Everyone here knows that WSPR is open source software. The full source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and is available to anyone, under the conditions of that license, at

http://developer.berlios.de/projects/wsjt/.

A number of people have contributed to the development of WSPR. We communicate with each other by means of an email reflector hosted at the above URL.

At a given time there is typically a "released" version of WSPR, possibly a newer "beta release", and perhaps even newer source code that may lead eventually to another release. Download links to the standard release (and possibly a beta release) appear on a page at the WSJT web site, together with a few details about their features and links to available documentation:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr.html

WSPR 3.0 is now in the above-mentioned category of "even newer source code that may lead eventually to another release". Version 3.0 is NOT presently a released version of WSPR, nor even a beta release. It is code in development. It has known bugs, and it is NOT presently recommended for general use.

If you wish to run compiled-at-home versions of WSPR, as opposed to contributing to WSPR development, I strongly recommend that you do so with souce code at the revision numbers of released or "beta released" versions. At present these are:

WSPR 2.0 r1714
WSPR 2.11 r2263

With best wishes,

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

A beta release of WSPR 2.21 r2286 has been posted at:

Windows:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.21_r2286.EXE

Linux:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr_2.21r2286_i386.deb

As in r2283, this version includes a "Coordinated hopping" mode in which the selected band is determined by the starting UTC minute of a Tx/Rx interval:

UTC Band
Minute (m)
----------------
00 160
02 80
04 60
06 40
08 30
10 20
12 17
14 15
16 12
18 10

20 160
22 80
... etc

This sequence of ten possible bands repeats three times each hour. If the designated band has not been checked as an active band, a random choice is made among the active bands.

In r2286 the algorithm choosing whether to Rx or Tx guarantees at least one transmission on each active band every two hours. If all ten bands are active there can be up to three transmissions on a band in a two hour period. These choices will tend to maximize the number of potential spots on all bands, by all frequency-hopping stations.

It's not hard to discover the identities of some stations who've been doing "coordinated hopping" over the past few days. I have been using all 10 bands (Rx only on 60 m). Here are a few who have spotted K1JT many times on different bands during the past 24 hours:

AK4DW (932 km, 53 spots): 160 80 40 30 20 17 15
EA1FAQ (5703 km, 59 spots): 80 40 30 20 17 15
G4KLA (5485 km, 29 spots): 80 40 30 20
G8JNJ (5480 km, 23 spots): 80 40 30 15
KC6KGE (3942 km, 15 spots): 80 40 30 20
KE7A (2160 km, 53 spots): 160 80 40 30 20 17 15
N4AU (1342 km, 71 spots): 160 80 40 30 20 17 15 12
W3PM (1240 km, 64 spots): 160 80 40 30 20 17 15

It's fascinating to watch the daily changes in ionization, causing each band to open at an appropriate time.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

If you have been testing WSPR 2.2 with its frequency-hopping feature, please upgrade to revision 2283. Direct links for download are:

Windows:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.20_r2283.EXE

Linux:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr_2.20r2283_i386.deb

This version has several new features:

1. A checkbox labeled "Coordinated bands" is now available at the bottom of WSPR's Frequency Hopping screen. If this box is checked, the first-choice selected band will be determined by the UTC minute at which a 2-minute sequence starts:

UTC Band
Minute (m)
----------------
00 160
02 80
04 60
06 40
08 30
10 20
12 17
14 15
16 12
18 10

20 160
22 80
... etc

The sequence of ten possible bands repeats three times each hour. If the first choice band has not been checked as an active band, a random band choice is made among those that are active.

Decision whether to receive or transmit is purely random, using the "Tx fraction" for the selected band.

If all WSPR stations using frequency hopping use the "Coordinated bands" option, a sizable group of us will move together from band to band. During any particular sequence, something like 20% of the stations (depending on their Tx fraction settings) will transmit, and the rest will receive. The average number of spots will be much larger than that if band selection is random. If a band gets too crowded -- say, if you often see more than 6-8 stations in one sequence -- you should probably reduce your Tx fraction for that band.

