Digital Modes

After the post in here about W0CHP dashboard for Pi-Star I decided to dedicate a hotspot to M17. I have it functioning, but that means now I need a radio. :) who doesn't want a good excuse to buy a radio?

It took me a while to understand the principle of operation and the tools to use and their interactions. So I've posted some explanation about it.

Recently updated my pi-star with this version and WOW is it a lot more responsive and easy to use. Even has a few different digital modes to play around with, like M17.

>This is my very highly modified and customized fork of MW0MWZ’s Pi-Star software, and I call it “W0CHP-PiStar-Dash” (abbreviated as WPSD). There are so many large changes, divergences and new features, it merited my own fork/version.

There are a number of changes that could be made to the FT8 protocol to make it faster and more resilient to low signal strength. Some of these changes include:

1. Increase the bandwidth: Increasing the bandwidth would allow more data to be transmitted per symbol, which would improve the speed of the protocol. However, this would also make the protocol more susceptible to interference.

2. Use a different error correction scheme: The current error correction scheme in FT8 is relatively simple, and it can be difficult to correct errors when the signal is weak. Using a more sophisticated error correction scheme would improve the resilience of the protocol to low signal strength.

3. Change the modulation scheme: The current modulation scheme in FT8 is based on frequency shift keying (FSK). Changing the modulation scheme to something like quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) would improve the spectral efficiency of the protocol, which would allow more data to be transmitted over a given bandwidth.

4. Use a different symbol rate: The current symbol rate in FT8 is 31.25 baud. Using a lower symbol rate would improve the resilience of the protocol to low signal strength, but it would also reduce the speed of the protocol. These are just a few of the changes that could be made to the FT8 protocol to make it faster and more resilient to low signal strength. The best changes to make would depend on the specific requirements of the application.

In addition to the changes mentioned above, there are a number of other things that could be done to improve the performance of FT8 in low-signal conditions. These include:

1. Using a better antenna: A better antenna will improve the reception of weak signals.

2. Using a higher output power: A higher output power will increase the strength of the transmitted signal, which will make it more likely to be received by the other station.

3. Using a noise-cancelling filter: A noise-cancelling filter can help to reduce the noise in the received signal, which will make it easier to decode the signal.

By making these changes, it is possible to improve the performance of FT8 in low-signal conditions and make it possible to communicate over longer distances even with weak signals.

This looks fun, I might give it a go.

I found this software when trying to get into M17. There are other versions like DudeStar but this one worked best on my system (Debian Linux). Anyone used M17 Yet?

I use mine as an I-Gate with the default firmware installed on it. Has anyone looked into building open source firmware for these? The reason I ask, it seems as the device does not really transmit any packets. This could be a setting or a filter I have wrong. so maybe someone has some insight.

I saw this on the Mastodon.Radio feed, now I want one.

I live in a valley so it’s hard to hit any local digital repeaters. Built this to hit all the modes I can. Full duplex.

It wasn't the longest contact ever but I did manage Washington state from San Diego last weekend. running 2 watts into a WRC antenna from the QRP-Labs QDX.