WSJT-X for the Beginner - Setup and Operation | Ham Radio Basics

WSJT-X has revolutionized ham radio and digital mode operation through modes such as FT8, WSPR, JT65 and more! Today Steve KM9G from ‪@temporarilyoffline‬ and myself go through setting up and operation of WSJT-X for the Beginner. Join us in the stream and follow along!
- Overview of WSJT-X (what is it)
- Downloading and Installing - physics.prince...
- Callsign Setup/settings you should know about
- Interfacing and configuring your radio
- Driving the software/making contacts
- Tips and tricks
- Troubleshooting issues
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[@eddiegardner8232]

In case anyone is encountering this video well after it was produced, an important thing to know is that if you are using a USB cable connection from computer to rig, you don't need any additional hardware at the radio end, but you DO need to install a special driver into the computer to service your USB port. Most modern radios (Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, Elecraft, etc) use a Silabs CP210x chip inside their USB interface that separates the USB data into two PSEUDO UART (serial) channels. One is strictly the audio CODEC path that carries sound in both directions from radio to computer. The other is an "enhanced" channel for CAT control, so that your computer can tell your radio when to transmit and when to listen for incoming transmissions. The Radio setting tab is where you set up the computer side of a pseudo RS232C serial communication port talking to the pseudo serial port created by this chip inside the radio; the computer and radio have to both be using the same BAUD rate and other RS232C handshaking, parity, start-stop bits and such for the CAT channel to work, even if the Waterfall is falling and the transmissions are being happily displayed in their windows. You can get the "Universal Windows Driver" or a Mac or Linux driver at: www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers On a Windows box you will have to endure the convoluted process of installing this driver, but once you install the drivers on it, or on a Mac, then the Radio tab on the Settings dialog box (Windows) or Preferences dialog on a Mac will have added some additional options to the "Serial port" pull down menu. You have to diddle with these options to pick the right one for your CAT channel (USB is not it) to get rig control working and the Test CAT button to turn green. Without these drivers, it will turn red and display useless debugging information. Once it turns green, then you can turn your transmit power down to zip on your radio, to avoid interfering with other stations, and test the Transmit button to see if your radio is going into Transmit mode, as directed by the CAT channel. Unless your computer transmits in the correct quadrants of a minute exactly synched to universal coordinated time, your transmissions will not be heard. For this reason, your computer clock has to be very accurate, and it has to be able to KEY your radio at the proper time, which is why CAT control is important, but time correctness is even "importanter". You can transmit on EVEN (0 or 30 seconds) intervals, or ODD (15 or 45 seconds) intervals, controlled by the checkbox in the main operating window. You can Monitor and see what is going on in the bands without this precise timing, watching other people transmit in all four time quadrants, but to Transmit, you have to be synched and stay within the chosen time quadrant. Mac computers tend to have an accurate clock if they are on the Internet, but Windows computers need an additional software package to keep their clocks accurate using the Internet, since the standard Windows package only checks the time accuracy about once a week, and the computer's clock can drift. Be sure to follow the somewhat arcane Windows installation instructions to the letter to get that clock adjustment software installed before trying to transmit anything, and set up CAT control if it is possible on your rig. Otherwise you might have fool around with using your VOX triggered by the sounds generated by your transmit signal to key your rig at the right time. 73

[@Mike_M_KI4MRC]

Thanks fellas! I’ve been procrastinating getting things set up to finally get on board with FT8. I finally got it working this weekend on my FTDX 10.

[@f.allenrisler5303]

Please read the title of this video, "for the beginner". Imagine your students have never used any digital mode and they want to install, setup and operate WSJT-X for the first time. Start with the install, radio connection, then the setup, settings, configuration, then the operation. I been watching for 15 minutes and had to stop, may come back later to see if you ever do that, so far you are just losing me.

[@usernamemykel]

AGREED!!!

[@nojiratzlaff4388]

Agreed.

[@rudiger86]

Too true

[@jimcaddis9417]

How many people do you think use Linux?

[@usernamemykel]

@@jimcaddis9417 None.

[@DonzLockz]

Whe I worked in electronic secirity, I used a poe powered and private networked gps time server. On our airport site, I just changed the registry to update every hour. I we had an incident on multiple cameras and servers, the max time between camera was out by more that a second, the footage could not be used in a court of law. I have a feeling the default was once a week. I thought I got a bit paranoid to cover my arse and changed all the camera servers to every 15 min too, like you. lol I also synced the access control server in the same way as it had an API with the camera system. I really loved my job and want to get back to work again if new upcoming treatment works over the next 6 to 12 months. Hopefully I'm also good enough time and money to play on HF voice and digital modes.📻

[@kv4atv]

I use clip on Toroids on my cables. No winding required. They are small and you can get them online or at any good ham fest. I keep a box of them for various size cables. They Work.

[@heinerrambold8889]

The IC-7300 is also a good choice for people interested in non amateur radio shortwave stations. A great plus is recording audio to sd card. Thanks for the video!