You may have noticed that a few of us have been playing with a version of WSPR that does automatic "frequency hopping" from band to band. For this we owe a big vote of thanks to Sivan Toledo, 4X6IZ, who wrote most of the initial frequency-hoppping code.

If you would like to try WSPR with frequency hopping, a beta-release of WSPR 2.20 is now available at

Windows:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.20_r2279.EXE

Linux:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr_2.20r2279_i386.deb

Select "Frequency Hopping" on the Seup menu, and you'll get a screen allowing you to select any desired mix of bands and Tx fractions. Then check "Frequency Hop" in the main window, and WSPR will start its normal 2-minute sequences, switching bands randomly after each one.

Depending on your station and antenna setup, you might need to accomplish other switching besides re-tuning your radio. To make this possible in an automated way, whenever WSPR executes a successful band-change command to a CAT-controlled radio, it looks for a file named "user_hardware.bat", "user_hardware.exe", or "user_hardware" in the working directory. If one of these is found, WSPR tries to execute the command

user_hardware nnn

where nnn is the band-designation wavelength in meters.

You will need to write your own program, script, or batch file to do the necessary switching at your station. I wrote a very simple Python program for this purpose. One of my antennas is an "all band" dipole fed with open-wire line through an automatic antenna tuner. Others include a 160m vertical and a tri-band trap dipole. The antennas are selected automatically, by band; and when a transmission on a new band starts on the all-band dipole, the tuner adjusts itself during the first few seconds of the transmission.

Ham radio competitions are much more fun when you don't need to wait six months to see how you did! Results for last week's ARRL Frequency Measuring Test are already available at
http://www.b4h.net/fmt/fmtresults201011.php . Hearty thanks to those responsible for running this interesting and highly educational event!

I infer from the "Soapbox" comments that at least 18 entrants used the WSPR/FMT software package to make their measurements. Nearly all obtained some excellent results, and several were in the top category: measurements better than 1 Hz on all seven test signals. Congratulations to all!

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

This message is of interest if you will be participating in the ARRL Frequency Measuring Test on Wednesday evening, using the WSPR-based FMT programs.

Slightly amended versions of fmtave.exe and fcal.exe have been posted on the WSJT web site. Direct links to the new executables are:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/fmtave.exe

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/fcal.exe

Instructions for their use remain the same as those posted at

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/FMT_User.pdf

The previous versions could produce confusing results if you processed data in the "fmt.all" file format with both calibration and measurement data in the same file. This issue has been fixed.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

PS: If you need the new program versions for use under Linux, let me know.

In the past several days I've seen quite a few WSPR signals that don't decode because they are mis-timed. This happens when one's computer clock is off by more than a few seconds, and it can be prevented by using an internet time service.

The best of these -- by far, in my opinion -- is one called "Meinberg NTP." It's free, and step-by-step instructions for downloading and setting it up in Windows are available at http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/setup.html . It works well on all recent versions of Windows, including Vista and Windows 7.

Highly recommended!

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

A slightly amended version of WSPR 2.11, with the FMT package, has been posted on the WSJT Home Page.

Direct links are as follows:

Windows:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.11_r2250.EXE

Linux:
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr_2.11r2250_i386.deb

There are two significant changes since r2247:

1. A file was missing that prevented CAT control from working on some computers. This file is now included.

2. A minor bug has been corrected in program fcal.

If you are testing/using the new tools for accurate frequency measurement, please let us hear from you. Bug reports are welcome, of course.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

To all those who expressed interest in my software utilities that can help you make very accurate frequency measurements with your CAT-controlled WSPR setup:

These programs are now included in a new WSPR 2.11 package just posted on the WSJT Home Page:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr.html

Click on WSPR at the left margin, then on the appropriate link under Downloads. Don't forget to print and study the "FMT User's Guide", http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/FMT_User.pdf . These are not GUI programs, and they have no built-in help files. I guarantee that you'll have no luck using the FMT package without reading its User's Guide! (However, it should be easy reading...)

