to the end: <CTRL> <End>.

It is possible to delete the preceding characters  with the back correcting key ("Back-Space").

In decoding or in "STOP" position, when clicking the right button of the mouse, it appears a pop menu which proposes either selecting all the text or doing a copy of the selected text to the clipboard or pasting the content of the clipboard on the text editor.

We should not forget that in RTTY and AMTOR the short bell is noted "*".

The text of this window will be transmitted as soon as the user passes into transmit.

Description of the editor commands

* the buttons "1" to "12" send the 1 to 12 saved sequences respectively (see Settting up sequences (1 to 12)).

After clicking one of these buttons, the sequence text is put on the text editor.

The selection of the sequences may be done, also, by the function keys <F1> to <F12>.

A sequence may be modified by clicking on the right button of the mouse. The user has, then, access to the text editor of this sequence.

* by the "File" button, a file may be selected and, then, transmitted.

There are, however, two restrictions :

- the file may not contain more than 40,000 characters,

- the text editor may not contain more than 40,000 characters.

If these limits are surpassed, an error is created.

* The button "Macros": Macros are also directly available and may be used either during reception or during transmission. See Personal data and macros for details.

* The button "Clear": to clear the editor window.

* The button "Repeat": to repeat the transmission of the text sitting in the editor text.

* the button "UTC/GMT" sends the date (day/month/year) and time UTC.

Description of the display window (does not concern FELD, PSK HELL and HELL 80 modes)

This window displays:

* in red, the text sent to the transmitter,

* in black, the text received from the receiver.

At each passage change-over from transmit to receive or vice versa, a line to feed is added.

In decoding or in "STOP" position, when clicking the right button of the mouse, a pop menu appears which proposes either doing a copy of the selected text, or to write it on the chosen log field. For example, if, after having selected a word, the user clicks on "Notes", the word will be put on the log field "Notes".

Another option of the pop menu, available for RTTY and AMTOR modes, is to convert letters into figures or vice versa, according to the ITA2 character set. This function allows the user to correct a mistake on the character set related to several characters. The QSO file does not take into account these modifications. If the user wishes to keep them, that must be done in the QSO window.

Note: if a text is selected with the mouse, the receive display is stopped.

The maximum time in the receive window is limited to 10 sec, if characters.are being received.

Therefore it is better to click on "STOP" and to fill the log with all the necessary information.

Description of the RX, STOP and TX commands, for all modes except SSTV, HF Fax and DSP modes (Filters and CW binaural receiver)

* the buttons "TX, Stop and RX" allow the selection of the function required: transmit, stop and receive.

The stop button may be used when necessary to block the receive window without being in edition mode or to stop transmission of the idle characters. It must be clicked to use "lift cursors” in the receive window, in order to be able to see a preceding QSO, for example.

It is reminded that the shortcut key <Esc> allows to pass from the decoder to the editor and vice versa.

* the button "Clear" allows cleaning the display window.

* the button "Height" (for all modes except Hellschreiber) allows to dimension the editor and the display windows as desired by the user (33 is the default),

* the button "Double" allows the user, according to his/her taste, to separate the RX window from the TX window. A light flicker of the characters which appears on some rare computers may be avoided too.

* the button "Fonts" allows the user to choose the display font for the transmitted and received characters display windows. One can choose:

- for all windows: the font name, the style and the characters size (by default: Ms Sans Serif, bold, 8),

- for the transmitted characters: the font color (by default: black),

- for the received characters: the font color (by default: red),

Note: a modification of the name, the style or the size of the font would be not taken into account here,

- for all windows: the background color (by default: white).

* the button "Snapshot" stores the screen on a .BMP file of the type is "Screen date time.BMP" in the sub-directory Screen (automatically created by MULTIPSK),

* the button "Print" prints the screen,

* the UTC date and time are displayed for information.

Description of the commands for SSTV, HF Fax, DSP and MT63 modes

For the commands in HF Fax mode...see Description of the FAX mode commands

For the commands in SSTV mode...see Description of the SSTV mode commands

For the commands for SSTV in MFSK16 mode...see Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode

For the commands in "Filters" mode...see Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options.