[@HamRadioDX]

Thanks for watching and for your thoughts and comment

[@signalscout6020]

It has indeed been handy and continues to be. Have been chatting with TO on the Tweeters and I have just busted through some Linux soundcard issues and I’m now FT8ing away with my 2013-vintage ASUS through an IC-7300. 🎉

[@DonzLockz]

I've saved the video to help me when I get a HF radio. I'm keen to get onto digital modes.👍

[@HamRadioDX]

Nice! That will be good mate, get on the air!

[@hs0zcw]

And choosing a new ham radio, there is one major feature to consider. Most new receiver transceiver havel SDR receivers, and although that technology provides superior sensitivity, unless there are other factors involved, your SDR receiver well hear are a lot of signals that you do not wish to copy. That is the nature of very wide open system. The Elicraft company, used to sell K3 and now sells a K4 has pointed out see better way to obtain higher selectivity with your wide open SDR receiver is to add a series of crystal filters in the receive chain. DSP and other computer based techniques, so far have not provided the higher selectivity that you will want. Now, there are only a couple of operating conditions where this concern is important. That is if you intend to operate your new receiver in anenvironment with lots of nearby signals which will intrude into into your wide open front end . if you operate near other transmitters or neighbors and they are running about 100 watts or more, then you will want more selectivity meaning adding crystal filters at about $120 each. If you are operating from a remote location or even near very low power other stations, you may not need to worry about this concern. Also, if you get a STR base transceiver receiver, you can of course usually add crystal filters aftermarket. Keep this in mind.

[@lifestylehealthwealthhappiness]

For use with IC-705 BktTimeSync works great with a USB connection to the 705

[@HamRadioDX]

Cool thanks!

[@TheNoCodeTech]

TeamReplay for the win! Some excellent information here.

[@TonyLing]

Very helpful, thanks chaps

[@andy2E0JIU]

Yesssss got it working 💪 thanks guys much appreciated 🙏

[@HamRadioDX]

Awesome!!

[@andy2E0JIU]

@@HamRadioDX now watching your grid tracker video,liking it so far:)

[@KP4OTA]

Saludos desde Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 WP4JLZ

[@HamRadioDX]

Gracias por ver 73

[@MilanKarakas]

I am encountering weird problem. On my Xiegu G90, at full power of 20W, actual measured power is round 3.8W out. In normal USB phone mode it goes normally to 20 or even sometimes 21 W, but not on FT8. Is that normal? I tried to increase volume from soundcard, but then getting all sort of distortions.

[@ekbanjosworld4926]

If you turn the volume down on your radio will the laptop/PC still pickup the sound if you're not connected properly???

[@VK7DBX]

JS8 CALL is a great offshoot of FT8

[@AlvinMcManus]

Haven't y'all done one with the G90? Its the only HF I have unless I can get my TS440-S to working.

[@markwagner7023]

I noticed you are able to have the country’s location in the band activity box, where do you make that selection?

[@RobertMacCready]

Question on WSJT-X...I've been setting things up on my Windows 10 computer but when I go to Settings/Audio and then click on Input and Output, I get nothing on the input and "headphones" only on the output. Is it because my Computer in Not Yet hooked up to my radio? And that I''ll see the choices when I DO hook the computer to the radio?

[@HamRadioDX]

If your radio has a USB sound card in it, then install the relevant USB driver from the radio manufacturers website. Once done, then yes hook up your radio and you should see "USB Audio Codec" or something similar appear in those drop downs. I hope that helps!

[@1961markc]

This helped me so much!!!!

[@HamRadioDX]

That's great Mark, glad to hear we could help.

[@MrJimmy440]

Great video. Thank you ! I'm still having issues setting up my waterfall where I can pick out each individual signal. Can you advise a bit more Thank you. Jim K2WPA

[@napomania]

it is right what you said' with my tecsun and my old netbook i decodet easily ft8 and heard japanese contats. with internal antenna ( virtuallly no antenna lol). instead with 991A+ netbook with ubuntu so much problems with audio driver ( pulse audio). better to not use pulseaudio at all but i don't know wich audio driver use. boh :(((

[@qutips33]

Elad FDM Duo is also a nice radio to use on FT8 and FT4 .but never use more than 25 watts on a 100wat radio if you use more than 25watts the output of your radio will be destroyed after a long period of use

[@fernandogonzaga1011]

Good Morning ! If possible I would like some help, if possible, for WSJTX and the same problem also occurs with JTDX, considering that in "some moments" sometimes during my transmission, an audio appears informing the indications of stations and the band that is transmitting, example (W9FNB on 6 meters" I went to check the claster and it was there.... I notice that in the ALC control, it seems to me that it transmits along with my signal, disturbing my transmission, which mainly at the time of TX2. Note: I turned off the wifi signal, turned off jtalert and the "strange audio", female, continues to appear many times, I managed to understand what was happening from the moment I turned on the "moni" of my FT991A. Thank you very much in advance. 73 Fernando PY2RF

[@markgutierrez9295]

I got my FTdx10 listening and decoding properly, but when I double click on a CQ call, my SWR meter pegs high, my RF is set to 20. So I'm not sure where to begin troubleshooting this issue. I'm on a mac, if anybody can provide me some help or point me in the right direction. Thank you!

