Ham Radio Deluxe announces JT modes in their DM780 module

The management at HRD demoed a version of HRD containing JT65, JT9 and WSPR modes at Dayton. Not sure of what decoder they are using nor any more details of how it has been designed.
We'll see if it lives up to the hype when it finally gets released. Until then I will carry on using JT65-HB8HQX with JTAlert,

HRD 6.3.0.410 installation

August 10th 2015 and Ham Radio Deluxe 6.3 was released. I downloaded it and tried the installation on a domain connected machine and the routine came up with the usual issues with registry keys as I reported on earlier posts for older versions of the software.

I logged out of the domain and then just logged in locally to the PC. I ran the installation routine again and everything worked perfectly. At the end of the installation I didn't run HRD instead just closing it down and logging off.

When I logged on as a domain user again and launched HRD all my old settings were still present, the logbook was intact and all the customization's to the screens were still there. I'm very happy.

Now all I have to do is operate the software in anger and see what issues if any there are. Straightaway I can see the previous problem with scrolling waterfall hiccups has been cured. It is now very smooth and judder free.

Tuning out QRM on datamodes using the Yaesu FT-450D with DM-780 and Ham Radio Deluxe

The standard way of operating a datamode such as PSK-31 is to leave the filter width as wide as you can and tune to the operating frequency. The software, in my case Ham Radio Deluxe running the DM780 module, then uses software filters to narrow reception down to whatever audio frequency you have selected in the waterfall. This works well 99% of the time but you do get occasions in the middle of a QSO when a very strong station starts transmitting in an adjacent audio frequency. That station probably can't hear your contact so doesn't know that it is generating QRM.
This can sometimes result in swamping the signal coming from your contact.

The two useful filters on the FT-450D highlighted in yellow

The radio then comes to the rescue. From very early days it has been possible to engage IF filters, notch filters and such like on communications equipment. When somebody is tuning up close to your listening frequency engage your tunable notch filter. If somebody is transmitting on SSB a few KHz up then engage your IF Shift. The ways of getting rid of QRM are very wide ranging and easy to do.

PSK-63 working higher up the audio frequency waterfall

I noticed that when working on the 15m PSK frequency (21.070 MHz) trying to make a contact with a contest station on PSK-63 my station could not be heard. The waterfall showed this station at around 2300 Hz.
After checking out my ALC levels it was noticed that the ALC meter reading was considerably down at the low end despite the audio drive level being high. I went into the Transmit section of DM780 (the  Ham Radio Deluxe module dedicated to audio/digital modes) and turned up the volume.
My station still could not contact the caller.

So I changed the radio frequency to 21.07150 MHz and tuned up again. This time the caller was at around 1KHz on the waterfall so was right in the sweet spot of my rigs audio range. The Transmit drive was reduced back to 30% and I sent out a reply to his CQ.

Rig retuned lowering the apparent waterfall frequency
to around 1000 Hz

BANG - got him straight away with the ALC two points less than the FT-450 colon symbol.

The moral? - Try to work stations at around 750 to 1500 Hz on the waterfall, re-tuning the rig if necessary, and you will put out a better PSK signal especially on higher bandwidth digimodes.

Overdriving the rigs ALC and producing spatter

On data modes it is very easy to overdrive the rig audio input causing the rigs ALC circuit to kick in. The result of this is to cause spatter either side of your actual transmission frequency.

When you see this on a waterfall display it looks like a ghost image of the transmission a few 100 Hz up or down.

The yellow coloured PSK-31 images are the same
transmission. The main one is centred at 1760 Hz and the spatter is around 750Hz

You will then get other hams shouting at you in CAPITAL LETTERS telling you to turn the gain down and look at your ALC meter. You can turn the gain down on your computer by simply decreasing the slider. In DM780 it is the TX slider shown below.

Transmit volume slider on Digital Master 780

ON the Yaesu FT-450D follow what I do - link here

Do yourself a favour and clean up your signal. Other hams with thank you for it.