For the commands in CW binaural reception...see Description of the CW binaural reception options

For the commands in MT63 mode...see Description of the MT63 mode commands

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Use in reception

Control of the transceiver (RX/TX screen)

Use in reception

PRELIMINARY: it is reminded that the reception can be programmed (see Multipsk programming). One can, for example, sweeps alternatively the spectrum in one or several modes.

First, the input to the sound card is selected according to the hardware input (see Selection of the sound input).

Second, the level will have been adjusted by the AF gain control if connected to the transceiver speaker output. If connected to the auxiliary output, the level is normally sufficient and constant.

Moreover, it is possible to increase or decrease the Input level of the AF signal

Ideally, the level must be just below the level of overload.

If the level is in the input range of the sound card, the option "AGC" will allow solving this problem.

The user clicks on the RX/TX button.

Note 1: for the pseudo-mode FILTERS, the user will refer to the chapter Description of the pseudo-mode FILTERS options

Note 2: for the CW binaural reception, the user will refer to the chapter Description of the CW binaural reception options

For automatic reception and location, please refer for Countries, world map, Locator, automatic reception and location

Use in BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKFEC31, PSK10 or PSKAM

The transceiver is set for LSB or USB (the default is USB).

Note: for BPSK it does not matter whether the transceiver is set up for LSB or USB. However, it makes a difference for the case of QPSK31 (a button "Reverse" is provided in this mode to permit the user to avoid touching the transceiver).

The user lets the transceiver warm up for one hour and a half to stabilize its frequency.

Note: it seems that for some very good transceivers the frequency stabilizes in less that 3 minutes...

As already mentionned in the "Use example", if the operator starts calling, he is either in "master" mode if he wishes to impose his frequency (1000 Hz initially) or in "slave" mode if he fears a too big frequency drift of his correspondent. If the operator answers, he selects the "slave" mode.

In "master" mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, a transmission frequency which will remain locked (see Introduction and description of the windows and commands). The displayed received frequency will be, at the beginning, "1000 Hz" or the frequency selected on the spectrum. The transmission frequency is "1000 Hz" or the one selected on the spectrum. It is locked.

If the difference is superior to 3 Hz, there is a drift from the connected station and a risk of unlocking at the next turn-over.

Note : the initial receive frequency may be modified to be different from 1000 Hz…see Access to the configuration menu.

In "slave" mode, the user selects, by clicking on the spectrum, a peak with the vertical blue band. The displayed received frequency will be, at the beginning, the frequency corresponding to the selected peak on the spectrum, then, these corresponding to the locking of the PLL. The transmit frequency is the same as the received frequency. The difference is null. Decoding begins almost immediately and the pseudo-led "Synchro." lights up (if it’s a PSKAM transmission). In PSKAM10, the decoding has some seconds of delay.

The program can follow a PSK transmission affected by a big frequency drift (as can happen in VHF).

For example, with a Pentium 166 and a S/N ratio superior or equal to 0,2, it is possible to decode with few errors (due to the drift) until a drift of 40 Hz/minute in both directions (and until 60 Hz/minute if S/N>1).

Note: an automatic detection of the mode is possible (button "Auto mode") but only for BPSK-like modes: PSK10, BPSK31, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKAM10/31/50, PSKFEC31 (see Introduction and description of the windows and commands).

Note: the chosen frequencies in amateur radio will be in the authorized portions of bands for digital modes. The chosen band should not be congested (the noise must be more or less a "white" noise in a 200 Hz band, at least). It is suggested to choose, for PSK10, PSKAM or PSKFEC31 the same frequencies as for PSK31 mode, so, for example, the standard frequencies: 7035, 7070; 14070 or 21070 KHz USB.

BPSK31 is the standard way to make QSO's.

QPSK31 may be used in case of bad ionospheric conditions.

PSK63 is better for contests where it is important to go fast using the sequences (1 to 12). Indeed, it's no use if the user types because the majority of characters transmitted will be idle characters.

PSKFEC31 and PSK63F may be used in all cases as the speed is sufficient (28 wpm for PSKFEC31 and 42 wpm for PSK63F) and the errors rate is low. The synchronization does not pose a problem.

