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Decoding PSK31

The console's PSK panel decodes PSK31, the keyboard-to-keyboard mode, and its faster version, PSK63. It decodes on your device, from the radio's receive audio, one signal at a time. It's on every plan.

Open the panel

  1. Put the radio in USB with DATA on (USB-D). A panel for digital modes opens under the mode buttons.
  2. Click PSK in the row of buttons above it.
  3. Choose a band from Go to band… to tune where PSK31 is usually found (14.070 MHz on 20m). It switches to USB-D if the radio isn't in it.

Decoding

  • Receive audio must be on in the console. The decoder hears what you hear.
  • The panel's waterfall shows the receive audio from 200 to 3000 Hz. PSK signals are narrow lines down it. Click one to decode it. The red line marks the signal being decoded.
  • Or click Find. It looks at the last three seconds of audio for the strongest PSK signal and tunes to it. If there's no PSK signal, it says so.
  • Tone shows the audio frequency being decoded; you can type one in.
  • With AFC on, the decoder follows a signal that drifts a little. It won't wander more than about 60 Hz (PSK63: 125 Hz) from where you put it.
  • Choose PSK31 or PSK63 to match the signal. PSK31 is far more common.
  • The meter shows how cleanly the signal is coming through. Text appears only while there's a clean PSK signal, so noise doesn't print, and each character shows about a quarter of a second after it arrives. Clear empties the text, and unticking Decode pauses it.

PSK31 decodes well down to signals about 10 dB under the noise in 2500 Hz, as heard in a normal SSB filter. A weak or fading signal drops or misreads some characters.

The panel remembers the tone and speed on this device.

Not built yet: sending PSK, decoding several signals at once, and QPSK.

Related: Sending and decoding RTTY · The spectrum scope and waterfall