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Reviews For: Afreet Software CW Skimmer

Category: Ham Software/Apps - Other than logging

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Review Summary For : Afreet Software CW Skimmer
Reviews: 23MSRP: 75
Description:
Program decodes CW signals in a given band of signals and lists call signs, CQ, QRL, 599 and raw text. Using CAT control it allows you to point to a CW station with your mouse and bring the radio up on freq. Allows visual ID of CW, communication with DX cluster, and recording of the I/Q signal for later playback
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.dxatlas.com/CwSkimmer/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00234.4
N1BBR Rating: 2020-07-04
Pretty much use it all the time Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I pretty much use skimmer whenever I turn on the rig.

I no longer have to manually scan through the band to find out what activity looks like.

I suspect some day this functionality will come as an option feature in future rigs just as the panadapter has.
W2GTR Rating: 2018-07-09
Great addition to station Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have an old radio with no ability to filter the receive down to a narrow segment. During heavy activity or contests, it's difficult to concentrate on a specific signal because I hear so many stations at once. This makes it a lot easier to focus on just one. Highly recommended and definitely worth the price!
KD0ZV Rating: 2018-03-04
Powerful but sometimes finicky Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is a one of the kind program with no competition in site. When it works, it works well but not without quirks. Once you get it running, it usually works perfect. I try to get things going an hour before a contest because if I don't I miss an hour trying to shake things down. Part of my issue is Omni Rig as it needs to run in admin mode to share usage with other apps.

As I said, once you get it going its great.
ON6KE Rating: 2016-04-26
Useful but overpriced??? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
"Useful but overpriced" you've got to be joking, surely.
I'm using CW Skimmer like for 5-6 years if not longer more recently in combination with an SDR, it's a GODSEND seeing where the DX working split is listening.

it's also a great help when fatigue sets in in the larger CW contests.

Spending thousands on new transceivers every few years nobody minds but a one-time mere 75$ investment is too much.

PS
As to "centering of signal in window but not changing frequency", that is dead simple when in 'SDR mode'.

Gust ON6KE - ON7QRP
N1ERF Rating: 2016-03-20
Useful but overpriced. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I like it but I'm not impressed with both the price, some of the aesthetics & functionality of the UI.

For the price, it should have a better frame and be a little more adjustable (ie; centering of signal in window but not changing frequency, and coloring of radio buttons and frame).
The inner CW window is fine. Sorry for the lack of correct windows terms...

While very useful, I'm not convinced that it's worth the price.

N1TX Rating: 2014-01-21
Great enhancement for contesting and DX Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After several years of planning, I finally got around to integrating an SDR in the KL2R shack. In this case, it's a FiFi, which is fed by an RF Space IF-2000 installed in a Yaesu FT-950. The IF-2000 provides a 10.55 MHz IF output. I use HDSDR to drive the FiFi. The I/Q output from the FiFi then goes to the CW Skimmer.

The application is two-fold. One is to provide a receiver on a second band to identify multipliers or just band openings of interest. The second is to provide a better tool resulting in more reliable spots, either contesting or DXing. Logging into a DX Cluster 1500 miles away from Alaska means I waste a lot of time chasing stuff I can't hear.

In both cases, CW Skimmer ties all the technology together along with Alex's other program OmniRig (freeware). And it does it very, very well.

The combination I have results in some technical and operational compromises, none of which has much to do with any limitations of CW Skimmer.
WX2S Rating: 2013-04-28
QS1R Hardware mute doesn't work right Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
CW skimmer downloads FPGA code to a QS1R. The QS1R's hardware mute input should pause skimming, but instead it only mutes the speaker. The result is heavy interference to the skimmed signals whenever I transmit. I've contacted Alex about this problem, but he says he doesn't have time enough to fix it. I've also tried to work around the problem in other ways, but so far no joy. The only thing I can do is to clear skimming after every transmission. It's too bad because otherwise skimmer is a nice tool for pileups.
W9RPM Rating: 2013-03-27
Great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Fine addition to the shack. Really helps in pileups to see where the station is that was just worked.
K3IT Rating: 2012-05-24
Good support from the author Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I haven't checked the hall of fame list recently but I hope Alex got a spot there (no pun intended:).

No software exists that even attempts to do what cw skimmer does. I would encourage to support the author so he continues to develop this tool.

I got good support and quick answers to setup questions.
F5VLY Rating: 2012-03-21
Magic software Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I fail to understand how guys give this the thumbsdown...
Quote - its too expensive, you need a good pc to handle it....AND !!!
Alex has written something which in conjunction with the Reverse Beacon Network is frankly awesome, initally i had no end of problems trying to get this to work on my pc, Alex was there to help, the problem was my old XP software and a slow processor, now i have upgraded to windows 7 and a 64bit processor running at 3.2Ghz this software just coasts along, even during major contests on 40m here in Europe when its chaos, cwskimmer handles it with ease.
The 70Euros i paid for this is money well spent, when working i leave an SDR receiver on at least one band to upload spots to the RBN and to make the most of my internet connection i pay good money for 24/7, the price of buying cwskimmer is peanuts.
Alex thanks for all your hard work.
Regards Adrian