PSK10 will be used if the propagation conditions are good (no Doppler) but the signal level is very weak.

PSKFEC31 mode is preferable to PSKAM50 and PSKAM31 modes which are powerful but have sometimes synchronization problems if the propagation conditions are bad.

In the opposite case (good conditions), these modes produce very few errors (still less than in PSKFEC31).

PSKAM10 will be used if the signal level is very weak and the QSO in PSK10 is done with a lot of errors.

In the PSK signal is transmitted correctly and no or few letters are displayed, then:

* either the AF signal amplification is not adequate: decrease or increase the input level,

* or the tuning is not correct.

One should note that, practically speaking, the Line in level must be adjusted just below the overload level of the signal (pseudo-led "Overload").

In PSK31, PSK63 and PSK63F, the squelch allows the user to reduce the number of random characters due to radio noise. The squelch may be used in the same way for PSKFEC31.

Please note that the quality of reception depends on:

* the accuracy and the stability of the set frequency, although the digital PLL may follow a small shift (<5 Hz) around the specified central frequency,

* the radio noise and the interference: the more the PSK signal is powerful compared to noise, the better is the reception.

Use in RTTY or in ASCII

The initial speed and the receive mode are selected, depending upon the expected transmission (see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description). For example, for amateur radio, RTTY 45 or ASCII, « Normal reception » is selected if the transceiver is in LSB mode (see Introduction and description of the windows and commands).

The transceiver is set for LSB for 45 bauds RTTY or ASCII and in USB for RTTY speed higher than 45 bauds.

The user selects a RTTY or ASCII transmission by clicking on the right-hand peak of the spectrum. He can, also, adjusts the station frequency so as to observe that the received RTTY signal is repeated faithfully by the psudo-led's which must blink at a same rhythm. The received text will be seen on the display.

N.B. 1: the main RTTY frequencies in amateur radio are 14090 KHz +/- 10 KHz and

3590 KHz +/- 10 KHz. Keep in mind that on these frequencies, coexist other digital modes such as

AMTOR or PACKET.

N.B. 2 : the nominal frequencies (in Europe) for the MARK and the SPACE are respectively 1275 and 1445 Hz in 45 bauds speed (170 Hz shift), and 1275 and 1700 Hz otherwise (425 Hz standard shift).

The shift is a mandatory specification.

In RTTY and ASCII, one can find a shift of 200 Hz. In that case the button "200 Hz" should be clicked.

If characters are received badly or not at all, the cause can be one of the following:

* either the AF signal amplification is not adequate: decrease or increase the input level,

* or, the selected RTTY speed is not the right one,

* or the tuning is not correct,

* or it’s not a RTTY or ASCII transmission (other digital modes exist: AMTOR,...).

It is reminded that, practically speaking, the input level must be adjusted just below the overload level of the signal (pseudo-led "Overload").

The button "Letters / Figures" will be used when as a result of a decoding error (due to noise, in general), the «figures» set has been selected and, naturally, the user desires to come back in the «letters» set.

One should note that the quality of decoding depends on:

* the accuracy and the stability of the set frequency,

* the radio noise and the interference: more the RTTY signal is powerful compared to noise, the better is the decoding.

Use in AMTOR

A receive mode ("AMTOR ARQ", "SITOR A" or "AMTOR FEC") is selected (see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description).

The transceiver is set to USB (LSB is preferred for amateurs transmissions).

The user selects AMTOR transmission by clicking on the right peak of the transmission on the AF spectrum.

N.B. 1: the main AMTOR frequencies in amateur radio are around 14075 but now they are rare.

The NAVTEX frequencies are 518 et 490 Khz. The user will set his transceiver to USB at 517 or 489 Khz. The transmissions are done at fixed time, for example for NITON (GB): 7h00 and 19h00 UTC on 518 Khz in English, 5h20 and 17h20 on 490 Khz in English, 7h10 and 19h10 on 490 Khz in French.

The SITOR A et B commercial frequencies are situated, for example, between 12579 and 12655 Khz.

When an AMTOR signal is present, the pseudo-led "Synchro" will light up.

