Software Sorcerer question

[GB46]

I'm wondering whether anyone here has managed to successfully decode CW or amateur RTTY with Sorcerer. It won't even decode a single letter of the repeated three letter CW ID from my local NDB, which is loud and clear, being only a couple of miles from me.

As for RTTY, I've tried to decode that when contests are on using the ITA2 FSK mode, which is supposed to be the same as Baudot RTTY. Each time I start the decoder I have to change the settings to the proper shift (170 Hz) and baud rate (45), but nothing gets decoded, no matter how strong the signal is. There's also no squelch, so I get a continuous stream of random characters.

By comparison, I can decode both modes successfully with either MultiPSK or HamScope. I now use Sorcerer mainly for HFDL and Navtex, and the occasional weather fax transmission.

 

[ka3jjz]

You are likely better off asking this question on the UDXF forum on groups.io, where I have no doubt you will find other Sorcerer users

Mike

 

[devicelab]

I'm wondering whether anyone here has managed to successfully decode CW or amateur RTTY with Sorcerer. It won't even decode a single letter of the repeated three letter CW ID from my local NDB, which is loud and clear, being only a couple of miles from me. As for RTTY, I've tried to decode that when contests are on using the ITA2 FSK mode, which is supposed to be the same as Baudot RTTY. Each time I start the decoder I have to change the settings to the proper shift (170 Hz) and baud rate (45), but nothing gets decoded, no matter how strong the signal is. There's also no squelch, so I get a continuous stream of random characters.

CW only seems to work in manual mode and you'll have to guess the speed. It works fine for the most part. Just click the yellow marker and put it in the center of your CW peak. I use the FSK --> ITA2 FSK decoder for RTTY and it works fine for amateur RTTY as long as it's aligned with the yellow marker. You may need to select inverted depending on the mode you're using. A lot of non-amateur RTTY/FSK is encrypted so it's not heard that much these days.

Are you using VAC to pipe in the audio from your SDR app?

 

[ka3jjz]

There is very little Baudot in the non ham bands anymore. A lot that might sound like Baudot are actually STANAG modes; STANAG 4285 is sometimes readable when a test tape is being sent, otherwise it's encrypted, as you mention. Most other STANAG modes are totally encrypted.

STANAG stands for STANdardized AGreement and is heavily used by NATO forces.

Mike

 

[GB46]

CW only seems to work in manual mode and you'll have to guess the speed. It works fine for the most part. Just click the yellow marker and put it in the center of your CW peak. I use the FSK --> ITA2 FSK decoder for RTTY and it works fine for amateur RTTY as long as it's aligned with the yellow marker. You may need to select inverted depending on the mode you're using. A lot of non-amateur RTTY/FSK is encrypted so it's not heard that much these days.

Are you using VAC to pipe in the audio from your SDR app?

No, I don't have an SDR, but connect the R75's line out to my computer's mic input, like I do for all the digital modes I monitor.

Like I mentioned, MultiPSK and HamScope decode both modes flawlessly, as long as there's a decent signal coming in. Currently I've switched to MultiPSK for those, since it starts decoding with nearly no effort at all on my part.

I've always used Sorcerer the way you describe it. It works fine for NavTex and FAX, and is particularly good for HFDL, but is useless here for CW or RTTY, especially because it has no squelch feature, making it prone to garbage from the noise floor. Of course, in the case of our local NDB signal there's hardly any noise floor to consider, and the CW peaks are easy to select, as they go right to the top of the scale.

As for RTTY, the only time I decode that is on the amateur bands (45 baud), but rarely find it except during contests.

 

[GB46]

There is very little Baudot in the non ham bands anymore. A lot that might sound like Baudot are actually STANAG modes; STANAG 4285 is sometimes readable when a test tape is being sent, otherwise it's encrypted, as you mention. Most other STANAG modes are totally encrypted.

STANAG stands for STANdardized AGreement and is heavily used by NATO forces.

Mike

Yes, I've heard some STANAG data being transferred during Air Force MARS QSOs, but have never tried to decode it.

Oops, my mistake, that's one of the Mil-Std PSK modes. Still, I never tried to decode it as such.

 

[devicelab]

No, I don't have an SDR, but connect the R75's line out.. .but is useless here for CW or RTTY, especially because it has no squelch feature, making it prone to garbage from the noise floor.

Ah that explains it. Yeah you're hitting the limit on your radio's bandwidth settings. SDRs can usually set the receive bandwidth to just about anything and that tightens up the audio. This is one of the benefits to using a SDR. I don't recommend the wideband SDRs for HF though -- just HF-specific SDRs. I love my Perseus, and even after all these years, it's still one of the best HF receivers out there.

It's been a while since I owned a R75 but try playing with the different filter levels... and CW mode... try to get the bandwidth as narrow as possible but with that strong 800hz CW tone.

 

[GB46]

My R75's narrowest filters for the 9 mHz and 455 kHz IFs are both 2.4 kHz, although the Twin PBT is very good at narrowing the pass band a bit more. My other decoders do very well with that, but even work with audio fed from my Sangean 909X portable on just the whip antenna if the signal is strong enough.

What I've settled on now is using Sorcerer exclusively for HFDL, and MultiPSK for the other modes I monitor. I've even designed an aviation-related desktop icon for Sorcerer, and have renamed the shortcut "HFDL".

Ironically, the reason I installed Sorcerer in the first place was for Navtex, but I got sidetracked to HFDL by some related posts on this forum, and wound up monitoring it on a regular basis. It's lots of fun, especially because the air-to-ground transmissions contain position reports. A few days ago I managed to track a Chinese flight circling over the Pacific for about 30 minutes about 900 miles west of San Francisco.