There are several useful messages stored in the built-in macros and these can be edited if desired. The default CQ message macro automatically switches to transmit mode. Tapping the button again returns to receive mode. To start sending messages you just tap on the Start Tx ‘button’. This took a little practice before I was able to do it reliably during a QSO. To capture the text you need to tap on the word to highlight it, then hold your finger (or stylus) on the appropriate field to copy/paste the word. This information can also be transferred to the logbook (more on this later). The received station’s callsign, name, QTH and locator can be captured from the received text screen and inserted in messages using the macros. PSK signals are decoded by placing the cursor on signals appearing on the waterfall display. I found that on my phone I had to reset the volume control each time I started up DroidPSK. I suggest doing this with the phone volume set to maximum. The interface needs to be adjusted so that the transmitter is being operated below the onset of ALC when sending text. I recommend using an interface that automatically keys the transmitter PTT when detecting transmit audio. The software supplier offers a ready-made interface (Wolphi-Link), but this would have worked out quite expensive after shipping to the UK. The Phone App with Homemade Interface and Radio I designed and built my own interface based on a circuit created by Ivo Brugnera (I6IBE), which I found on the internet. By holding the phone near my HF transceivers speaker I was able to decode PSK signals received on the 20m band. Before I had a suitable interface, I tried using the app with the phones built-in microphone. All of the review is based on my experience using the app on my phone (I do not have a tablet).īefore using the app for the first time it is necessary to enter your details such as callsign, location etc. I downloaded the app and installed it on my Doro Liberto 820 smartphone. However, the program author (Wolfgang Philipps) also offers apps specifically for RTTY and SSTV. It is not intended for regular base station use and is specific to PSK operation. It is unfair to compare this simple app with ‘full blown’ datamode programs such as FLDIGI. Has user-programmable macros for sending commonly used phrases.Produces a ‘waterfall’ display of the received signal spectrum to facilitate finding signals and tuning into them.Connects to the radio transceiver via the phone or tablets audio jack, or can be acoustically coupled to the microphone and speaker.Intended to work with Android phones and tablets.However, making the connection via the headset jack and a suitable interface would be a more reliable option. I use the term “connected” loosely here as it is possible to receive and transmit the audio tones via the built-in microphone and speaker in the Android device. Since I have an Android smartphone I thought I would I would give DroidPSK a try.ĭroidPSK is a simple program that allows text messages to be transmitted and received using BPSK (binary phase shift keying), via a radio transceiver connected to your Android device. It was suggested in the book that portable datamodes operation was a viable proposition using either DroidPSK (for Android phones) or PSKer (for iPhones). I found out about this Android phone app whilst reading Jamie Davies’ book “SOTA Explained: a beginner’s guide to hilltop radio” (published by the RSGB).
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