FT8

rdscuba
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:40 pm

FT8

Postby rdscuba » Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:04 am

Is anyone aware of a good FAQ with detailed instructions on getting FT8 working on a 7000DLE MKII by chance? Running Thetis 2.9.0x64.

Thanks in advance.
w9mdb
Posts: 446
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 5:53 pm

Re: FT8

Postby w9mdb » Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:31 am

Try VBAudio -- any one of the audio packages will work. Voicemeter Bananna is what most use I'd say.

Then you use Setup and the Audio tab to select one of the Voicemeter devices (I use Voicemeter Aux) for input and output and the Windows Direct Sound driver and check Enable.

Set Sample Rate for 48000 -- that's all you need for FT8.
Recommend setting "Force" on the VAC1 Monitor. I've found too much frequency drift without it.

In WSJTX pick the same audio devices for Input/Output.

For CAT control go to the CAT Control tab in Thetis and turn on the TCP/IP Cat Server -- click the Def button and Server Running.
Set the WSJTX RIg to FlexRadio/ANAN PowerSDR and the serial port to 127.0.0.1:13013 -- click Test Cat and you should get a green button result. Click PTT and the rig should go into transmit (with no power out).
Mike W9MDB
rdscuba
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:40 pm

Re: FT8

Postby rdscuba » Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:11 am

Here are my settings. CAT is not working, see error window below:

WSJTX Radio.JPG
WSJTX Radio.JPG (58.24 KiB) Viewed 3476 times
WSJTC Audio.JPG
WSJTC Audio.JPG (47.21 KiB) Viewed 3476 times
Thetis CAT+.JPG
Thetis CAT+.JPG (61.65 KiB) Viewed 3476 times
Thetis CAT.JPG
Thetis CAT.JPG (66.57 KiB) Viewed 3476 times
Thetis AUDIO.JPG
Thetis AUDIO.JPG (92.15 KiB) Viewed 3476 times
WSJTX CAT Error.JPG
WSJTX CAT Error.JPG (25.5 KiB) Viewed 3476 times
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Tony EI7BMB
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Location: Dublin
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Re: FT8

Postby Tony EI7BMB » Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:16 am

Check out Scotts excellent tutorial , you can skip straight to 8. http://wu2o.dyndns.org/wu2o_vac_tutorial_2.html

I'm guessing you do not have virtual serial ports set up. If you are using JTDX you also have the options of TCI control (JTDX only) or TCP/IP cat control as Mike mentioned above.

More info on TCP/IP here https://community.apache-labs.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4249
w9mdb
Posts: 446
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 5:53 pm

Re: FT8

Postby w9mdb » Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:09 pm

Turn off the "Send version on client connect".
That is not TS-2000 or PowerSDR compatible.
I have fixed that in the latest Hamlib but I believe WSJTX 2.4.0 still has the problem with the older Hamlib.

You can upgrade Hamlib in WSJTX and hopefully still use the "version" option.

New hamlib for installation directions

#1 Shut down WSJTX/JTDX

#2 Download either the 32-bit or 64-bit DLL matching the 32/64-bit version of WSJTX/JTDX -- hopefully your browser doesn't block it but may warn you multiple times.

If you can do a "Save As" you can save it directly in \WSJT\WSJTX\bin and replace the libhamlib-4.dll that is there.

http://n0nb.users.sourceforge.net/dll32/libhamlib-4.dll

http://n0nb.users.sourceforge.net/dll64/libhamlib-4.dll

Linux/Unix/Mac users need to compile the latest tar file from http://n0nb.users.sourceforge.net/\
Note: If compiling on Unix-like systems please uninstall any Hamlib package you have before installing the new build

#3 If you don't save directly you need to open a file browser and move the file that way.

If you're not familiar with that here's a video on the file browser - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyVqCJrs9dk

Mike W9MDB
Mike W9MDB
rdscuba
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Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:40 pm

Re: FT8

Postby rdscuba » Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:04 pm

Failure.JPG
Failure.JPG (25.81 KiB) Viewed 3407 times


I have spend a couple hours this morning going through all of the suggestions above. Still no luck.

Thanks!
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w-u-2-o
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Re: FT8

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Jul 17, 2022 6:58 pm

This should not be that hard. Based on your screen shots your setup has many problems with both CAT and audio. Let's fix CAT first.

Here are screen shots of my WSJT-X and Thetis setup. Make sure you are using the latest versions.

1. Upgrade to Thetis 2.9.0.6 if your are not already running that. Get it here: https://github.com/ramdor/Thetis-2.9.0/releases. Use the 64 bit version.

