WSJT-X User Guide

WSJT-X 2.6 implements new features supporting the ARRL International Digital Contest and its distance based scoring. The Call 1st checkbox has been replaced by a drop-down control offering CQ Max Dist as an alternative. A new window labeled Active Stations displays a list of received but unworked callsigns, sorted in decreasing order of potential contest points. With option CQ Max Dist selected, the program will select the reply to your CQ that yields the most contest points. You can click on a line in the Active Stations window to call that station.

Decoding performance for FT8 and Q65 has been improved in a variety of situations with available a priori (AP) information.

Echo mode now offers a Clear Avg button and produces reliable measurements of SNR even when Doppler spread is large. Its Monitor function can be used to measure SNR for a received unmodulated carrier such as a key-down test signal emitted by another station and reflected from the Moon, and also to measure Sun, Moon, and ground noise as aids for optimizing an EME station’s performance.

New buttons on the main window allow quick changes between modes FT4, FT8, MSK144, Q65, and JT65, and toggling FT8 Hound mode ON/OFF.

New convenience features allow Fox operators to react more quickly to particular QSO situations. A two-column table in Tab 2 provides an overview of the queue and of callsigns with QSOs in progress. Fox operator can change the ordering of callsigns in the queue, allowing reaction to changes in propagation. Fox now responds automatically for another two cycles to stations whose report has not been received, increasing the success rate for difficult QSOs.

The Working frequency table now offers save/restore capability and better handling of more than one frequency per mode-band combination. You can set preferred frequencies, and WSJT-X will select these when you change band or mode. You can label a tabled frequency with a description, for example a DXpedition callsign, and set Start and End date and time so the frequencies automatically appear and disappear from the displayed options. You can load a publicly available frequency table from a file, to easily make such DXpedition data available to the program.

Optional color highlighting is provided for specified DX Call and DX Grid, and for messages containing RR73 or 73.

New options are provided for writing to file ALL.TXT. You can request automatic starting of a new file every month or every year, and you can disable writing altogether.

Settings for T/R period and Submode are remembered by mode when you switch directly between modes: for example, MSK144-15, Q65-60A, or FST4-120.

Tx and Rx audio frequencies are remembered and restored when you return from a mode that sets a default frequency 1500 Hz (MSK144, FST4W, Echo, WSPR, FreqCal), then switching back to FT4, FT8, Q65, FST4, or JT65.

Rig control is provided for some new radios, and bug fixes for controlling others.

New features in MAP65 (available for Windows only) include an aid for measuring antenna pointing errors and an ability to read the file wsjtx.log (kept by WSJT-X) to recognize EME contest dupes. In addition, MAP65 now sends additional information to file azel.dat and offers optional digital scaling of input I/Q data.

Install WSJT-X into its own directory, for example C:\WSJTX or C:\WSJT\WSJTX, rather than the conventional location C:\Program Files …​\WSJTX.

All program files relating to WSJT-X are stored in the chosen installation directory and its subdirectories.

Logs and other writeable files are normally found in the directory

The built-in Windows facility for time synchronization is usually not adequate. We recommend the program Meinberg NTP Client: see Network Time Protocol Setup for downloading and installation instructions. Recent versions of Windows 10 are now shipped with a more capable Internet time synchronization service that is suitable if configured appropriately. We do not recommend SNTP time setting tools or others that make periodic correction steps, WSJT-X requires that the PC clock be monotonically increasing and smoothly continuous.

WSJT-X requires installation of the OpenSSL libraries. Suitable libraries may already be installed on your system. If they are not, you will see this error shortly after requesting a fetch of the latest LoTW users database. To fix this, install the OpenSSL libraries.

WSJT-X expects your sound card to do its raw sampling at 48000 Hz. To ensure that this will be so when running under recent versions of Windows, open the system’s Sound control panel and select in turn the Recording and Playback tabs. Click Properties, then Advanced, and select 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality). Switch off all audio enhancement features for these devices.

You can uninstall WSJT-X by clicking its Uninstall link in the Windows Start menu, or by using Uninstall a Program on the Windows Control Panel|Programs and Features option or in Settings|Apps on Windows 10.

