New Release of MultiPSK (4.21)

Hello to all Ham and SWL,

The new releases of MultiPSK (4.21) and Multidem (2.4) are on my Web site http://f6cte.free.fr/.
The main mirror site is Earl's, N8KBR: http://www.eqth.info/multipsk/index.html (click on "United States Download Site").
Another mirror site is Terry's: http://g90swl.co.uk/multipsk/

Multipsk associated to Clock are freeware programs but with functions submitted to a licence (by user key).

AM/FM modulation/demodulation has been added to Multidem 2.4.

The main improvements of MULTIPSK 4.21 are the following:...

1) Coding / Decoding of the new mode LENTUS

This mode is used for QRP transmissions  (down to a minimum S/N ratio of -34 dB) either in LF, MF and HF (14 MHz maximum) but not beyond.

The recommended frequencies (on the XCVR) are the following (with an AF frequency of 1000 Hz, in USB): 136.3, 1837.0, 3589.0, 7037.5, 10138.7, 14074.0, 14095.6 KHz.

The detailled specifications of this mode are given, in English, in the Word document "Specifications 1.0 of the Lentus mode" situated in the "Specifications" heading on my WEB site (English page).

See general specifications further on.

2) CALL_ID fixed

Due to the correction of a bug in the Call ID code source, the new CALL ID is not compatible with the old CALL ID (Multipsk versions <4.21).

3) New TCP/IP commands

To control the ARQ FAE sub-mode in 141A and ALE400
- CQ_ARQ_FAE: CQ call in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400), to connect any Ham.
- STOP_CQ_ARQ_FAE: Stop of the CQ call in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400) or disconnection.
- SELECTIVE_CALL_ARQ_FAE: Selective call in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400), to connect a precise Ham.
- STOP_SELECTIVE_CALL_ARQ_FAE: Stop of the selective call in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400) or disconnection.

- CALLSIGN_TO_CALL_ARQ_FAE CALLSIGN: Ham callsign of the selective call in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400). This Ham will be, afterwards, called by the command SELECTIVE_CALL_ARQ_FAE,

- BEACON_ARQ_FAE: starting beacon in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400),
- STOP_BEACON_ARQ_FAE: stop of the beacon in ARQ FAE (for 141A or ALE400).

Others

Each Lentus frequency is transmitted as a comment, for example: "1234.56 Hz". As there are 40 symbols by Lentus frame, 40 frequencies are transmitted.

- QSO_CALL: call of the callsign located in the "Call" QSO field".

4)  Improvements:
- addition of the latitude/longitude in "Personal data" ("Configuration menu)
- addition of the two macros "LATITUDE" and "LONGITUDE" (taking information from the latitude/longitude in personal data)
- in SdR, addition of modulation/demodulation in AM and FM (narrow band one for Ham, not wide band one) which can be used to demodulate and then decode ACARS, PACKET, 1382, NWR with a Funcube as shown below.

About the use of AM and FM demodulation and decoding, using the FunCube Dongle:

·      using the FCHid program, from the defauts adjustments, change the "IF gain 5" and the "IF gain 6" from "+3dB" to "+15 dB" so to have a sufficient AF level,

·      adjust the microphone gain of the Funcube to 100% on the mixer.

Note: to change the FunCube frequency you can use either the FCid program or the FCD DF program. FCD DF is preferable due to the frequency memories.

·         start Multipsk, push "Direct via the sound card" + "+Speaker" of the "I/Q interfaces for SdR transceivers" panel, then push "RX/TX screen". Possibly, push on the "QRGs" button to have some proposed frequencies for the selected mode.

·      on the SdR panel, select LSB/USB/AM or FM according to the mode to decode. In all cases, click just on the central frequency of the transmission on the SdR waterfall.

To test AM: select "ACARS" on the Multipsk mode panel and 131725 KHz (for example) on the FCD DF program.

To test FM: select "PACKET" on the Multipsk mode panel and 144800 KHz in Europe (144390 KHz in North America) on the FCD DF program. 1382 (in Europe) and NWR (in USA and Canada) modes are also demodulated in FM before decoding.

5)  Miscellaneous:
Note about ALE400 frequency on 80 m The area from 3581 to 3582 KHz seems preferably used in North America for QSO.

Note about translation of Multipsk.exe and Clock .exe:  the 4.20.1 version of Multipsk/Clock has been completly translated to Spanish by Joachin (EA4ZB), from French. The translation file is on my Web site http://f6cte.free.fr/Translation_files.htm.

73

Patrick