This has been something of a rush job, since the November 2010 ARRL Frequency Measuring Test is just 9 days from now. If you find errors in the instructions, please send me details.

Good luck with your measurements in the FMT!

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

Especially for new WSPR users, I call attention to the following text from step #7 of the quick-start instructions from the User's Guide:

"Select a desired Tx frequency by double-clicking somewhere in the graphical display area. Available Tx frequencies fall in the range 1400–1600 Hz above the dial frequency. Clicking near the bottom of the graphical area gives a frequency near the lower limit, and clicking near the top puts you near the upper limit."

As I write these words, I'm WSPRing on 80 meters, and quite a few signals are present. Unhappily, about half of them are right in the middle of the WSPR band -- where your signal goes if you don't do the step mentioned above. Of course this unnecessary crowding causes many collisions.

Folks, the 200 Hz "WSPR bands" are actually pretty wide. Spread out and use them, and you'll be spotted far more often!

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

Do you enjoy making very precise measurements? Have you always wanted to enter the ARRL Frequency Measurement Test (FMT), but held back because you assumed that expensive laboratory equipment must be required?

Appendix C of the WSPR 2.0 User's Guide,
http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR_2.0_User.pdf ,
explains how to calibrate your WSPR transceiver to an accuracy better than one Hertz using over-the-air standard-frequency signals. Many WSPR users have used this procedure to establish calibration constants for their own radios, resulting in significantly improved frequency accuracies of reported WSPR spots.

About six months ago, I wrote some simple software tools that largely automate the procedure described in Appendix C and extend it to enable measuring the frequencies of unknown test signals. I used it for the ARRL FMT held last April, and my resulting measurements of all seven FMT test signals were within less than 0.3 Hz of the published "true" frequencies. (See http://www.b4h.net/fmt/fmtresults201004.php for results of the April 2010 FMT.) My equipment was very simple: nothing more than my normal WSPR setup, a Kenwood TS-2000 with the software mentioned above. Any CAT-controllable radio would do. I've even tested it with my SoftRock, with excellent results.

The next ARRL Frequency Measuring Test is less than three weeks away: November 11, 2010, starting at 0230 UTC (the evening of Nov 10 in US time zones). Details are in November QST and on the ARRL web site at
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/W1AW/Other%20FMT%20files/FMT.pdf .

If there is significant interest from others who would like to try entering the November 2010 FMT, I'd be happy to write some brief instructions on using the new frequency-measuring software tools, and make them available for free download. It will probably be simplest to just include everything in a packaged release of WSPR 2.1. If you are interested, please let me know (k1jt at arrl dot net).

WSPR 2.1 r2210 is now available for download at:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.10_r2210.EXE

This version corrects a bug found by LA3JJ, and it controls the SoftRock in the same way that it controls all other radios, by using the hamlib program "rigctl".

IMPORTANT: on the Setup | Station parameters screen, you must select a new Rig number for SoftRock control. Scroll down past the Kenwood entries and select this one:

2509 SoftRock Si570 AVR-USB

A Linux package for WSPR 2.1 now awaits successful tests of hamlib control of the SoftRock.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

As noted here yesterday, the "Tx dB" slider was inadvertently left in a disconnected state in WSPR 2.1 r2206. This omission is corrected in r2207, available at:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.10_r2207.EXE

I have also updated the "WSPR 2.1: Supplement to User’s Guide". A new version is posted at

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR_2.1_Supplement.pdf

and can be called up from the WSPR 2.1 Help menu.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

Many thanks to all those who tested and reported a bug in WSPR 2.1, r2198. The bug caused Tx image rejection to disappear and re-appear without notice. Very bad!

