Decoding CW

Jim

Wondering what software everyone is using to decode CW?

Jim

Thanks everyone. I downloaded CW Skimmer and set it up as shown in Mike's video and all works fine.

KD0RC

Nice video Mike. I learned a couple of new things - thanks! One other trick to tuning besides double-clicking is to hover the mouse over the right hand side of the display over the little circle next to the callsign. When you get the little arrow, click that arrow on the circle and it will take you precisely to that signal. In crowded conditions, you can be sure of hitting the signal that you are after. It also makes sure that you are zero beat with the other station - important when the band is wall to wall signals.

EDIT: You can also click on the callsign to go straight there...

WK2Y

CWSkimmer started with Slice Master. It's far from perfect.

KD0RC

Same as Bob, CWSkimmer and SliceMaster. No CW decoder is perfect, but Skimmer works much better than anything else that I have tried. CWSkimmer does take a fair amount of compute power, so make sure that your computer is up to the task before shelling out the bucks for it. I think there is a free trial period that you can use to check. To save CPU cycles, you can limit the max number of concurrent decodes.

I semi-retired my old laptop and got a really fast new one so that I could run Skimmer, SliceMaster, SmartSDR, a logger and DDUtil with cycles to spare. My old one ran SmartSDR just fine, but couldn't keep up with Skimmer. Any excuse for newer, faster gear...

Mike-VA3MW

Here is my Skimmer video

https://youtu.be/ydTfqOkjafs

J.C. W4QK

I just installed the Morse decoding program CWTY after reading the article in the November 2021 issue of QST, page 52. The decoding is very good and I found it capable of tracking well with various fists and sending speeds. My question for the group is; has anyone managed to get the transmit side of this software to work on the Flex 6xxx series. The Options menu only allows the selection of one sound card so I have DAX Audio RX1 selected. I tried creating a new CAT PTT Port and tried the various settings in the software's PTT Setup menu, but still not able to key the Flex6400M. I like the software but wish I could get the transmit side working. If not, I will continue to use my paddle or Flex CWX.

Thanks,

JC - W4QK

KD0RC

Hi JC, in crowded conditions, I could not get CWTY to decode nearly as well as CS Skimmer. I also had problems with it keeping up with speed changes when guys speed up to send the "599" exchange.

I did not see any way to tie DAX into the transmit side of the software. You might want to reach out to the author (WD6CNF) to see if he has any insight into the problem.

J.C. W4QK

Thanks for the reply Len. I have sent an email to WD6CNF, the author of the software asking if anyone has approached him about using his CW decoder on a Flex 6xxx. I copied some of the CW contest today and did find the decoding a little more erratic when the speed changed significantly. I have always used my paddle and sometimes I use CWX so the decoder is just something to play with. I agree with you that the DAX can only be selected for the receive audio with the current version of CWTY.

73 - JC

Pat_W5WTH

FWIW, I use FLDigi. It’s free, but far from perfect. Still, it’s good enough for my use.

The audio waterfall on FLDigi is a nice feature that helps to quickly zero beat a sig.

DH2ID

Try SDC http://sdc.qrz.ru/en/

It works with SDR Bridge https://qrv.com/sdrbridge.html

Start SDR Bridge first, then SDC, then SmartSDR. After a bit of learning using SDC I like SDC more than CW Skimmer. SDC still is in development.