For the remainder, please refer to RTTY.

Use in CW

First, the CW parameters are selected (see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description).

The user selects a Morse transmission by clicking on the AF spectrum…the software centers itself on the peak (see Introduction and description of the windows and commands).

Attention, it is useless to decode a CCW transmission in CW mode.

When we have a Morse signal, if none or very few letters are displayed,

* either the AF signal amplification is not adequate: decrease or increase the Line in level,

* or it may be a very bad CW (not a good hand) transmission and there is no solution...

It is reminded that, practically speaking, the input level must be adjusted just below the overload level of the signal (pseudo-led "Overload").

If the CW speed has been selected by the user (for example, 20 wpm) and not set in automatic (standard choice), then that will be considered as good when the decoded text appears normally.

N.B.: in reality, it’s not a speed but a range of speeds. The 20 wpm speed allows decoding keying from 14 to 27 wpm.

Note: the program determines the CW speed (displayed on "S. CW" button).

Please remember that:

* the higher the decoding speed, the more difficult it is to decode and the higher the errors,

* the less the keying quality, the more the decoding is difficult (an automatic keying is more readable than manual keying),

* the more the keying signal received from the transceiver is powerful compared with noise and interference, the better is the decoding. A Morse signal too weak compared with noise is not decodable by this program although it would be decoded by a human being.

Use in CCW

First, the CCW parameters are selected (see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description).

For the "master"/"slave" mode, see the paragraph "Use in BPSK31... ".

It is suggested to choose for CCW which is a QRP mode, the following frequencies: 1844, 3561, 7031, 10107, 14061, 21061, 24907, 28061 Khz USB (QRP frequencies + 1KHz).

The user selects a CCW transmission (detectable with the "CCW" prefix and their idling character (7 dots)) by clicking on the AF spectrum…the software centers itself on the peak.

Attention, it is useless to decode a CW transmission in CCW mode.

Use in THROB and THROBX

THROB and the THROBX have a very particular sound which sounds as palpitations ("throbs") due to the basic impulsion form. According to the speed and after some exercice, it will be determined if it's 4 bauds (4 throbs by sec), 2 or 1 bauds. THROBX and THROB in 1 or 2 bauds are not discernable. The user must try in one mode and then the other in case of failure.

In the window "Speed (bauds)", the user will click on the observed speed.

Then, the user will click, on the spectrum, the central THROB(X) tone (or supposed to be so), in other words in the middle of the covered band. The software will center itself on the peak. The transmission band must be situated between the two vertival blue lines. If random characters appear, this means that it is not the right place on the display. The user will begin again. In THROBX, the idling character is the space, so characters or words may be separated by a long space as in FELD-HELL.

Note: the exact tuning is not so easy in THROB(X) as it is in PSK because there are several tones (up to 11 in THROBX) and not only one.

For the "master"/"slave" mode, see the paragraph "Use in BPSK31... ".

It is suggested to choose for THROB(X) the following frequencies: 1838, 3580, 7037, 10147, 14080, 18105, 21080, 24929, 28080 Khz USB.

Use in MFSK16 (+ SSTV) or MFSK8

The MFSK16 and 8 modes have a particular sound due to quick (not so quick in MFSK8) changes of frequencies. These modes spread on about 260 Hz and can be recognized by the dotted lines shape of the modulated carriers.

Then, the user select the MFSK transmission by positionning it between the two vertival blue lines, manually (by unclicking "Lock"). The automatic positionning (by clicking on "Lock") is not so good because at a given moment, it is not probable to have the two extreme frequencies; so, the mean frequency is wrong. The exact tuning is not so easy as it is in PSK because there are several tones (16 in MFSK16 and 32 in MFSK8) and not only one.

IMPORTANT: at the beginning of the MFSK transmission, a carrier can be heard a carrier (at the lowest frequency of the MFSK spectrum) during 2 seconds in MFSK16 and 3 seconds in MFSK8. Then, it is easy to adjust the vertical inferior bar on the carrier. This will tune automatically the MFSK reception.

