WSJT (Amateur radio software)

Infobox Software
name = WSJT



caption =
developer = Joe Taylor, K1JT
released = ?
frequently_updated = yes
programming language = ?
operating system = Cross-platform
language = ?
genre = Amateur radio and DSP
license = GPL
status = active
website = [http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/ physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/]

WSJT is a computer program used for weak-signal radio communication between amateur radio operators. The program was initially written by Joe Taylor, K1JT, but is now open source and is developed by a small team. The digital signal processing techniques in WSJT make it substantially easier for amateur radio operators to employ esoteric propagation modes, such as high speed meteor scatter and moonbounce.

History

WSJT was originally released in 2001 and has undergone several major revisions. Communication modes have been both added and removed from the software over the course of its development. Since 2005, the software has been released as open source software under the GNU General Public License. This licensing change required substantial rewrites and took several months to complete. Although Joe Taylor was the original developer (and still acts as maintainer), several programmers are currently involved in writing the software. Currently, the program is written in Python and C, with several utilities written in Fortran.cite conference|author=Joe Taylor, K1JT|title=Open Source WSJT: Status, Capabilities, and Future Evolution|booktitle=12th International EME Conference|place=Würzburg, Germany|date=August 25–27, 2006|url=http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/K1JT_eme2006.pdf]

Communication modes provided

The software carries a general emphasis on weak-signal operation and advanced DSP techniques; however, the communication modes rely upon different ionospheric propagation modes and may be used on many different bands.

FSK441

FSK441, introduced in 2001 as the first communications mode included with WSJT, is designed to support communication using streaks of radio-reflecting ions created in the ionosphere by the trails of meteors entering the Earth's atmosphere.cite web|url=http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSJT_User_600.pdf|title=WSJT6 User Guide & Reference Manual|author=Joe Taylor, K1JT|date=2006-08-10] The bursts of signal created by such trails are commonly referred to as “pings”, due to their characteristic sound. Such pings may be as short as a tenth of a second and carry enough information to complete at least one stage of a contact. FSK441 employs multi-frequency shift keying using four tones, at a data rate of 441 baud. Because of the choice of character codes in the protocol, it is self-synchronizing and does not require an explicit synchronization tone. FSK441 is generally used on the 2-meter and 70-centimeter amateur bands. Contacts may be made at almost any time (that is, a meteor shower is not required to be in progress) at distances of up to 1400 miles (2250km).cite journal|author=Joe Taylor, K1JT|title="WSJT": New Software for VHF Meteor-Scatter Communication|journal=QST|date=December 2001|pages=36–41|url=http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSJT_QST_Dec2001.pdf]

JT6M

JT6M, introduced in late 2002, is intended for meteor scatter and other ionospheric scattering of signals, and is especially optimized for the 6-meter band. The mode also employs multiple frequency-shift keying, but at 44 tones. One of the tones is a synchronization tone, leaving 43 tones to carry data (one tone per character in the character set, which includes alphanumerics and some punctuation). The symbol rate is 21.53 baud; the actual data rate as encoded for transmit is 14.4 characters per second. The mode is known for sounding "a bit like piccolo music".

JT65

JT65, developed and released in late 2003, is intended for extremely weak but slowly-varying signals, such as those found on troposcatter or Earth-Moon-Earth (EME, or "moonbounce") paths. It can decode signals many decibels below the noise floor, and can often allow amateurs to successfully exchange contact information without signals being audible to the human ear. Like the other modes, multiple-frequency shift keying is employed; unlike the other modes, messages are transmitted as units after being compressed and then encoded with a process known as forward error correction (or "FEC"), which adds redundancy to the data such that the message may be successfully recovered even if all of the bits are not received by the receiver. (The particular code used for JT65 is Reed-Solomon.) Because of this FEC process, messages are either decoded correctly or not decoded at all, with very high probability. After messages are encoded, they are transmitted using MFSK with 65 tones.cite journal|author=Joe Taylor, K1JT|title=The JT65 Communications Protocol|journal=QEX: A Forum for Communications Experimenters|date=September-October 2005|pages=3–12|url=http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/JT65.pdf]

Operators have also begun using the JT65 mode for contacts on the HF bands, often using QRP (very low transmit power);cite journal|author=Steve Ford, WB8IMY|title=JT65A on the HF Bands|journal=QST|date=July 2007|pages=85] while the mode was not originally intended for such use, its popularity has resulted in several new features being added to WSJT in order to facilitate this use.cite web|title=WSJT revision history and release notes|url=http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/UpdateHistory.txt]

References

External links

* [http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/ Official WSJT website]
* [http://developer.berlios.de/projects/wsjt/ Official WSJT open source project information]
* [http://www.vhfdx.net/jt65bintro.html Get ready for 2m EME communications. A step by step beginners guide.]
* [http://www.pe2pe.eu/images/WSJT%20on%20HF.htm K3UK's "Bozo's Guide to HF JT65A"] : a tutorial on how to properly operate WSJT for JT65 use on the HF bands
* [http://www.chris.org/cgi-bin/jt65talk N0UK's web-based chat for coordinating terrestrial JT65 skeds] : chat site where operators may coordinate with each other in order to arrange "skeds", or scheduled contacts
* [http://sparqi.blogspot.com/2007/05/amateur-radio-5200-miles-on-50-watts.html W6DTW blog article on using JT65A for extreme DX on HF bands]
* [http://sparqi.blogspot.com/2007/09/jt65a-hf-we-hardly-knew-ye.html W6DTW blog commentary on the decrease in popularity of JT65A-HF]
* [http://www.hflink.com/jt65/ JT65 frequency and JT65A frequencies for HF band DX information page; 30 metres, 20 metres, etc.]