w00t! I just made my first JT65 contact.
What’s JT65 you ask? It’s a slow-speed, very reliable digital mode. The best place to start learning about it is on K1JT’s page, since K1JT created it.
Here’s a summary of my setup:
- Yaesu FT-817ND with external (12AH) battery and solar panels (10-20W).
- WSJT-X software running on a Raspberry Pi [Refer to the WSJT-X manual for installation instructions.]
- Signalink USB audio interface
- Pi-Top [Raspberry Pi laptop]
- Super Antenna
I did run into a few interesting glitches. At first, I thought I was splattering all over by over-driving my radio. I was monitoring with another Signalink, and the waterfall looked bad. When I was checking the power output on my transmitting radio, it looked like I wasn’t sending out anything. It turned out that with a radio in close proximity it didn’t matter, but for practical purposes, I wasn’t sending out any signal. After the adjustments, 4W of output power!
What were the adjustments: I ended up with the Tx setting on my Signalink at about the 3 o’clock position. On the radio, I set the Dig Mic at 92 [menu #25] and PSK31-U dig mode [menu #26]. At that point, my FT-817ND started showing actual power output. Be sure to plug in the SignaLink to the Raspberry Pi before starting the WSJT-X software. Follow the instructions in the WSJT-X manual for configuration, including selecting the sound card.