During the idling periods (transmission without characters), an idle non-printable character is transmitted which produce some fixed lines on the display. To tune, the user has only to adjust the vertical inferior bar on the lowest line of the signal display (the most left one).

Due to interleaving and convolutional decoding, the user must wait about 3 seconds in MFSK16 or 5 à 6 seconds in MFSK8 before to know if the frequency is well adjusted. If random characters appear, the user must drift the reception frequency, so as to better center the transmission.

It's better to let the AFC button clicked.

For the "master"/"slave" mode, see the paragraph "Use in BPSK31... ".

It is suggested to choose for MFSK the following frequencies: 1838, 3580, 7037, 10147, 14080, 18105, 21080, 24929, 28080 Khz USB (not authorized for SSTV transmission).

SSTV in MFSK16

MFSK16 can be used to receive pictures. They start by the reception of "Pic:320x256C;" for a 320x256 color picture, for example.

The maximum size of the picture going to be decoded is 1600x1200. But the slant and shift correction functions are only available for pictures equal or smaller than 400x300 (except if the number of pixels is less than the one of a color picture in 400x300).

After reception of a picture, the program commutes automatically to MFSK16 mode. The picture may still be corrected or printed. However, if a new picture is received, the previous picture will be cleared and lost...

The controls to receive SSTV in MFSK16 mode are described in Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode

Use in MT63

The radio is set up for USB as default. It should be noted that MT63 cannot be received equally in USB and LSB, therefore the use of the "reverse" button helps to correct a wrong sideband setup.

At receive, the operator put the signal on the waterfall display between the two blue vertical lines. To do this the receiver frequency should be adjusted.

The software determines first the exact offset in Hz and, then, the difference in sampling frequencies of the two sound cards.

After a short period (1.6 seconds for 2000 Hz short and 12.8 seconds for 500 Hz long) due to interleaving, text can be read on the display.

As soon as the decoded text seems to be correct, it is preferable to lock the offset sampling frequency  by the "Lock" button. It is always better to start by correcting the sampling speed of the sound card with the buttons "< >".

It is important for the user to know the commands as they play a big role in this mode (see Description of the MT63 commands).

Use in FELD, PSK HELL and HELL 80

The user may choose DX position if the transmission is very weak. In that case, the speed passes from 25 to 12,5 wpm in FELD and PSK HELL and 50 to 25 wpm in HELL 80,

In "Super DX", the speed passes from 25 to 6,25 wpm in in FELD and PSK HELL and 50 to 12.5 wpm in HELL 80.

Capital or small characters and normal/reversed reception depends of the wish of the user (by default, the reception is normal with capital characters).

In FELD HELL and HELL 80, if the writing is not horizontal, correct it with the double button " [image] [image] ".

It is reminded that  the HELL 80 is an AFSK mode (2 frequencies as in RTTY, the one for the white being the most powerful). So the user must compulsory be in USB and must select the transmission by clicking the peak the most to the left (the white one).

Use in HF Fax

The user selects the speed in lpm (for example 120) and the IOC (for example 288)...see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description. The "Normal reception" is selected if the transceiver is in USB mode (see Introduction and description of the windows and commands).

The receive frequency is adjusted so as to have the right peak of the fax HF transmission at 2300 Hz, then the user clicks on this peak. The picture will be displayed.

Note: if the PC is a P66 Pentium, the user will click on "P66" and will put the screen in the minimum format (640x480 and 256 colors). With a P166, he will be able to use a 800x600 format and 65536 colors, clicking in "P66" or "P166" according to the real power of the Pentium. With a bigger PC, he will use the 1024x768 format and 65536 colors, clicking in "P166" (better algorithm). The bigger is the format, the more numerous are the colors and more the PC must be powerful, if not the "Problem" window will light...

To straighten the picture, the user will set the appropriate correction.

For the commands in HF Fax mode...see Description of the FAX mode controls

If the user wants to see the complete picture, he will begin to click on "Stop down" then on "1:1", and afterwards he will synchronize on the picture at the beginning of the transmission ("Synchro." button).

If necessary, during transmission, the user will shift the picture to left or to right.

Once the picture hasl been transmitted, the user will have the possibilty to print it or to save it on a .BMP file.

