Firing that up, I set the WPM (words per minute) setting to AUTO… and it started decoding CW on the iPhone.
FTDX 3000 CW DECODER SOFTWARE
Signals were anywhere from S1 to S7, all perfectly comfortable copy.įrustrated, I pulled up my iPhone and ran the Morse Pad software from Black Cat, which is a Decoder software for the iPhone.I was using the three “tuning” dotted bands to peak the signal.
I went to the internet to find out what I was missing. I found some slower CW as well as faster CW, the same result. However, the decode board was not decoding this CW. I could tell there was a CW contest going on, as I could hear CQ TEST. I found several stations to choose from, however, all I could decode was the letter “E” as well as the occasional letter “I”. I then went to use the CW Decode feature.
I immediately found that it was pretty quick to pull in PSK31 conversations, even through it was a bit strange use a spectrum display vs a standard waterfall display to find strong PSK31 signals, I was able to print several different lines of text. Think of this as a “tuning” section of the scope, where the peak of the scope readings is centered in this area, and the result is data being printed into the left window. You peak the signal with the window on the right with the peak of the signal in the middle of the three vertical dotted lines. This is what is should look like below when properly setup. The same applies to RTTY decode, you have to be in the correct mode setting. What I found is that you have to be in USB-CW for the CW Decode window to show up, as well as USB-DATA for the PSK Decode window to show up. What I found is that you have to hit the SCOPE button a few times, then double push the button to get the menu item to switch from the spectrum scope view to the decode window.
FTDX 3000 CW DECODER HOW TO
What was a bit confusing was how to get the decoder boards to become active.
FTDX 3000 CW DECODER INSTALL
You can find this install process in dozens of Youtube videos. Yes, this is a pic of a FTDX-3000 with the board installed, however, it mounts the same way in the FTDX-1200.ĩ. connect the two connections, the smaller connects to the port near the front, the larger in the rear of the board.Use the 4 screws in the box and screw the board to the radio mounts.Install the board in the FTDX-1200 in the space provided in the upper left of the radio (with the front facing you).Take the FFT-1 board from the box and throw away the directions – they tell you nothing.Remove the cover off the bottom of the radio.Remove all 17 screws off the bottom of the radio.Flip the radio over, so the feet are pointing up in the air.Remove the power plug from the back of the radio.So, while real time decode of these settings is nice, you really can’t do anything with the data real time, as you need another interface to operate. My immediate value for the board is / was for the CW decode feature, as I will need a computer to send PSK31 and log the contact – the same with RTTY. The FTT-1 is a user add in board for the Yaesu FTDX-1200 that will give you the ability to decode CW, RTTY, PSK, as well as a small (a few kHz) real time spectrum scope. For the past few months I have been back and forth about picking up the FFT-1 board for the FTDX1200, or going with a software solution.