2. Completely uninstall WSJT-X.

3. Install WSJT-X pre-release 2.6.0-rc1. Get it here: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html (scroll down until you find the 2.6.0-rc1 release installer). Use the 64 bit version.

4. In Thetis > Setup > Serial/Network/Midi CAT > Network make it look like this:

Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (19.81 KiB) Viewed 3388 times


The port number I use is 1881, but you can use the default.

Also make Thetis > Setup > Serial/Network/Midi CAT > Options look like this:

Capture2.JPG
Capture2.JPG (12.95 KiB) Viewed 3388 times


5. In WSJT-X make your radio settings look like this:

Capture3.JPG
Capture3.JPG (103.02 KiB) Viewed 3388 times


Again I use port 1881, you can use the default port that Thetis provides. Whatever you do, the port numbers MUST match in both WSJT-X and Thetis.

6. Test your CAT connection.
rdscuba
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Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:40 pm

Re: FT8

Postby rdscuba » Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:32 pm

Thank you! I am now decoding and seeing what I think I should be seeing.

However, when the WSJT is in TX there is no FWD power from the radio?

Thanks again!

wsjtc tx.JPG
wsjtc tx.JPG (367.23 KiB) Viewed 3379 times
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w-u-2-o
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Re: FT8

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:56 pm

rdscuba wrote:Thank you! I am now decoding and seeing what I think I should be seeing.

However, when the WSJT is in TX there is no FWD power from the radio?
That's because, as I wrote in my first response above, based on your screen shots your setup has many problems with both CAT and audio. We've fixed the CAT, now let's fix the audio.

You need to assign Thetis to one Voicemeeter virtual channel, and WSJT-X to a different Voicemeeter virtual channel, then connect them to each other in Voicemeeter.

My setup is very unlike yours, so I cannot simply post screen shots for you to copy.

For this to work you need to be running either Voicemeeter Banana or Voicemeeter Potato, not the base Voicemeeter version.

1. In Voicemeeter, click the A1 Hardware Output button and assign it to your default PC speaker audio output.

2. Assign the Voicemeeter VAIO channel to both the VAC input and output in Thetis. Use the MME driver, not Directsound (Directsound sucks ;) )

3. Assign the Voicemeeter Aux channel in WSJT-X, again for both input and output.

4. In Voicemeeter click the "send" buttons (marked A1 through B2 or B3, depending on the version) as follows:

a) On the Voicemeeter VAIO channel click the B2 button, this will send audio from Thetis to WSJT-X.
b) On the Voicemeeter Aux channel click the B1 button, this will send audio from WSJT-X to Thetis.

5. Leave all other buttons in Voicemeeter OFF. Leave all Voicemeeter volume sliders at the default 0dB.

With luck this will provide basic functionality. There are some other tweaks we probably need to do, but, again, let's go for the basics first.
rdscuba
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:40 pm

Re: FT8

Postby rdscuba » Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:18 pm

Thank you. I will give this a try and let you know. I appreciate it.


w-u-2-o wrote:
rdscuba wrote:Thank you! I am now decoding and seeing what I think I should be seeing.

However, when the WSJT is in TX there is no FWD power from the radio?
That's because, as I wrote in my first response above, based on your screen shots your setup has many problems with both CAT and audio. We've fixed the CAT, now let's fix the audio.

You need to assign Thetis to one Voicemeeter virtual channel, and WSJT-X to a different Voicemeeter virtual channel, then connect them to each other in Voicemeeter.

My setup is very unlike yours, so I cannot simply post screen shots for you to copy.

For this to work you need to be running either Voicemeeter Banana or Voicemeeter Potato, not the base Voicemeeter version.

1. In Voicemeeter, click the A1 Hardware Output button and assign it to your default PC speaker audio output.

2. Assign the Voicemeeter VAIO channel to both the VAC input and output in Thetis. Use the MME driver, not Directsound (Directsound sucks ;) )

3. Assign the Voicemeeter Aux channel in WSJT-X, again for both input and output.

4. In Voicemeeter click the "send" buttons (marked A1 through B2 or B3, depending on the version) as follows:

a) On the Voicemeeter VAIO channel click the B2 button, this will send audio from Thetis to WSJT-X.
b) On the Voicemeeter Aux channel click the B1 button, this will send audio from WSJT-X to Thetis.

5. Leave all other buttons in Voicemeeter OFF. Leave all Voicemeeter volume sliders at the default 0dB.

With luck this will provide basic functionality. There are some other tweaks we probably need to do, but, again, let's go for the basics first.
rdscuba
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:40 pm

Re: FT8

Postby rdscuba » Fri Jul 29, 2022 10:57 pm

All the help worked. Thanks!

What next, now that FT8 is in the bag... what other software and digital mode do I need to play with?

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