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Reviews For: Fldigi - Digital Mode software

Category: Ham Software/Apps - Other than logging

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Review Summary For : Fldigi - Digital Mode software
Reviews: 98MSRP: free
Description:
A digital mode program for PSK31, RTTY, and many other operating modes. Available as free & open source software, coded in C++ for Linux.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.w1hkj.com/Fldigi.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
35984.5
KB5IAV Rating: 2010-09-20
Great Digital Mode software for many modes Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I started running FLDIGI a couple of years ago and it's great! The interface is very clean and very professionally laid out. It can run just about any digital mode you can name, a few you've probably never heard of.

I'm running it on a Dell laptop running Windows XP Pro into a Signallink SL-1+ interface with a Kenwood TS-140S with a Piexx card for CAT control. I did have one problem with the rig control thought, but I think it may have been hardware related. My laptop doesn't have a serial port, so I use a Belkin USB to Serial converter. When using RIGCAT, the software would hang and lose contact with the rig. I found that sometimes swapping the interface between USB ports helped, but then found that if I booted the laptop with the interface disconnected then connected after boot up is complete, it will run all day long without losing contact with the rig. I don't know if this will help others with problems running the software, but it helped me.

FLDIGI is a great piece of digital software for anyone who wants to try digital modes, and it gives you many modes to pick from. The software is also free. Highly recommended.
KQ6EA Rating: 2010-08-02
Great Program Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Running fldigi on my OpenSUSE 11.3 machine with a SignaLink USB.
Works *perfectly*, has specific settings for the SignaLink USB, and does everything I could ask for.
The WWV calibration and Frequency Analysis function are great to have for fine-tuning your gear.
Along with the SignaLink USB, this is truly Plug-And-Play for Linux users!
W8JSA Rating: 2010-07-23
Having issues but ... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
At this point it's not working but that isn't necessarily the fault of fldigi. Have an Icom IC-781 is the shack and an IC-765 as well but chose the 781 even though fldigi says that it's untested. Bought West Mountain's new PnP and trying to get it running with Fedora 12. One issue I do have is having to crank the receive audio up to 90%+ to even begin to get any copy. I figure it's a set up issue that needs to be addressed here in the shack and possibly in an updated version of fldigi. I see great promise with the software and find no reason to work with any other application at this time.
W6CJ Rating: 2010-06-25
Looks good, wish it worked. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
PROS:
Professional appearance (no photos of someones ham shack while the program boots up and no random junk on the screen that resembles 1980's DOS graphics). Good graphics, good layout, changeable fonts, macro buttons, and colors. A lot of customizable features to explore that I have not yet explored. You can remove the things you don't want, in my case, the contesting and logging apps. I'm involved in E-comm, plus MARS, plus military so not much time for automated contesting. It supports more modes than MIXW. CAT worked well on an FT-897D. The designer of FLDIGI was clearly thinking of the end user (an idea I hope will catch on in digital comm, and in numerous other programs)

CONS:
Did not work. Not on the computer I installed it on. I had to turn up the windows mixer transmitter volume to full blast, 100 per cent, to get anything into the transmitter rear port and that still wasn't enough drive.

I found it odd that only FLDIGI did not work in my system. I have used the same FT-897D; the same computer; the same West Mountain Radio Plug-and-Play sound card interface (excellent interface!) for years, with MIXW, MMSSTV, WinWarbler and other digital comm programs. With each program, the Windows mixer panel supplied the undistorted audio I needed for my transmitter, always with the mixer panel settings always between 20 and 30 percent... so, what's up with FLDIGI? Everything here is working.

FLDIGI also crashed, so that I no longer had use of the CAT function (CAT dial display stuck on 14.00) regardless of what changes I made in the configuration screens. I uninstalled FLDIGI before anything else happened.

In all fairness, I would give FLDIGI a 5, because of the overall professionalism of the design, good graphics, modes supported, ability to customize. I gave it a 2 this time because I find not working to be somewhat of a show stopper in my Emcom, public-safety and military radio experiences. I'm going to try FLDIGI again and hope I can give it a "5" next time, until then, I'm staying with MIXW.