Use in SSTV

In reception, the user adjusts the reception on a SSTV transmission (for example, 14230 Khz in USB): the SSTV transmission is selected by clicking on the synchronization peak on the waterfall display (between 1150 and 1400 Hz). Normally, the band used to send the picture is comprised between 1500 and 2300 Hz and the synchronization signal is on 1200 Hz. So these frequencies or a bit above or below (-50 / + 200 Hz up or down) must be used. One may, then, observe and manage the produced picture on the screen.

Note: in Europe, the MARTIN1 mode is used and in USA, Japan and Australia the SCOTTIE1 mode.

Both modes are recognized.

The SSTV mode (MARTIN1, SCOTTIE1...) is automatically recognized with two different ways:

* by the mode VIS code preceding the picture,

* in case of failure, by the duration between synchronization signals (this way is more random because it is subject to QRM).

If the button "Auto" (in the "Commands" window) is clicked, the adjustment of the picture will be done automatically. After the complete reception of the picture, it can be precisely manually adjusted.

Synchronization on the picture is automatic with the "Synchro" button pushed. If released, the picture is decoded immediatly according to the SSTV mode selected in the selection mode window.

After receiving a picture, the user can either:

* print it (all the screen in fact),

* or save it (in an automatic way) in a .BMP file,

* or restart a new reception by clicking on "Synchro".

The button "RX historic" allows to see the 9 last received saved pictures,

The button "Auto Save" allows a standalone working of the software without Ham presence.

For the SSTV mode commands...see Description of the SSTV mode commands

The normal graphic format is a screen in 800x600 and 24 bits colors. If the PC power (PC 166 as a minimum and P450 as an ideal) does not allow to work in that format, the user will pass in 640x480 format, 16 bits colors or, if necessary, 8 bits colors or click on the "P66" option, which needs less CPU power.

Electromagnetic interference

Note: the PC radiates electromagnetic interference. It can happen taht this might provoke parasitic signals in the transceiver (receiver). In that case, the user must:

* if not yet done, shield the antenna cable close to the PC,

* move away the PC from the receiver,

* be sure that the cables between sound card and transceiver are shielded. The cables could be provided with ferrite beads which are very effective.

Thus, the inductance created cancels the RF returns on the cable shield because of strong impedance set against the RF (Z=jLw),

* be sure that the grounding (earthing) is correct and that the grounds of  the PC and the transceiver are connected,

* install a power filter on the power supplies of the PC and/or the transceiver.

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Use in transmission

Control of the transceiver (RX/TX screen)

Use in transmission

The following until "General observations" does not apply to HF Fax and SSTV.

INTRODUCTION: preparation of the text to be transmitted may be done, in the editor window, during the receive phase.

The user has now selected the Edition mode (by using, for example, the shortcut key <Esc>).

In the editor, the user will enter the text in the keyboard.

It is possible to delete the preceding characters with the back-space key on the keyboard.

However, in RTTY 45 bauds and in CW, there is no possibility to delete characters still sent.

The user will use the buttons related to send sequences of characters (see Setting up sequences (1 to 12)).

It is also possible to directly send macros……see Introduction and description of the windows and commands (Description of the text editor).

In RTTY and AMTOR, the short bell is noted « * ».

The sent and received characters are saved in the QSO <Date> <Time>.TXT file.

General observations

The transceiver is to be set to USB mode (except in RTTY, ASCII and AMTOR FEC, where LSB is used for amateur transmissions) and that the VOX is in service to permit the transmission as soon as an audio signal is sent. If the VOX is not available see serial port.

In CW keyed by the serial port, the transceiver must be in CW (see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description).

The user should adjust the signal level at the output of the sound card to that required by the transceiver (see speaker out level).

Now it remains to verify that the transmitter is activated under transmission. If CW has been selected, change temporarily, to RTTY. Then, the user in receive, turns on the transceiver without power. As soon as the Edition mode is selected, the transmitter will be activated by the transmission of idle characters. If not, the VOX threshold must be adjusted or verify the interface PC/transceiver.

For this verication, the Tune may also be used.