64-bit Intel/AMD: wsjtx_2.6.1_amd64.deb

32-bit ARM hardware FP: wsjtx_2.6.1_armhf.deb

64-bit ARM: wsjtx_2.6.1_arm64.deb

Uninstall for any of the above platforms:

64-bit: wsjtx-2.6.1-x86_64.rpm

Uninstall:

Use the Mac’s Audio MIDI Setup utility to configure your sound card for 48000 Hz, two-channel, 16-bit format.

Use System Preferences to select an external time source to keep your system clock synchronized to UTC.

To uninstall simply drag the WSJT-X application from Applications to the Trash Can.

Select your radio type from the drop-down list labeled Rig, or None if you do not wish to use CAT control.

Set Poll Interval to the desired interval for WSJT-X to query your radio. For most radios a small number (say, 1 – 3 s) is suitable.

CAT Control: To have WSJT-X control the radio directly rather than though another program, make the following settings:

PTT Method: select VOX, CAT, DTR, or RTS as the desired method for T/R switching. If your choice is DTR or RTS, select the desired serial port (which may be the same one as used for CAT control).

Transmit Audio Source: some radios permit you to choose the connector that will accept Tx audio. If this choice is enabled, select Rear/Data or Front/Mic.

Mode: WSJT-X uses upper sideband mode for both transmitting and receiving. Select USB, or choose Data/Pkt if your radio offers such an option and uses it to enable the rear-panel audio line input. Some radios also offer wider and/or flatter passbands when set to Data/Pkt mode. Select None if you do not want WSJT-X to change the radio’s Mode setting.

Split Operation: Significant advantages result from using Split mode (separate VFOs for Rx and Tx) if your radio supports it. If it does not, WSJT-X can emulate such behavior. Either method will result in a cleaner transmitted signal, by keeping the Tx audio always in the range 1500 to 2000 Hz so that audio harmonics cannot pass through the Tx sideband filter. Select Rig to use the radio’s Split mode, or Fake It to have WSJT-X adjust the VFO frequency as needed, when T/R switching occurs. Choose None if you do not wish to use split operation.

Soundcard: Select the audio devices to be used for Input and Output. Usually the Mono settings will suffice, but in special cases you can choose Left, Right, or Both stereo channels.

Save Directory: WSJT-X can save its received audio sequences as .wav files. A default directory for these files is provided; you can select another location if desired.

AzEl Directory: A file named azel.dat will appear in the specified directory. The file contains information usable by another program for automatic tracking of the Sun or Moon, as well as calculated Doppler shift for the specified EME path. The file is updated once per second whenever the Astronomical Data window is displayed.

Remember power settings by band: Checking either of these will cause WSJT-X to remember the Pwr slider setting for that operation on a band-by-band basis. For example, when Tune is checked here and you click the Tune button on the main window, the power slider will change to the most recent setting used for Tune on the band in use.

To add a new message to the list, enter the desired text in the entry field at top, then click Add.

Remember that a transmitted free-text message is limited to 13 characters, including blanks.

To remove an unwanted message, click on the message and then on Delete.

You can reorder your macro messages by using drag-and-drop. The new order will be preserved when WSJT-X is restarted.

Messages can also be added from the main window’s Tx5 field. Simply hit [Enter] after the message has been entered.

If the first word of a message is $DXCALL (or the shortened form $DX), that word will be replaced on transmission by the base callsign in the DxCall field.

Logging: Choose any desired options from this group. Operators in a multi-operator station may wish to enter their home callsign as Op Call.

Network Services: Check Enable PSK Reporter Spotting to send reception reports to the PSK Reporter mapping facility.

