Tag: digital
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Getting on FT8 with the Icom IC-7300 Mark II
One USB-C cable, no external interface needed. Here’s how to get the IC-7300 Mark II talking to WSJT-X and make your first FT8 contact.
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DMR vs. D-STAR vs. YSF (and the Rest): Comparing Digital Voice Modes
Four digital voice ecosystems, four different tradeoffs, and none of them talk to each other. Here’s how DMR, D-STAR, System Fusion, and the smaller players actually compare.
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JTDX vs WSJT-X: Is the Fork Worth Switching To
WSJT-X is the software running FT8 on my IC-7300 Mark II, and it’s the default recommendation for anyone getting started with weak-signal digital modes. JTDX is a fork of that same codebase, and it’s been around long enough that people regularly ask whether it’s actually worth switching to. Where JTDX came from JTDX started as…
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Getting Started with Yaesu System Fusion and Wires-X
System Fusion is Yaesu’s digital voice ecosystem, and Wires-X is the network that links its repeaters and rooms together over the internet. Here is how to actually get on it.
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Getting Started with D-STAR
D-STAR was the first widely adopted digital voice mode in amateur radio, and its reflector and gateway system still works a little differently than DMR or Fusion. Here is how to actually get on it.
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Understanding the Mark II’s Dual USB-C Virtual COM Ports
What the IC-7300 Mark II’s dual USB-C virtual COM ports actually do, and why running digital modes and logging software together finally just works.
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Repeaters: How They Work, Why They’re Great, and Why They’re Not a SHTF Plan
Repeaters turn a 5-watt handheld into a radio that can talk 40 miles. Here’s how that works, and why you shouldn’t bet your grid-down comms plan on one.
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AllStarLink: Connecting Your Repeater or Node to the Internet
EchoLink and IRLP aren’t the only ways to link a repeater or a personal node over the internet. AllStarLink takes a different technical approach, built on the same open-source telephony software that powers a huge share of the world’s VoIP systems. Built on Asterisk AllStarLink runs on Asterisk, the open-source PBX software originally built for…
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What Is PSK Reporter?
PSK Reporter is a free website that shows you, on a live map, exactly where your signal is being heard around the world. Here is how it works.
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Why the AnyTone AT-D878UV II Plus and AT-D890UV Are Still the Radios to Beat
The 878 basically defined the affordable DMR handheld category. The 890 built on it. Here’s why both are still worth your money, plus how the BridgeCom Maverick and the rest of the field stack up.