Monday 24 April 2017

JTDX - An instant success!

Thanks to Bas, PE4BAS, I learned recently about JTDX, a derivative of the popular WSJT-X software.

I'm always interested in any new digital packages, but also always wary of having to spend hours looking at screens as the inevitable software conflicts, PTT/RTS/DTR options and the rest of those things make technology waste one's time.

Luckily, JTDX is much the same in terms of set-up as WSJT-X, so the settings are identical.  It worked straight out of the box, as it were.

Bas said that JTDX is a big improvement on WSJT-X, mainly because it decodes so much more than the original software.

I can testify that Bas's assertion is absolutely correct!  One is faced with 25 or more stations upon decode, and even having several stations responding to my 'CQ' being decoded quickly.  That is very rare for WSJT-X, but common on JTDX.

I did wonder whether, though capable of decoding so much more, many of those stations might be too weak to contact in practice.  This doesn't seem to be the case.  Looking early this morning at JTDX, it's like there's a whole world of stations out there that WSJT-X might not let you realise exists.  I had quite rare stations like Egypt and Peru coming through nicely, although it could have been coincidence.

It's a bit irritating, though, that the waterfall for JTDX seems to cover a wide frequency span, such that the whole thing is too compressed, especially with JT9, for it to be ideal. 

So, like Bas, it's unlikely I'll be reverting to WSJT-X, and look forward to seeing if I can grab a new DX entity out of the noise with JTDX!


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