The output power of the transmitter must be increased by adjusting the microphone gain control and controlling the ALC and the PWR levels (see Tune to know the mean power compared to the tune power for each mode).

Note: the SWR must be as good as possible to avoid RF return. The transmitter output to the antenna must be a coaxial feedline to avoid a powerful electromagnetic field around the cable between PC and transmitter.

To be sure that the transmitted signal is linear and does not cause any QRM, the best is to make a contact in BPSK31 and to ask for an IMD measure of your signal.

For more explanations, the user will refer to the chapter IMD, quality signal and S/N ratio.

Peculiarities in BPSK31, QPSK31, PSK10, PSK63, PSK63F, PSKFEC31 or PSKAM

In "master" mode, with a XIT equal to 0 Hz, the displayed transmission frequency will be the initial reception frequency…see Access to the configuration menu.

In "slave" mode, the displayed frequency will be the last displayed frequency on the "decoding" part if a PSK transmission has been detected, otherwise it will be the frequency issued by the automatic detection.

As explained previously, the normal PSK mode will be the one used during the reception (TX=RX) but the user may want to transmit in a different mode of the called ham (PSK10, for example for a QRP station, the reception being in BPSK31).

Peculiarities in RTTY, ASCII and AMTOR

In RTTY and AMTOR, The short bell is noted « * », but is, of course, sent as a Baudot code (ITA2) or AMTOR (CCIR 476-4).

When transmitted, the « carriage return » are transmitted as a <CR> and then a <LF>.

As mentioned previously, in RTTY, the user has no other choice than 45 bauds speed.

The receive mode (« normal » or « reversed ») is also the one used in transmit. Thus, if the reception is « reversed », the transmission will also be the same (the mark and space frequencies must be the same on receive and transmit).

The signal is transmitted at the same mark and space frequencies that in decoding (the ones displayed on the "Mark/Space Frequencies" window).

It is reminded that LSB must be used for amateurs transmissions in RTTY, ASCII and AMTOR.

Peculiarities in CW/CCW

In CCW, for determining the "master"/"sclave" mode, see the paragraph "Peculiarities in BPSK31... ".

When typing, the Line feed is displayed but not sent (no Morse character for Line feed).

The Morse signal is transmitted at the same frequency as in reception.

The user must not answer a CCW transmission by a CW signal, because in CW there is no idling transmission, which may cause the operator to lose the synchronization.

The user must be sure to hear a CCW transmission before answering in CCW. CW has no idling characters.

Peculiarities in THROB and in THROBX

In THROB(X), to choose the "master"/"slave" mode, see the paragraph "Peculiarities in BPSK31... ".

When typing, the Line feed is displayed but are not sent (it does not exist THROB(X) character for a Line feed).

Before answering a call, the user must make sure that the frequency is exactly the one of the caller. The tuning accuracy is about 3 Hz in THROBX. Possibly, the user will do better stop the AFC (button "AFC").

In THROB(X), the transceiver frequency must be very stable.

Peculiarities in MFSK16 (+SSTV)	and MFSK8

To choose the "master"/"slave" mode, see the paragraph "Peculiarities in BPSK31... ".

In MFSK8 particularly, the transceiver frequency must be very stable.

SSTV in MFSK16

It has already been stated that in MFSK16, it is possible to transmit pictures with the buttons "Send color picture" and "B/W". The picture size is limited to 1600x1200. A picture is displayed with a thick "I" (sort of bold "I").

To take advantage of the slant and shift correction functions, the picture must not be bigger than 400x300 if in color (in fact, the duration of transmission must not be more than the one of a color picture in 400x300).

After transmission of a picture, the program commutes automatically to MFSK16 mode.

It must be noted that the sampling frequency taken into account is the one adjusted for SSTV transmission (see Description of the SSTV mode commands).

The commands to transmit SSTV in MFSK16 mode are described in Description of the SSTV commands in MFSK16 mode

Peculiarities in MT63

"Tune" permits the opposite station to adjust his reception.

Because of the delay caused by interleaving (1.6 seconds in short 2000 Hz to 12.8 seconds in 500 Hz long), return to receive indicated by the activation of spectrum display takes some time. During this time a message shows that the buffers are being emptied ("Flushing buffers...").

