If you have seen the links on the page in my sig, you have an idea of what is out there now.
If we ignore the hyper expensive packages (Krypto, Hoka, WaveCom, etc.), you can build a nice library of software without spending big bucks. Certainly there's a place for those expensive decoders (but let's face it - not everyone can afford them). You will never get a straight answer about 'what is best' (much like asking the same thing about a car) simply because what is 'best' to one individual may not be to another. It's a matter of perspective, as well as a sometimes-subjective evaluation of performance. This is because each person may not have precisely the same setup (same receiver, antennas, PC, etc.) and all of this can influence that judgement to some degree.
If I were building a library - and most digital DXers I know do exactly this - of decoding software, I think you would be hard pressed not to find one (if not more) of the following (the links for all of these are listed in that page in my sig line, so I won't repeat them here)...
a.
MultiPSK -has a USD45 registration fee for some modes, but is a very capable decoder, if you can get past the huge number of menus. Patrick doesn't seem to believe in pull downs...
b.
Sigmira - Free, and it will handle Stanag4285 signals (it certainly won't de-crypt the ones that are encrypted, but that's to be expected)
c.
Sorcerer - and I think it works directly with the SDR-14
d.
PC-ALE - free, and it handles ALE signals. I should note that MultiPSK does too, but it's handy to have more than one decoder for a particular mode, and I'll get to why that's true in a moment
e.
PC-HFDL- free, and it handles HFDL. Again, MultiPSK handles these as well
f.
Rivet - free -Looks like the link on the UMC site is no good anymore, but here;s the right one...
https://github.com/IanWraith/Rivet/
g
Digtrx - free - MIGHT be useful if you chase numbers stations...
Why overlap the decoders? Simple - one decoder might use a somewhat different algorithm for decoding that works better with your receiver and/or PC. There's no real way of determining this without experimentation.
With all of that at your fingertips you would probably be able to at least examine (if not outright decode) 70-80% of what's out there (that can be decoded - not encrypted).
Now there's the question of installation, of course, as well as the use of utilities like VAC or installing DLLs to make the SDR-14 talk to the software. I would install one at a time, use it for a bit, and when you're comfortable, install the next one and so on. Sorcerer has the advantage of (supposedly) interfacing with the SDR-14 directly, so that might be a place to start.
However a caution - if you belong to the UDXF Yahoo group (and you should - it's one of the best places to get digital station news and decoding), don't ask about that software there. It's known to be a crack of another package (not SkySweeper), and the folks running that group don't like it.
Mike
