W1SQLPSK Version 3
Revised Feb 19, 2001
W1SQLPSK is a PSK31 decoding program that is capable of logging your PSK contacts directly to a DBASE type file. We picked DBASE as the file format because of it's popularity with third party products. With DBASE can import the log book into any other logbook program that allows DBASE. Many third party report writers are available for DBASE as well. The program has several features not found in any other PSK software. Most programs copy 1 or 3 signals at a time. W1SQLPSK can copy up to 20 at a
time with potential for this to be increased to 50. The program also introduces the vertical waterfall display, a feature first recommended by Del K1UHF from
West Mountain Radio manufacturers of the
Rig Blaster. Many programs already feature a waterfall. Del recommended turning the waterfall vertical to better allow for copying many QSO's at a time. We call this feature the water spray display.
Installation:
Run the setup.exe file that is included in the distribution. At the end of the setup the program will run a wizard that will setup all of the parameters needed to run the program. Be sure to click on all the tabs at the top of the wizard. After the installation is complete, you can start the program by clicking start and choosing programs. In the program listing you will find a group called
TotalLog. Within the TotalLog group you will find the W1SQLPSK shortcut. click on that program and your off and running.
Note: The program needs to be installed in the directory "C:\program files\w1sql\totallog\data" Installation in Windows using other than English for the default language may find that the program installed to a different location and error 5004 appears when trying to start. To solve this problem please create the directory structure stated above and copy all the files that the program installed to the appropriate directories in the new structure. Many thanks to DJ1J, DL3MC and DL1AAH for bringing this to my attention. This will be addressed in the next release.
Using the program:
Once you have started W1SQLPSK you can turn on the PSK engine by clicking on the "ON" button. This will activate the spectrum and the water spray display. To decode a PSK signal move the mouse to where you see the signal in the water spray and left click on the signal. This will place a
channel on that signal. The program should start decoding as soon as it syncs
with the signal. You can also move a channel from one signal to another by dragging and dropping the
channel box on a new PSK signal on the water spray display.
Click on a section of the image above to see an explanation of that feature.
This is the button control panel. The first two rows of buttons are fixed and are used to control the program. The five rows of buttons below the fixed buttons are for your macros. The
macros can be configured in the
maintenance screens.
Here is a description of each of the fixed buttons:
On: Toggles the PSK engine.
CallLKUp: This button will look up the call sign in the "Call" box of the log info section.
Clr RX: This will clear all the text in the Receive window.
Clr TX: Pressing this button will clear all the transmit text from the transmit window. If you are transmitting at the time it will abort the transmit.
Clr QSO: Use this button to clear the call sign and and from the log info.
Log: Call Press this button to log the information on the QSO to the log page.
Tune: This button will key the transmitter so that it may be tuned.
Tx: Use this button to send any text in the Transmit window.
Maintain: Press this button to access the database maintenance screen.
Park all: This is used to clear all of the data streams from the screen. This is very
useful when changing bands.
NA: The last two buttons are not active and will be for future use.
The spectrum display across the top of the screen will show you about 4000 hz of the radio pass band.
The waterspray display will show the PSK signals that are available for decoding. Use your mouse to left click on the signal on the waterspray and the program will open a channel on that signal. Drag a channel to the receive window to select that channel to transmit.
The waterspray display can be used in color or monochrome. The monochrome display can sometimes show weak PSK signals that are not as detectable in color.
The transmit window is were you type any text that you want to send to the other station. Pressing a macro button will also put the macro text in this window. You can clear the text at anytime by pressing the Clr Tx button on the fixed button control panel. You can also use backspace to clear text one character at a time.
The receive window displays the text from the selected channel. When transmitting it will display you text as it goes out.
The log info console contains the information that is used to create a log entry as well as a couple of program controls. The "Call" box is where you put the other stations call sign. This can be populated by dragging and dropping channel on the receive window or you can manually type it in.
The "Name" box is used to put the other station operator name. This is not filled in automatically from the database because most hams go by a nick name. The database contains the legal name of the operator such as Joseph instead of Joe.
RST in/out is used to put the other stations signal report and the report that you received from the other station.
Xmitter Freq Mhz is used to enter the freq that shows on your transmitter. Type in the frequency to the fifth decimal. The program will use this number and add the tone frequency to determine the transmit frequency for the log and fill in the Xmit freq.