This problem has been fixed, and WSPR 2.1 r2206 is now posted at:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.10_r2206.EXE

Changes since r2198:

1. Intermittent Tx phasing bug has been fixed.

2. Added a Help-menu item to call up the WSPR 2.1 Supplement to the User's Guide.

3. Starting to add SoftRock rig control features for use under Linux. (Not yet complete.)

Remember, if you are trying to configure the Tx or Rx phasing adjustments in WSPR 2.1, please read the instructions at:

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR_2.1_Supplement.pdf

A Linux version of WSPR 2.1 should be available soon.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

WSPR 2.1 r2198 has been posted at:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.10_r2198.EXE

Changes since r2194:

1. On some computers, a bug in r2194 caused errors in Tx timing. Although none of my machines exhibited this problem, I believe it has been fixed. Please let me know if not!

2. Negative values of Fiq are now permitted. You can use an LO on the high side of the desired WSPR band.

3. The "Tx dB" slider has been moved from the "IQ Mode" screen to the "Advanced" screen. (This slider is effective for normal radios, as well as SDRs.)

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

WSPR 2.1 r2194 has been posted at:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.10_r2194.EXE

Instead of listing the essential changes since r2179, I direct you to the document "WSPR 2.1: Supplement to User’s Guide" now posted online at

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR_2.1_Supplement.pdf

Briefly stated, the new version has complete facilities for Tx and Rx image suppression. I measure the unwanted sidebands more than 60 dB down, with my SoftRock.

As far as I know, I have now corrected all reported bugs. If not, please let me know! As always, I will appreciate all bug reports and suggestions.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

Hi all,

The 3 dB deficiency in signal-to-noise of WSPR 2.10 has been traced and corrected. It was an image-rejection problem: not the image about the SDR's LO frequency, but rather the image about the "digital BFO" converting WSPR signals to audio around 1500 Hz. An easy fix, once I understood what I had done wrong.

If you want to use WSPR 2.1 with 3 dB better Rx sensitivity, you can download it from:

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR2.10_r2179.EXE

Other changes in r2179, relative to r2165:

1. As many users discovered, the "0 dB" level had been set much too high. It has been re-defined at an appropriate level.

2. I/Q mode setup parameters have been moved from menu item "Setup -> Advanced" to "Setup -> IQ Mode". The checkboxes for "Enable I/Q mode", "Reverse Rx I,Q" and "Reverse Tx I,Q" behave as in previous versions.

3. New controls have been added for "Tx dB", "Tx I/Q Balance", and "Tx Phase". You can use "Tx dB" to reduce the amplitude of Tx audio tones (and thus your Tx output power, assuming a linear transmitter) by a specified number of dB. The Balance and Phase controls are not yet functional, see below.

Still to Come

Because of an overwhelming level of interest, discussion among those testing WSPR 2.1 -- designed for stand-alone operation with the SoftRock RxTx Ensemble and similar SDR transceivers -- has been moved from a private email list to the WSPRnet "Questions and Answers" Forum. See the topic "WSPR 2.1, for I/Q SDRs".

You may still send bug reports to me directly.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT

I am currently experimenting with a WSPR version that controls and operates radios like the SoftRock RxTx Ensemble.

With WSPR 2.1 you can check a box labeled "Enable I/Q mode" on the Advanced Setup screen. The program will then use 2-channel sampling at 48000 Hz for both input and output. Your SoftRock sends its I/Q baseband signal to the computer's soundcard input; the soundcard output, also in I/Q format, goes to the SoftRock's Tx audio port. T/R switching is accomplished over the USB port. You need no other software such as Rocky or PowerSDR, and there's no need for anything like Virtual Audio Cables. Setup is extremely simple.

Over the past several days I've been running an early version of WSPR 2.1, in Rx-only mode. Right now I'm running in Tx-only mode, Txing 33% of the time, on 30 meters. It seems to get out well. I'll probably finish the T/R switching code and be in full operation within a day or so.

Thanks to Giorgio, IK1UWL, an Italian translation of the WSPR 2.0 User's Guide is now available. A link has been placed on the WSJT/WSPR web site:

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr.html

... or you may click on a direct link to the Italian version,

http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR_2.0_User_Italian.pdf

The WSPR 2.0 manual is now available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian. Translations into other languages will be welcome. If you are interested in undertaking this task and would like a copy of the original MS Word file in English, please let me know.

-- 73, Joe, K1JT