73

KA4AIY Rating: 2010-06-23
For Linux--a Great alternative Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been suffering running other packet application programs on my Windows based PC.. so fed up with this DOS-based Windows XP OS, I went for Linux... that is a no brainer alternative to Windows... now that packages like Linux XP Freespire are available.. it comes complete, just load n go... and FLdigi has a Linux version, and ecolink also.. so hams unite! Go Linux.. and oh yeah, I found Fldigi to be robust program... all the right functions... my only nit is it doesn't have F-key functions built in... but that's not a show stopper, as it is very mouse oriented. I run it on an old Pentium PC... my interface is the incomparable SignaLink USB. So for the Linux wanna bee's.. load Linux Freespire and download Fldigi.. you will not be out of touch. No extra setup software or menus to navigate.. no menus etc to tune sound card... I loaded it.. made an initial contact with no extra steps... the decoder did not require any off set corrections to TX or RX.. dead on raw start. It has built-in tab select functions for "CQ" "Brag" etc, that make it easy to get going. And again, under Linux it rules. By the way, it's macros are very similar to Digipan's macro set... so it's easy to make the transition...not much of a learning curve for us old timers and you can customize your "tab messages" without reading how to's in a manual. It's user friendly... AKA very intuitive.
WB0FDJ Rating: 2010-06-20
On the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The computer for my shack is linux based: current distro is Ubuntu 10.04. There are a number of solid open source ham radio digital applications available and I've fiddled with most of them. Each has it's place. In my mind fldigi is the best of them. It will let you operate on just about every mode available. It give you enough control to get the job done efficiently with getting in the way of straightforward operating. The integrated logbook is a no-brainer to setup. As others have pointed out it gets a lot done without being a resource hog. I'm now running flrig with it and it's a perfect marriage of "enough" rig control and a very competent digital app. I can't say enough good things about this software package.
KV4AN Rating: 2010-06-06
ALL DIGITAL MODES IN ONE MODERN PACKAGE Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Excellent software package that lets you work almost all digital modes in one easy-to-use modern package. I've used a couple other programs that had multiple digital modes, but they were either expensive or hard to use. I also tried using a different program for each mode, but when I got a Vista laptop I decided I wanted one multi-mode modern Vista compatible program. After looking around I found Fldigi and have been using it successfully every since. It interfaces well with Vista and through a RS-232 to USB adapter to my FT-950. Works flawlessly. I even use a and Signalink SL-1+. I even use an outboard USB soundcard so I can use the laptop soundcard for other things at the same time. They update it frequently and continue to improve the program. If you want one modern software package for almost all digital modes, Fldigi is for you.
W8EFM Rating: 2010-05-22
Simple, effective and free Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I started out using a different product for digital modes, and although it was a masterpiece worthy of mission control, it was also a resource hog that brought my laptop to a standstill. Other programs I tried were fast and lightweight but clunky and limited feature-wise.

In my search for a replacement I stumbled across fldigi. It does everything I need and more, it's simple to use, and it doesn't suck up all of the resources on my machine. It also gives me a complete picture of what's happening on the band without taking up the entire screen... important on a small laptop.

It handles all the digital modes I use. It has adequate macro capabilities. And it has a built-in logger that exports adif making it fairly easy to upload my contacts to logging web sites.

Sure, there are fancier alternatives out there, but for me fldigi is the perfect marriage of functionality and simplicity.
KB3FXI Rating: 2010-03-28
Reliable, Simple, Flexible, Free! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
NBEMS/FLDIGI is without a doubt the best multimode digital sound card software for the digital mode rag-chewers, traffic handlers and emcomm ops.

If you want to trade call signs and signal reports (everyone is always 59) - and contesting is your way of life - I'd probably recommend taking the time to learn HRD/DM780.

However, for those who are looking at doing more than psk31 or who enjoy rag chew and emcomm work, this software is without a doubt the best out there... and its free.

For rag-chew, the PSK, MFSK, Olivia, Domino, Thor and MT63 modems are bullet-proof. The program is very responsive and does an excellent job on locking on and decoding even weak signal.

For folks interested in message handling (NTS health and welfare) and emcomm work, NBEMS/FLDIGI is without a doubt the BEST sound card digital mode software available anywhere.

WRAP (checksum encapsulated broadcast messages) and FLARQ (ack nack hand shacking) both ensure 100% copy on critical message handling. FLDIGI/WRAP also allows an unattended station to automatically detect and extract WRAP messages to a designated "WRAP" folder. When an op returns to their station, they can open the folder and also confirm 100% copy!

FLICS, another helper app, lets emcomm ops send messages from a form-based ICS-213 template. You send the message and the receiving stations open it into FLICS. They can print the 213 form or email the perfectly formatted ICS-213 message.

RSID in the current BETA is now selectable by mode. So if you do not want your software to react to certain RSID modes, you can "unselect" them from your RSID dectection list.

I can't say enough good things about the work that w1hkj and Skip have put into this project.

Hats off to the development team there for providing this excellent free software!
KB1OIQ Rating: 2010-01-26
Great program! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Since I choose to only run Linux on my computers, I am pleased that such quality software as Fldigi exists. This program has never crashed, nor hung my computer (I am currently running Ubuntu 8.04.3). I think the support is great. It is also convenient that both Hamlib and RigCat are available for controlling the radio - if one doesn't work for you, try the other. This program supports a large number of digital modes and has a wealth of features. Try it!