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Internes RTTY Modem |
RUMlog includes a basic RTTY program. It’s not intended to replace a full-fledged external program, and its ability to decode signals under challenging conditions isn’t the best. However, it’s perfectly adequate for occasional QSOs and contest participation. Eight macros and three custom placeholders are available.
There are three independent RTTY windows. Two are for general use, and one is dedicated to contest operation. FSK and AFSK are supported.
The RTTY window is horizontally divided into five sections. The relative sizes of the top three sections can be adjusted by moving the dividers.
Tuning Aids
At the top are the tuning aids, consisting of a waterfall diagram and a crossed bananas (also called crossed ellipses) display. A mouse click in the waterfall sets the receive frequency.
A command click sets the transmit frequency in AFSK. If FSK is used, the VFO of the active transceiver is set to the corresponding frequency. The correct sideband must be set in the Transmitter settings for this to work.
Click Buffer
The click buffer stores the last ten seconds. Clicking in the waterfall displays the signal on that frequency from that point onward, decoded, and shown. This function is very useful when operating a pile-up in split mode.
Demodulator
In this text field, received text appears in black or white (in dark mode), and transmitted text appears in blue. Text input is not possible here.
Characters decoded from the click buffer appear in gray.
Pre-write Text
In this section, text can be pre-written, including content from macros. The text is transferred to the transmit buffer when the PTT button is pressed. Characters already sent are displayed in red. If the transmit buffer is cleared before transmission, the corresponding text is displayed with a strikethrough.
Controls
The top row of controls is reserved for the eight macro buttons. The labels can be changed in the macro editor. The three text input fields below are used as placeholders in the macros. Clicking the gear icon toggles the settings boxes below completely.
PTT: This toggles the PTT on and off. When activated, the transmit buffer begins to empty. If the PTT is opened before all characters in the buffer have been sent, the remaining characters remain in the transmit buffer.
RX at end: If this option is active, the system automatically switches to receive mode when the transmit buffer is empty.
Cancel Transmission: The transmission is immediately canceled, the PTT is opened, and the transmission buffer is cleared.
Settings
The settings are divided into three sections.
Receiver Settings
The most important setting here is selecting the audio source and the correct channel. A squelch is used to suppress incorrect decoding. The sensitivity is adjustable; an open squelch is indicated by a green bubble. The sensitivities of the waterfall and crossed bananas can be adjusted using the sliders. Changing the decoder sensitivity may require readjusting the squelch.
Transceiver Settings
Basically, you must choose between FSK, AFSK, or No TX.
FSK: A serial interface must be selected. Only the DTR and RTS control lines are used for keying and PTT. The assignment is selectable. With Apple’s internal SiLabs driver, the selected interface can also be used for CAT control. Other interfaces have not been tested. Successful access to the interface is indicated by a green bubble.
AFSK: Here, the device and channel for audio output are selected. The output level can be adjusted. PTT control is managed via the CAT function in RUMlog. Therefore, a CAT connection is absolutely necessary. The settings and options for this can be found in the TRX settings. In the RTTY window, you can only choose between PTT off, TRX#1, and TRX#2.
No TX: Transmitting is not possible.
RTTY Settings
Here you can configure settings that affect both the receiver and the transmitter. These should be self-explanatory.
Keyboard shortcuts in the RTTY window
F1-F8: Starts macro 1-8
command option P: Button PTT on/off
command option R: Button RX at end on/off
Escape: Aborts transmission and clears the tx Buffer
command W: Clears the three placeholder fields
command option W: Clears all fields