You can adjust the squelch level to set the signal threshold. This works like the squelch on your radio and it will cover up weak signals. AFC and NET frequencies can be adjusted by changing the appropriate value. You can disable the NET and AFC by un-checking the boxes. The track SN checkbox is used for keeping track of QSO serial numbers. This was added to accommodate contesting. The starting value is set in the maintenance screens. You can click on the QRP check box to set the power level to one watt or you can uncheck it and set it to 50 watts. The power can also be manually set to any integer value that you wish.
Each of these channels are used to decode one of 20 different signals. Dragging and dropping a channel on the receive window will select that channel for transmit. When selected, the background color will turn yellow. Right clicking on any channel will produce a pop up menu. Below is an explanation for each of the menu items
Make Transmit Channel:
Choosing this option makes the current channel the transmit channel. This has exactly the same effect as dragging the
channel and dropping it in the receive window in the lower right of the screen just above the transmit text box.
Find call sign in signal text:
Selecting this option makes the program scan the channel for the
call sign of the station. It then looks up the call sign in the optional database and places the
Call sign, name and QTH into the channel note. If the call sign can not be found or you don't have the database it will put the just the call sign in the popup note. This allows you to use the note as we described in the Create Note section but populates it automatically.
Mode:
This option allows you to set the channel to the PSK mode of your choice.
Clear Window:
Clears the text from the channel. The text also clears if you drag and drop the
channel even 1 pixel. This may be faster then right clicking and selecting the menu.
Expand Window:
Because the channel window is so small we decided to give the user the ability to expand the
channel into a separate resizable window.
Create Note:
W1SQLPSK allows you to place a note on the channel, so that you can keep track of each signal. You can create notes manually so that as you move the mouse over the
channels the note will popup. This feature works very well if you find a station that you want to work and want to wait until the current QSO finishes.
Park Channel:
By clicking on this option you will remove the individual
channel from the water spray display. The park all button on the control panel will park all
channels and clear the display. This is very useful when changing bands.
Macros
Macros are maintained from the maintenance
screen. Use this page to define your custom macros. Above are the macros that are used by W1SQL. When
creating macros, all columns must be filled in. Button number is the order that the button will appear
on the screen. Button Label is the label that will appear on the button. Macro is the actual
text that will be sent.
W1SQLPSK, like most PSK programs use switches to send certain text variables.
Below is a list of switches and what they do:
<<t Keys the transmitter
<<z Un-keys the transmitter
<<m Sends your call sign
<<c Sends the other stations call sign
<<r Sends RST
<<p Sends your transmitting power as it appears in the log info area of the program
<<n sends the other stations name
<<cl Checks to see if station has been logged. If not it logs it for you.
<<d Will send Date/time
<<i Will send the other station IMD
<<l This will send a new line to the other station (that is a lower case L)
You should use the macros that in the database when you setup as a set of
examples and change them to fit your
needs.
You can use the macros already in the database as a set of examples and change them to fit your
needs. Be sure to test your macros off air.
W1SQLPSK uses an underlying database that will log your call, look up call sign information and control the program. This screen is the table maintenance screen. It is used to view data or make changes. The table shown here is the configuration table. The parameters contained in it control the program and the operational defaults of the program. To change tables use the drop down box at the top of the page. Below is a list of the values in the config table and what they mean.
Commport: This is the serial port that connects your computer to your radio switching for PTT control.
NET & AFC: These values are True or False and are the same as checking or unchecking the NET and AFC boxes on the main screen.
Squelch: This is the initial setting for the squelch level.
centerfreq: This value is the center of the spectrum and waterspray display.
AFC Range: This will limit how far the program will allow a channel to move off frequency.
Mycall: Enter the call sign that you want to the program to send.
Control: This is used to control the PTT from your serial port. The valid values are as follows:
0 No serial port PTT
1 Use RTS Only
2 Use DTR Only
3 Use Both RTS and DTR
DEFRadio, DEFAnt, DEFMode, DEFpower, DEFstation and DEFPSKFreq are all defaults that is used to put the radio used entry in the log. Some of these values are changed when using PSK such as DEFMode.
SN: Is no longer used and can be left blank.
Callbookdata. An entry in this field tells the program were to look for the call book data. This allows you to put the large data files on a bigger drive. A correct path must appear here even if the on-line database is empty.
ReportPath: No longer used.
RXchannels: This is used to set a maximum number of available channels. This value must be between 1 and 20. On slower machines lowering this value will offer better performance.
The show deleted button at the bottom of the screen is used to toggle between displaying deleted records or not displaying them.