HAM RADIO HF DIGITAL MODES SOFTWARE INFORMATION AND LIST

Also includes a link to help you identify the sounds of ham radio digital communications signals.

This page contains a description of many of the popular HF digital modes software. 

The list and descriptions have been compliled from various sources and descriptions on the internet and the ham radio world and should be as up to date as possible.

This list is by no means a complete list of all of the digital software programs in use by hams worldwide. Most of the listed digital mode programs are designed for transmitting and receiving these fun modes of operating on the HF bands.

Listings with Green backgrounds below are the more popular digital mode programs. But everyone has an opinion so use the list as needed.

It appears that the easiest digital mode software program that is user friendly without a huge learning curve would be DigiPan. It is an older program that has been used for years by hundreds of thousands of hams on an every day basis.

The list below is in no particular order...have fun and enjoy using your computer sound card on ham radio digital modes! If you don't find the HF digital mode software you are interested in, do a search on  Google !

What are those strange digital sounds you hear on the HF digital frequencies?
Need help with the identification of them and many more that can be heard on various frequencies?
Listen to the recorded sound files here (external link) to KB9UKD. Then come back here and download the program for them in the below chart links.

If you are thinking about getting into the facinating digital modes of Ham Radio, you will need a good computer to radio interface. West  Mountain Radio has the interface you will need. They are offering a good discount to Hamuniverse.com viewers. Click on any of their ad banners on this page, like the one below and look for the "hamu" discount on their web site!