The agreed to mode for a CQ call is  1000 Hz  with long interleaving.

In MT63, it is possible to transmit a CW call, thanks to the macro <CW> ....<PRECED>: <PRECED> allows the user the return to the preceding (previous) mode (MT63 in our case) after having transmitted in a given mode (CW in our case). Example: if the transmit mode is MT63, then "<CW> CQ DE F6CTE <PRECED>" will mean to transmit the text "CQ DE F6CTE" in CW and the go to  MT63".

It should be remembered that the dsipaly start time (due to offsets determination delays) is long.

For details, please see Description of the MT63 mode commands

Peculiarities in FELD, PSK HELL and HELL 80

There is neither error reset character nor carriage return (and line feed).

Pass in "DX" or "Super Dx" position if the other operator has some difficulty to interpret your text.

Peculiarities in HF Fax

The imposed format is the one used by amateurs (speed 120 and IOC 288).

The user must load the picture (.BMP file). If it’s too big, it will be compressed to fit into the expected frame.

The user will click on "Transmit". The picture will be transmitted. An APT signal is transmitted for 5 seconds at the beginning, then a 30 seconds synchronization signal (white band alone), then the picture, then 5 seconds of ending APT signal and, at last, 10 seconds of black. A label will indicate the transmitted percentage. At 100 %, the transceiver will automatically pass to receive.

Peculiarities in SSTV

The chosen mode is selected in the mode window.

The user must first load the picture in a .BMP format. If it’s too big, it will be compressed to fit into the expected frame.

With the commands of the "SSTX TEXT", the user will write on the picture that has to be transmitted any desired text ("CQ CQ DE XYZ XYZ +K") before clicking on "Transmit". The picture will be transmitted. A label will indicate the transmitted percentage. At 100 %, it will automatically pass to receive.

If the user clicks on "Transmit" before the end of of the transmission, this radio will switch to receive  immediately.

To know how long it takes to transmit, see Selection of the RX/TX modes and description.

For the SSTV mode commands...see Description of the SSTV mode commands

Note: the posssibilities offered by Multipsk for building SSTV pictures (picture of the port and text) are basic. The user may build his/her own pictures using, for example, "Paint" of Windows, by transforming the 320x256 pixels file "port.bmp" (for example) and using special fonts.

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Manual control of the mixer by the user

The sound card mixer is initially controlled by the user (see the option Adjustment of the mixer). It could be controlled by software but there are some non-standard mixers which cannot be controlled by software. Therefore the user should learn to adjust the mixer manually.

The mixer controls appear by clicking on the button "Mixer control" if the option "User adjustment". of the menu “Mixer” has been selected.

For example, if the option "User adjustment". of the menu “Mixer” has been selected and the left Line in channel has been chosen ( see Audio input), the user should see the following (after coming back to the option "Software adjustment” of the menu “Mixer”):

- In the option "VOLUME CONTROL":

* the "Volume Control" level must not be at zero and the balance must be at the middle,

* the "Wave" level must not be at zero and the balance must be at the middle,

* the "Line in" level must be at 100 %, the balance must be at left side and the option "Mute" selected,

* the microphone must have the option "Mute" selected.

- In the option "RECORDING CONTROL" obtained by clicking <Options> then <Properties> then <Recording> :

* the "Line in" level must be at 100 %, the balance must be at left side and the option "Selected" set,

* the microphone must have the option "Selected" deactivated.

Note: after using this software, if it has controlled the mixer from the beginning (by choosing "Software control" in the "Mixer" menu,  the mixer is set in its default configuration.

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Verification of the configuration file CONFPSER.SER, the files F1 till F12.SER, N1 till N12.SER, PERSO_PS.TXT and LOG_PSK.LO

At the start-up of the software, the presence of the files necessary for the operation is verified. If for any reason, a file is missing or altered, a error message will appear.

In that case, the default configuration is chosen and the file CONFPSER.SER is saved. Then, the user makes his own configuration. For the files .SER, you just have to restore the sequence. PERSO_PS.TXT and LOG_PSK.LO are automatically created.

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