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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
KF6PYF Rating: 2010-01-02
Great software And yes it DOES work with the FT-2000 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a great piece of software thats very well written.

And it's open source!!! This is something all Ham radio related software should be.

Most hams wouldn't even consider buying a radio they could not open the cover on and fix or modify why in the world would these same people use software that is proprietary and does not give you the option of modifying it to suit your needs.

Anyhow I have been using Fldigi for quite some time and it never fails to impress me. I have run it side by side with Digipan and the digital software provided with HRD and FLdigi constantly out performed them all by reliably decoding signals that do nothing but produce gibberish with the others.

As for the reviewer who complained that Fldigi won't work with the FT-2000. Hmm what can I say other then the manual is your friend....

Of course Fldigi works with the FT-2000. All you needed to do was read the manual and then download the appropriate rig control file.

Its right here
http://www.w1hkj.com/xmls/yaesu/FT-2000.xml

Just click save as and put the file in your Rigcat folder.

Fldigi does not supply all the rig control files in the program download. Since it's free I suppose they are trying to save a bit of bandwidth by giving users the option of only downloading the rig control files they need to control their rig instead of wasting tons of expensive bandwidth by including all the rig control files to every user whether they need them or not...


73
N6YG
K2CIB Rating: 2009-09-08
Finally: A Professional Digital Mode Program Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A few days ago I tried to copy a station on 17m but could not get MixW or MultiPSK to decode it. Listening carefully, I decided it had to be MFSK4. None of my installed programs could handle that. After some research I found FLdigi, read some reviews and decided to try it. Wow! Easy to install and get going, a really nice, professional look with the buttons where you want them, and handles more modes than I will ever need. I've tried RTTY, MFSK4, 8 and 16, BPSK and Olivia so far and am impressed with the results. Now one program will replace 3 or 4. I have still been using MMTTY just because it has a superior tuning indicator, now I am hoping that the indicator in FLdigi will supplant it. I have not tried the CAT interface yet, but should have no trouble with that on my TS-870. Is there a way of recording and replaying the waterfall? Maybe I missed it. I am also not sure the decoding sensitivity is as good as MixW, but haven't run them side-by-side yet to compare results.
AC4FS Rating: 2009-07-10
Outstanding Software Package! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My wife and I ran the club's digital station at Field Day this year (third year in a row). Instead of the usual software (Digipan, MMTTY), I decided to go with fldigi. One of our local hams, Mitch, AF2M, recommended it, and I took a chance and ran with it.

We lost about six hours Saturday afternoon, due to bad coax cables, but once we were able to get "on the air" around 8:20 PM local, we started racking up contacts. We stopped around 1:50 AM Sunday morning, then started back around 7:00 AM or so. In total, the digital station made 83 contacts. Not stellar, but respectable, considering the band conditions, and losing six hours of prime operating time Saturday afternoon.

My only complaint about fldigi is the rig control. If you don't use it, your display remains locked in the 3.5 MHz band. I wish there were a way to manually tell the software which band you were in. Still, fldigi is an outstanding digital software package!
KC0TAS Rating: 2009-07-06
Nice. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Use this program on my Linux machine. Works great with my Signalink USB interface.

Did something to cause it to send out three to five "false keys" to the interface that would cause it to key up and unkey. reset to default and it cleard up. That was that. now everything works great. Easy to use and very intuitive/natural.

Was using MultiPSK on the Windows machine and I found that the frequency was drifting on each and every contact. I havent tried fldigi on windows. Too much cable movement work.
VK5ALX Rating: 2009-06-14
the new benchmark Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've used "MixW" for a long time but have never been fully comfortable with its user interface and complex functionality which has remained static over the years.

I came across "fldigi" by accident and almost didn't give it a try. After all, a program so small with such a clean and uncluttered layout had to be short in features - Boy was I wrong.

The main program is just on 6.7MB and requires no special installation. Unlike "DM780", the digital modes module which is part of the Ham Radio Deluxe suite, there's no waiting forever for it to start while showing pictures of the author and his dog. "Fldidi" is up and decoding in a flash. It talks to my FT2000 without having to first load the HRD bloatware.

What I did initially miss was the "DM780" feature where you could hover the mouse cursor over signals on the waterfall to get a mini readout of activity. Then I found that "fldigi" came with a dropdown psk monitor which decodes and displays in a tickertape format up to 20 signals within the current passband. A simple click on the tickertape and the main window is automatically set to the signal.
And, keeping a record of a contact is made easier too. Double click on a callsign and it's automatically entered into the log. Do the same on a name and it's entered in the correct log field. Same with received RST, city, gridsquare. It doesn't always work but the success rate is extremely high.
Macros are so easy to set up and use that a qso can almost be had without touching the keyboard.

The MixW and DM780 shortcut icons are now missing from my desktop. Give "fldigi" a try.
AB8O Rating: 2009-05-20
Great software miss the map Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Downloaded fldigi to my Mac 2 weeks ago. Very nice and easy to use...lots of modems. Has a PSK Browser.
I used to use MacLoggerDX and Cocoamodem but a recent upgrade funked up the applescripts I used. Anyway, the only thing I really miss is the great world map on MLDX that automatically pinpoints my QSOs. Wonder if this may still be possible?

John
AB8O@arrl.net
VA3BGI Rating: 2009-02-05
A cut above the rest Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
From the perspective of a linux user, it is hard to find a better multi-mode program than fldigi. The variety of features offered is perfect for those new to digital modes as well as more experienced users. The variety of modes suits me perfectly and allows easy experimentation between different modes and bitrates.

PSK capability all the way up to 125 is also an asset for contests. Having the PSK Reporter API built right in also sets this one apart and lets you submit reports automatically.

I have tried Digipan, MixW, gMFSK and each of them left something to be desired. I think I've finally found my long-term solution.
AI4G Rating: 2008-12-21
nice selection of digital modes Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use this app with Ham Radio Deluxe and a FT-950. It amazes me how many different digi mode types have been included in this application. Additionally, you can't beat the price.
AC0X Rating: 2008-12-12
Fast Light Digital Program Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Used with N2AMG's DXLab bridge, the program makes an easy-to-use, well interfaced add on for all those multi-tone modes.
WB4M Rating: 2008-12-01
Needs help Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.

I wonder why this program does not support the Yaesu FT-2000, a very popular xcvr? Just for the heck of it I tried to get it going by selecting the FT-1000 Mk 5, and other Yaesu rigs in the pull-down menu, but the program will just crash to the blue screen. I was unable to even get the program to receive, which is very unusual to say the least. It looks like it might be a good program, based on previous reviews, but there is no way for me to compare it against all the other digital mode programs until the author decides to support the FT-2000. So I rate it a 2, which means needs help, and this one does.