NAME	DESCRIPTION
DIGTRX	Digital SSTV software for sound card
WSPR	WSPR implements a protocol designed for probing potential propagation paths with low-power transmissions. Normal transmissions carry a station's callsign, Maidenhead grid locator, and transmitter power in dBm. The program can decode signals with S/N as low as -28 dB in a 2500 Hz bandwidth. Stations with internet access can automatically upload their reception reports to a central database called WSPRnet, which includes a mapping facility.
PC ALE	PCALE software is an ALE software controller for PC computers.
Ham Radio Deluxe	Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) is a suite of Windows programs providing CAT control for commonly used transceivers and receivers. HRD also includes mapping and PSK31 software. HRD is designed for Windows 2000 or higher (XP, Vista), also Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher is required.
WinPSK	PSK31 terminal with improved accessibility features.
Airlink Express Much like DigiPan. Very easy to use.	Airlink Express Box Airlink Express is a user friendly digital mode software package for the Amateur Radio Operator. The software is compatible with Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista, and Microsoft Windows 7. It offers PSK, MFSK and RTTY digital modes with logging and macro capabilities. If you have ever used the Digipan software you will be immediately familiar with Airlink Express. With the release of Windows Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft introduced a new sound architecture. Airlink Express is developed to support this new sound architecture, yet it maintains complete backward compatibility with Windows XP. Airlink Express brings back the familiar volume slider interface you've become used to from older Windows versions.
DigiPan  Very Popular! Easy to use!	DigiPan stands for "Digital Panoramic Tuning" and brings the ease and simplicity of PANORAMIC reception and transmission to PSK31and PSK63 operation. DigiPan provides a panoramic display of the frequency spectrum in the form of an active dial scale extending the full width of the computer screen. Depending upon the transceiver IF bandwidth, it is possible to "see" as many as 40 to 50 PSK31 stations at one time.
FDMDV - Frequency Division Multiplex Digital Voice	FDMDV is the latest digital voice mode on HF - it caters to high quality digital voice under poor band conditions, in only 1100Hz bandwidth!.
WinDRM - HF Digital Radio Mondiale	WinDRM is the hottest digital mode on HF today! Nothing else exists where you can transfer data at almost 1KB/s without using proprietary hardware!
V4Protocol	V4 is a sound card digital protocol optimized for keyboard operation over high frequency Ham radio. It uses 4FSK modulation and strong Viterbi FEC encoding for robustness even in weak signal or poor propagation conditions. V4 can be implemented on most computers using standard PC sound cards with radio interfaces.
RMS Express	RMS Express is the preferred Winlink 2000 (WL2K) radio email client. It is in active development by the Winlink Development Team and is well-supported. RMS Express is designed to be most easily used by single users with a single call sign but it may be used to access one or two preset tactical addresses or alternate callsigns. RMS Express supports a wide selection of TNCs and multimode controllers, the new sound card mode WINMOR, as well as support for HF Pactor, SCS Robust Packet, VHF/UHF packet and direct telnet to WL2K CMS servers (for amateur radio High Speed Multimedia [HSMM], D-Star DD mode , or internet).
MMTTY By JE3HHT - Makoto Mori	RTTY with Windows and Soundcard WinXP - Vista - Win7
TruTTY	A program for amateur radio digital communications via a sound card. Supported modes are RTTY (Baudot code), ASCII (7 or 8 bits), PSK31 (BPSK and QPSK), BPSK63, QPSK63, BPSK125, AMTOR-FEC (SITOR-B, NAVTEX), MultiFSK-16, MultiFSK-8. HF-PACKET and UHF-PACKET (AX25) are supported in KISS-TNC emulation mode. SELFEC SITOR, AMTOR-ARQ (SITOR-A) and DTMF-code decoding is also possible. No additional hardware is required. You only need a transceiver and computer (Pentium-100 or better) with a sound card. A simple circuit for PTT-control can be used. It is fast and convenient to use with many macros for transmitting. Can integrate with AALog logger. Platform: Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7
JVComm32	The multi-purpose FAX, RTTY / SYNOP / NAVTEX and SSTV program for Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT 4.0, XP, Vista and Windows 7
IZ8BLY Hellschreiber	IZ8BLY Hellschreiber For many years Hell-writing (which is a type of simple facsimile developed in 1927) has been considered to be no more than an oddity by the Amateur community, in fact most hams have never heard of Hellschreiber. It was however a simple mode, that offered very good performance in noisy conditions without requiring much power, if only you could find the equipment! Now however, with Digital Signal Processing techniques and very good Windows software, the Amateur Radio fraternity is offered the opportunity to experience an advanced digital mode that requires no apologies for its performance. Hellschreiber can outperform other modes for DX, and requires nothing more than a CW or SSB rig and a PC with a sound card. If you operate PSK31, you can also operate Hell, and what is more, make contacts that are not always possible with PSK31 due to poor conditions. Operation is simple, slick, easy to tune, and ideal for QSOs and nets. Because of the unique nature of Hellschreiber, you actually see an actual replica of the transmitted signal, so the font used, bold or italic, is faithfully reproduced. Noise adds fuzziness to the received text, but cannot cause incorrect characters to print.
DominoEXFEC	This is a computer program for Amateur Radio transmission and reception using a computer and HF radio transceiver. The program provides computer chat-mode operation on the HF bands, using a sound card technique to generate and modulate for transmission using tones at audio frequency, and receive and decode the incoming signals, also at audio frequency. An SSB transceiver translates these signals to and from the HF Amateur Bands. The DominoEX mode is a development from earlier experimental DominoF and DominoG programs, but is not compatible with them. This version (DominoEXFEC V2.0) is compatible with earlier ZL2AFP DominoEX versions, and also with MULTIPSK, with and without FEC. DominoEX operates using a variation of the MFSK technique (MFSK = Multiple Frequency Shift Keying), since MFSK offers very good immunity to interference and ionospheric effects, and is also very sensitive. However, MFSK can be quite difficult to tune in, and suffers from some interference effects, which are usually masked by using error correction. This unique program addresses these limitations in a special way that wipes away all problems. DominoEX is easy to use, and hence ideal for beginners. You will be impressed with the performance!
MMSSTV	MMSSTV By JE3HHT - Makoto Mori Slow Scan TV with Windows and Soundcard. For WinXP - Vista - Win7
WSJT	WSJT ("Weak Signal Communication, by K1JT") offers specific digital protocols optimized for meteor scatter, ionospheric scatter, and EME (moonbounce) at VHF/UHF, as well as HF skywave propagation. The program can decode fraction-of-a-second signals reflected from ionized meteor trails and steady signals 10 dB below the audible threshold.
JT65-HF	Amateur Radio software for reception/transmission of JT65A protocol with an emphasis upon its usage in the High Frequency Amateur Bands.
IZ8BLY MT63	MT63 is a digital radio modulation mode for transmission in high-noise situations developed by Pawel Jalocha SP9VRC. MT63 is designed for keyboard-to-keyboard conversation modes, on HF HAM bands.
FLdigi	FLdigi is a complete digital multi-mode program with many advanced features including rig control. Works on Windows XP, NT, W2K, Vista & Win 7. Versions for Linux, Free-BSD and OS X are available from the author's homepage.
MixW v2.20f	MixW is a multi mode multi functional software for every day logging and Contests. It has many useful features that make your QSO logging process almost a 100% automatic procedure. MixW for digital modes may be used without TNC. The only requirements are a computer running Windows 9x, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating system with compatible soundcard.
MultiPSK F6CTE	The Swiss-Army-Knife of multi-mode software! Operating screen very congested! Practice is needed to use efficiently. Phase Shift Keying modes: BPSK: BPSK31-63-125-250 / CHIP (64/128) / PSK10 / PSKFEC31 / PSKAM10-31-50 BPSK with SSTV: PSK63 F - PSK220F + DIGISSTV "Run" QPSK: QPSK31-63-125-250 MPSK: MT63 PACKET BPSK1200-250-63-31 + APRS+ DIGISSTV "Run" MIL-STD-188-110A - 4285 HFDL On-Off Keying Modes: CW / CCW-OOK / CCW-FSK / QRSS Frequency Shift Keying modes: PACKET: 110-300-1200 bauds + APRS+ DIGISSTV "Run" PACTOR 1 / AMTOR FEC-Navtex / AMTOR ARQ / SITOR A ASCII / RTTY 45-50-75-100-110-150-200 / SYNOP + SHIP / IEC 870-5 1382 / GMDSS DSC / ACARS (VHF) / DGPS / NWR SAME / ARQ-E / ARQ-E3 Multi Frequency Shift Keying modes: MFSK8 / MFSK16 (+SSTV) OLIVIA / Contestia / RTTYM / VOICE THROB/THROBX DominoF / DominoEX PAX / PAX2 Automatic Link Establishment (see http://www.hflink.com) MIL-STD-188-141A+ ARQ FAE / ALE400 + ARQ FAE DTMF, SELCAL JT65 (A B and C) COQUELET Hellschreiber modes: FELD HELL / FM HELL(105-245) / PSK HELL / HELL 80 Graphic modes: HF FAX / SSTV / PSK SSTV modes (mentioned above) / MFSK16 SSTV (mentioned above) DSP modes: Filters / Analysis / Binaural CW reception RTTY, CW, BPSK31, BPSK63 and PSKFEC31 Panoramics Identifiers: Video ID / RS ID / Call ID TCP/IP digital modem Integered SdR demodulator/modulator Includes "Clock" a program to synchronize your PC to the atomic time stations.