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| Reviews Summary for fldigi |
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Reviews: 51
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Average rating: 4.6/5
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MSRP: $free
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Description: A digital mode program for PSK31, RTTY, and many other operating modes. Available as free & open source software, coded in C++ for Linux.
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://www.w1hkj.com/Fldigi.html
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KE5VIC
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 5, 2012 08:45
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I use on Mac OSx. It works great!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It works super. I have downloaded the source for study. very nice work.
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K3PA
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Rating: 2/5
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Jan 1, 2012 10:45
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Good, but fatal flaw
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The progranm seems well done and receive capability is quite good. But there is a fatal flaw for RTTY; the program relies on AFSK. There is no capability for digital FSK via serial port as is implemented in MixW and supported by so many interfaces. In my opinion, this is a fatal flaw; there is no reason to ever use AFSK when cleaner, superior FSK should be the norm.
For other modes, recommended!
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KC2RGW
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 16, 2011 10:56
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Fantastic, really well done
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This package is incredible. Open source, completely free software, very well maintained and a highly active community. It is a great example of open source contribution and project success.
Other reviewers obviously have no depth of experience in software and don't realize that for a cross platform tool kit, you will have the same look (of the toolkit) on any platform you run it on.
Integrating the native appearance of an OS native tool kit requires maintaining completely separate code trees. This is hundreds of man hours in effort just for the sake of appearances adding nothing to function.
Too many other software products focus on form over function and it is a waste of effort. The interface simplicity of fldigi is one of its greatest features. It is purpose built and going from Linux to Mac to Windows, it behaves the same way on each platform. No surprises.
Double clicking on setup.exe if new features or bug fixes are released is hardly an unreasonable hassle. At least this software is actively maintained and extended...and you aren't paying for new features as they are added.
I highly recommend this software and the accompanying suite of utilities, flrig, flmsg, and flwrap. The NBEMS system is still being worked on with tweaks and new modes added frequently. It is a really great system for sending forms based message data.
Because this project is open source, new features are being actively worked on and added all the time. There are alpha efforts to add packet functionality, digital voice modem implementations and other features.
I look forward to what this will be in another few years as it progresses further. Open source and open protocols should be something revered by ham radio operators...it is at the heart of why we exist.
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K0LEJ
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Rating: 3/5
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Dec 16, 2011 07:00
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Cottage software that needs polish
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I was using FLDIGI on a Windows PC (XP, Vista and 7), and while the program worked, it was obvious that program wasn't designed for Windows as it doesn't follow the Windows design and security standards. For example, the program is only visible under the user account it was loaded under rather than all the user accounts on the computer. There doesn't appear to be any file associations so that the companion programs automatically work. I know the program is written for several platforms, and that the author is promoting his way of use, but Windows users expect software to work within the Windows standards.
My biggest complaint is the never ending minor revision updates. I have seen multiple versions released within the same week. It would be much better to roll the minor revision updates into a quarterly update so that there is less confusion. While the technologically inclined likely have no issue with the multiple versions, think of a served agency that may not have the technical resources to update the software every week.
It's nice that the software is available on multiple platforms, but the software should designed to the operating systems standards (Mac version looking/operating like Mac software, Windows version looking/operating like Windows software, etc.). The program is good, but more work is needed to make it a professional looking and operating solution.
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WA6LZH
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 15, 2011 10:16
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Diamond in the rough
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I stumbled on this little jewel while trying to install other psk software on a Linux system with Pulse Audio. More options for more devices (sound card). Use is a snap, not terribly pretty but it works very very well. Copy is excellent compared to most of the others out there. Got me interested enough to dust off my Kerigan/Ritchie and take a look at the source. Excellent effort for ham software. Rock solid. Macros well placed with groups of four just like the function keys they represent. A lot there now after using it I need to read the docs which are well written and very available.
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N5JRN
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 1, 2011 22:11
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Works fine, could use a few more modes
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Right now, I'm using it to eavesdrop on HF communications (don't have a transmitting antenna up yet). Grabbed fldigi because (a) it's free, and (b) it runs on the Mac. Within 15 minutes I was receiving a weather fax, WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE DOCUMENTATION. Now THAT'S intuitive and logical design!
After playing around with fldigi for a day, I decided to download Multimode for evaluation and see how much better a "professional" package that I'd have to pay for was. BIG surprise -- it was MUCH harder to use! After fighting my way through it for a while, I put it aside and basically haven't touched my eval copy since.
Biggest minuses of fldigi are that it isn't very "Mac-ish" (it's clearly ported over from the *nix world, with no GUI rewrite done at all), and that it's missing a few modes I really wish it had (particularly AMTOR/SITOR and SSTV).
Regarding that user interface, don't let the "not 'Mac-ish'" comment frighten you away if you're a diehard Mac user. Again, it really IS a wonderfully intuitive program. It just explains itself -- there's a waterfall display (frequency along the horizontal axis, time along the vertical), and little markers that delimit the mark/space frequencies or the bandwidth limits. Click on the mouse to drag them, and you can slide them atop the signal.
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KB1UJS
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 9, 2011 06:19
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Love it
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I've been running fldigi for the last six months in conjunction with my IC-718. I'm currently using fldigi under Ubuntu 11.04 with a Behringer UCA202 USB audio interface and an xggcomms audio and CAT interface (IC-Cable-8). I have also used fidigi and the xggcomms cable with the internal audio input and output on my MacBook Pro under OSX.
