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German Teletype (RTTY) Weather on HF (Shortwave) Radio
DX Century Club – RTTY
Some years ago, the ARRL decided to stop issuing a DXCC certificate for just RTTY and merged the various digital modes all together for a single ‘digital’ certificate. I obtained the ‘digital’ certificate back in 2012 with just RTTY QSOs and was always a little sad that my certificate said ‘digital’. Last year, I heard […]
The post DX Century Club – RTTY first appeared on QSO365.Review of 2022
QSOs made: 2,022DXCC entities worked: 141New DXCC entities worked: 4Total DXCC worked and confirmed: 286 Solar cycle 25 is really starting to ramp up now and this is demonstrated clearly by the fact that for the first time in many years, the country I’ve worked the most is the USA with 436 QSOs. Unsurprisingly, 15m is […]
The post Review of 2022 first appeared on QSO365.QSO365 #3 is complete – Ten QSOs per day in 2021
I’ll kick off with the statistics for the whole of 2021 and then go into the details. QSOs made: 8,265Unique QSOs made: 5,776Average QSOs per day: 22.6Days missed: 0 <- This is the most important statistic, it means that QSO365 #3 was a success. DXCC entities worked: 168New DXCC entities worked: 1Total DXCC worked and […]
The post QSO365 #3 is complete – Ten QSOs per day in 2021 first appeared on QSO365.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306097083362758983.post-331108867283206159
Using Elecraft KX3/K3 KY Codes to Allow N1MM & RTTY-FSK
A Step-by-step Guide (assuming no previous experience)
- I wanted to use the KX3’s excellent FSK (not AFSK) and KX3’s RTTY to Text Decoding
- I did not want to use a Signalink or other digi interface or use my computer’s sound card
- I was only interested in using RTTY for casual operation in a contest that required serial numbers and wanted to be able easily send reply with incrementing serial numbers
- A bonus is ability to also use this setup for SSB or CW (If you are interested in non-macro driven, direct keying CW see appendix)
- ACC-1 USB Interface Cable that ships with KX3 (the same one you use for Firmware updates)
- Computer running Windows XP, 7, 8 or 10 (“N1MM Logger+ incorporates the latest multi-threading technology, and will take full advantage of multi-core CPUs.. A single-core 1.6 GHz processor is probably the minimum required, but the CPU requirements depend quite heavily on which program options, modes, etc. are selected, so this may not be adequate depending on how you use the program. The program itself does not require a large amount of memory, but the more memory you have, the more smoothly Windows multitasking works.”)
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- Install KX3 Utility Software
- Plug USB cable into radio & computer
- Turn on KX3
- Determine USB Port # being used by KX3
- Start KX3 Utility Software and click “Test Communications” button
- Note the resulting port # (this will vary depending on other device connected to your computer.)
- Exit (File...Exit) KX3 Utility Software
- Install N1MM Software
- Configure N1MM Software
- On top menu choose “Configure” then “Configure Ports, Mode Control….”
- “Configure Ports, Mode Control….” dialog box will open
- You will need to use two tabs at the top
- “Hardware”
- “Digital Modes
- Configure Hardware Tab
- Choose the Port # that you noted above (with KX3 Utility Software). If the port is not listed, change one of the ports to the number you need
- Choose KX3 as the Radio
- Check “CW/Other” box
- Click “Set” to configure connection settings as show in screenshot D
- Check “Digi” box for any port number that is not being used by KX3 or other USB devices connected to your computer. (If not sure choose clicking on the drop down box will show available ports).
- Click “Set” on the port you have chosen for “Digi” and set as in the screenshot F
- Configure “Digital Modes” tab
- Choose “Digital Interface TU Type”. Then chose “Soundcard”.
- Click OK to close
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- Close “Configure” then “Configure Ports, Mode Control….” dialog box
- Click on “Windows” Top Menu bar then choose “Digital Interface” a pair of windows should open.
- On the “Soundcard” dialog box, choose “Interface” menu.
- Select “MMTTY” (It should not, but if it does say you have to install “MMTTY”, it is free software- http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmtty.php).
- You can minimize them and/or move them out of the way as they will not function in this configuration.
- You will be using the KX3 Decoded Text Display
- Load N1MM Macros
- On the top menu choose “Configure” then “Configure Ports, Mode Control….”
- Click “Change CW/SSB/Digital Key Definitions”
- Click “Change Digital Function Key…”
- Paste the sample “Run” & “Search & Pounce” messages (see sample list below) into box.
- Edit to match your preferences.
- Save, with a new name (KX3-Macros-CW) or anything to distinguish it from N1MM default messages file.
- Please note: macro in F12 is designed to stop transmit if does not terminate on its own.
Forty Years of Personal Computing - RTTY Receiving Program
September 1985, I purchased a Kenwood TS-430S and became more active in amateur radio. In the apartment where I was living, I snuck wires out of a second floor window and began to make contacts.
In October, I got the notion to try some Radio Teletype (RTTY). I built a demodulator using a circuit I've forgotten. Perhaps it used a couple of NE567 chips. Having a demodulator, I needed to translate the five-level Baudot characters into ASCII that I could display on the terminal.
(I purchased a Wyse 85 VT-220 emulator terminal in August of 1985, so I was no longer constrained by the 64x16 screen and 1200 bps limitations of the CT-64)
RTTY Decoder
I wrote a program for Flex09 to decode 45 Baud RTTY by bit-banging a PIA pin. I couldn't use the MC6850 ACIA, because it does not support 5 bit characters.
A delay loop established character timing:
BNE LOOP
Each pass through the loop consumes 8 clock cycles. With the right value loaded in X, fairly precise timings could be accomplished. A value close to 250 would be 1 ms on a 2 MHz machine. By calling this loop repeatedly, timings of 11 and 22 ms are measured.
I connected the demodulator output to PIA Port B, pin 0. The program looks at this pin, waiting for a zero. Finding one, it calls the delay loop for 1 ms and checks again. If the pin is still zero, it waits 10 ms and checks Port B pin 0. A continued zero at this point indicates a start bit. The 11 ms total delay places us right in the middle of the start bit.
The next sequence waits 22 ms and then samples of value of Port B, pin 0. It does this five times. These samples are shifted into a byte value, which used to look up an ASCII character in one of two tables -- one for letters, and one for figures -- according to the shift mode. This character is then sent to the terminal, and we go back to waiting for a start bit.
The resulting program is about 300 bytes long. Despite the simplicity, I had little success decoding RTTY signals.
In hindsight, there are several reasons for this.
- Decoding signals off the air that might have been noisy.
- Demodulator circuit was completely untested and might not have worked.
- No experience with RTTY, so signals might not have been properly tuned.
- Precise value of the 1 ms time delay not known. I used values of 230 and 240, allowing cycles for other program logic.
At some point, I distinctly copied "RY RY RY RY RY RY RY" from someone, but not much else. Later, I figured out this meant my program, at least, was working.
Hardware Solution
In November 1986, I decided to use serial chip that could do five-level Baudot. The MC6850 only allows 7 and 8 bit characters, so I needed a different chip. The NS8250 could do 5, 6, 7 and 8 bit characters, and sports a programmable bit rate generator for all the common RTTY rates. Hence, I added an NS8250 UART to the baud-rate generator board.
Funny, though -- I never wrote software to use the NS8250. In February 1989, I removed the NS8250 and its associated circuitry.
I didn't become active in RTTY on the air until 2005, using Cocoamodem.