UDP Server: This group of options controls the network name or address and port number used to exchange information with a third party application that interoperates with WSJT-X. Exchanged information includes decoded messages, general program status, QSOs logged, highlighting of callsigns in the WSJT-X band activity window, and limited facilities to initiate QSOs in response to CQ or QRZ messages. Full details of the protocol can be found in comments at the top of this file in our source code repository: https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/wsjtx/ci/master/tree/Network/NetworkMessage.hpp

To change an existing entry, double-click to edit it, type a desired frequency in MHz or select from the drop-down list of options, then hit Enter on the keyboard. You can mark an entry as Preferred, provide a descriptive label, and indicate starting and ending dates and times for it to be displayed on the band-select control. The program will format your changed entries appropriately.

To add a new entry, right-click anywhere on the frequency table and select Insert. Enter your desired information and click OK. The table may include more than one frequency for a given mode and band.

To delete an entry, right-click it and select Delete, multiple entries can be deleted in a single operation by selecting them before right-clicking.

Right-click anywhere within the table body and click Reset button to return the table to its default configuration.

To simplify things you might want to delete any unwanted bands — for example, bands where you have no equipment. Then click on a Frequency entry and type Ctrl+A to “select all,” and drag-and-drop the entries onto the Station Information table. You can then add any transverter offsets and antenna details.

To avoid typing the same information many times, you can drag-and-drop entries between the lines of the Station Information table.

When all settings have been configured to your liking, click OK to dismiss the Settings window.

WSJT-X uses colors to highlight decoded CQ messages of particular interest. Check the box Show DXCC, grid, and worked-before status on the Settings | General tab, and any boxes of interest to you on the Colors tab. You can drag any line up or down to raise or lower its logical priority. Right-click any line to set a new foreground or background color. Foreground and background colors are applied separately, and careful choices of foreground, background, and priority can provide two indications of worked-before status.

Press the Reset Highlighting button to reset all of the color settings to default values.

Check Highlight by Mode if you wish worked before status to be per mode.

Check Only grid Fields sought if you are only interested in the leading two character grid locator Fields rather than teh four character grid locator Squares.

Check Include extra WAE entities if you are interested in the extra entities defined for DARC WAE and CQ Marathon awards.

Worked before status is calculated from your WSJT-X ADIF Logging file, you may replace ADIF log file with one exported from your station logging application, Rescan ADIF Log rebuilds the WSJT-X worked before indexes using the current ADIF log file.

Fetch Now will download a fresh dataset from the Users CSV file URL. The LoTW team normally update this data weekly.

Adjust Age of last upload less than to set the period within which a station must have uploaded their log to LoTW to trigger highlighting.

Random erasure patterns logarithmically scales the number of pseudo-random trials used by the Franke-Taylor JT65 decoder. Larger numbers give slightly better sensitivity but take longer. For most purposes a good setting is 6 or 7.

Aggressive decoding level sets the threshold for acceptable decodes using Deep Search. Higher numbers will display results with lower confidence levels.

Check Two-pass decoding to enable a second decoding pass after signals producing first-pass decodes have been subtracted from the received data stream.

Set a positive number in Degrade S/N of .wav file to add known amounts of pseudo-random noise to data read from a .wav file. To ensure that the resulting S/N degradation is close to the requested number of dB, set Receiver bandwidth to your best estimate of the receiver’s effective noise bandwidth.

Set Tx delay to a number larger than the default 0.2 s to create a larger delay between execution of a command to enable PTT and onset of Tx audio.

Check x 2 Tone spacing or x 4 Tone spacing to generate Tx audio with twice or four times the normal tone spacing. This feature is intended for use with specialized LF/MF transmitters that divide generated frequencies by 2 or 4 as part of the transmission process.

Check this box and select the type of activity to enable auto-generation of special message formats for contesting and DXpeditions. For ARRL Field Day, enter your operating Class and ARRL/RAC section; for FT Roundup, enter your state or province. Use “DX” for section or state if you are not in the US or Canada. In the FT Roundup, Stations in Alaska and Hawaii should enter “DX”.

Check Fox if you are a DXpedition station operating in FT8 DXpedition Mode. Check Hound if you wish to make QSOs with such a Fox. Be sure to read the operating instructions for FT8 DXpedition Mode.

Select Download samples…​ from the Help menu.

Download some or all of the available sample files using checkboxes on the screen shown below. For this tutorial you will need at least the FT8 files.