I am very impressed by the ease of use of this program. After gleaning the information I needed to configure the hamlib interface to my 718 from the web, I was able to get on the air with very little trouble. I like the simple interface and find it very easy to switch between sending macros and typing. The help available is detailed and clear.
I find that fldigi meets my needs very well. I use the built-in PSK browser a lot for finding cqs, and have also used the pskreporter logging function to send reception reports. I use cqrlog for logging, and fldigi will pass data to cqrlog in the background if cqrlog is configured to accept it. Rig control works great with my 718. It's reached the point where I don't have to think about what needs to be tweaked to get on the air with digital modes. I just turn on the radio, fire up fldigi and cqrlog, and hit the air.
Most of my experience has been with psk, but I've made successful RTTY contacts as well. Fldigi's decoding ability is very good, and there are customizable options in the settings to make use of more hardware-demanding processing algorithms if you want. I saw considerable improvement in the clarity of signal vs. noise on my waterfall after tweaking some of the display and processing settings.
I have run into a couple of issues with the software that are easily avoidable. If you have the choice, run fldigi and cqrlog on a 32 bit version of Linux even if you have a 64 bit cpu. There are a few hoops to jump through to get the 32 bit rig hamlib libraries needed by cqrlog for rig control to install under a 64 bit install. It's easier to avoid the issue entirely. I also had an issue with the onboard sound on my shack machine. I thought it was an fldigi issue until changing some audio settings fixed the very slow waterfall display I was seeing. It seems that the sound card did not support full duplex operation. I replaced the onboard sound with the Behringer adapter mentioned above (which was part of the original plan anyway) and the issues went away.
All in all, fldigi was a great fit for me and my shack. Windows was not an option, and with this software available it doesn't have to be. The same author has written many other useful tools as well that I use on a regular basis.
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K7JBQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 8, 2011 14:50
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No eye candy,works great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've used most of the programs out there, and this is the one I use for day to day operation.
Doesn't have the eye candy of HRD, but uses a lot less of computer resources. Does a great job of decoding -- decodes my own bug sending as well as MixW.
Using the Gateway to DXLab Suite for CAT control and intergrated logging.
Everything works. Cannot send "true CW" via keyboard like MixW can, but only use that during contests.
Great support on the Yahoo users group.
Highly recommended if you rank "function" over "form."
73,
Bill
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N7VEA
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 4, 2011 18:53
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works well for me
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This digital modes software worked very well for me right from the start and is my everyday RTTY/CW/PSK software. I prefer N1MM/MMTTY for RTTY contesting because for me that combination is smoother for working multiple stations and logging them quickly, but fldigi is my go-to for everything else. And, fldigi seemed to install with less fuss than the contest software. It decodes cw pretty well, so if you're looking for a crutch it works. And there are plenty of slots for robust but easily edited macros.
I'm a big fan of "run what works for you" and know there is plenty of software out there, but this package does so much so well for me that I have to recommend you give it a try.
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W5SL
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Rating: 0/5
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Aug 7, 2011 09:41
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Too complicated to set up and won't work for me
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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It has a very professional layout and clear screen. It is advertised to run many digital modes and keep logs. My initial attempts to get it to work months ago were so frustrating that I didn’t continue to try. Since then I discussed it with friends that along with the reviews on this site that say it works well and easy to set up. So although what I have been using is working quite well, I decided to try it out again.
I still couldn’t get it to work and after several hours of frustration I have deleted it. I tried setting it up on different radios, K3 and FTdx9000D each with its different computer. I never got it to work with the K3 at all, and with the FTdx9000D I did make some progress but never made it useful at all, related below.
At first I had a time getting it to copy anything. After several sessions of fiddling with the settings according to the instructions and not really sure what I did do right it finally began to print out information from the radio on the receive screen. PTT caused no response, ie, transceiver did not go to transmit. No frequency readout, meaning no CAT control.
Then I concentrated on setting up CAT control. After giving up after several sessions, I decided to delete the program and reload it for a fresh clean start. Re-read and followed the instructions to the letter and initially got nowhere. At this point I began to think something must be left out in the instructions but after several re-reads I couldn’t figure out what. Finally, still not sure exactly what I did, I tried experimenting with the setup and suddenly CAT started up correctly, following and addressing frequency, mode, etc. My setup turned out to be different from what the instructions say to do. Then, in spite of getting reception before, at this time it would not print out anything on the screen from the receiver even though the signal appears on the waterfall and the cursor is set such as to copy it. Then when I would try the PTT to the radio, got no output even though the transceiver would go into transmit mode. RTTY was a single tone, no information, heard in the monitor regardless of what was typed. On CW, the information that I typed in the transmit window printed across the receive screen but no keying or output from the radio at all. I am at a loss as to what to do next.
In short, it didn’t work, so therefore is useless to me. And in my opinion it is too complicated to set up. After all this frustration, I don’t intend to try again. Back to MMTTY MIXW, and Digipan, and simple easy to set up and reliable logging programs, N1MM Logger and DX4win which have full CAT control and rotor control, etc, along with integrated RTTY programs themselves. The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” saying seems to apply here.
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