[@kleinbiker1]

Has the software been moved from the princeton site?

[@HamRadioDX]

Yes it’s on sourceforge now

[@colinrotchell95]

Hi, I have downloaded and isnstalled wsjtx from the main site. problem I have is when I run it it states that it is pre release version and will be inoperative after november 22, where can i geta version that will not become unusable please...

[@HamRadioDX]

The stable version is available on the same site. 2.5.4 I think last time I checked

[@schaefer32100]

Can I use my pk232mbx controller to work Ft8

[@jonthebru]

What exactly should go into the message lines?

[@nojiratzlaff4388]

They get automatically populated.

[@kv4atv]

JS8Call should be and needs to be added to the software program. I've been running JS8Call for over 5 years and it is superior to JT8. JS8Call does not have to match the frequency to decode. The program will do the work. It has 4 speeds which makes a big difference in the time you are keyed up, how many words per minute and the amount of bandwidth you are using. Using the SLOW mode gets through where the other "higher speeds" may not decode. Slow mode takes the longest time for a given amount text being sent. Higher speed is faster which means your radio isn't keyed up as long. I get better signal reports at slower speeds but, with what I'm doing is moving traffic so the signal strength doesn't matter. JS8Call has it's own program you can download. Right now my interest and focus is on EME "Moon Bouncing" with the other "Moonies" as we're called.

[@dorothygale5896]

WSJT-X is really neat if all you want out of Ham radio is to hang some DX wall paper without any real effort.

[@poitevienphilip]

hello friends I have a yaesu ft 891 with window 10 and I receive a good signal but I can't control the radio and it always shows me this error I don't know what it will be: Error Hamlib: Protocol error rig_get_mode(2204): freqMainB=0, modeMainB=, widthMainB=0 rig_get_mode: elapsed=56ms rig.c(2207):rig_get_mode return(-8) Protocol error rig_get_mode(2204): freqMainB=0, modeMainB=, widthMainB=0 rig_get_mode: elapsed=56ms rig_get_mode: elapsed=56ms mientras obteniendo modo actual You who are the specialists can help me?

[@harmtuntler8555]

interesting Hayden but video keepsstopping and starting very hard to watch :(((

[@HamRadioDX]

Thanks, I think that’s a problem with processing after Streamyard has finished. I’ll check my settings but it should come right within a day or two. Thanks 73

[@ronbean8684]

Not very well scripted. Too much side talk without getting right to the point. I found this video confusing & not very well structured. You got off in the weeds too many times which made it difficult to follow. If meant to be a tutorial, you took a long time getting to the real meat of what people need to know to operate FT8 using WSJT-X. You guys often said conflicting things and then had to correct each other. This just added to the confusion. Telling us which radios you've done, for the most part wasn't helpful.

[@HamRadioDX]

It wasn’t scripted, it was a live stream. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@usernamemykel]

AGREED! How does one get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! In this case, script and rehearse - stop "winging" it. YOU may know your stuff, but you need to present it properly for the "beginner" and everybody else with an interest.

[@skeeterk7trd158]

Don't see all the fuss about FT8 , not working for me.

[@cristinavillarreal3237]

I'll tell you what you can do to hijak the YT algorithm: sexy girls!

[@donaldsmith3048]

I do not see what good WSJT-X is. I can't send the wind speed of the Hurricane has, or any information. So you can say you contacted them, That is all you can do Just contact them, you can't get or give any information. But what ever turns you on. I like to give and get information! 73

[@HamRadioDX]

JS8Call may be more suited to your needs.

[@tony2wheelz408]

You know how the programing is already running and were just joining your conversation. Do not call the video set up. WTH!!! you already set it up. Im trying to get help to get the program started. If there is any way to start with that. It would be appreciated. In the meantime, a great video name would be, 2 guys playing with wsjtx software already totally up and running.

[@HamRadioDX]

Maybe this video will suit your tastes better - kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6q6iWOfbZyDZtEsi=xBMEtl8dRzfzDVdT

[@petersumner1209]

sorry to say Hayden, that was terrible.... all you did was confuse any new WSJT-X users.. you need to plan and stay on track. You did not touch on the use of Configurations or any of the really handy parts of the package.. just jumped in with all the acronyms left unexplained.

[@HamRadioDX]

I'll keep that in mind next time then

[@usernamemykel]

@@HamRadioDX Keep that in mind ALL the time when preparing a video, please.

[@louisbanaszak3125]

In case anyone is encountering this video. wake me up zzzzzzzz

[@omarkhouri6422]

Waste of time

[@HamRadioDX]

Is it

[@usernamemykel]

@@HamRadioDX YES.

[@paulhastings3109]

Never get you on live stream 73 KQ4CD Paul