PSK63 (meaning Phase Shift Keying at a rate of 63 baud) is a digital radio modulation mode used primarily in the amateur radio field to conduct real-time keyboard-to-keyboard informal text chat between amateur radio operators.
PSK63 (meaning Phase Shift Keying at a rate of 63 baud) is a digital radio modulation mode used primarily in the amateur radio field to conduct real-time keyboard-to-keyboard informal text chat between amateur radio operators.
In April 2003, Skip Teller, KH6TY, the creator of Digipan, [1] requested an addition to Moe (AE4JY) Wheatley's PSKCore DLL to support the PSK63 mode. Subsequently, another mode - PSK125 - has been added to the PSKCore DLL. [2]
PSK63 is now supported directly in KH6TY's own QuikPSK software, as well as in Digipan, AA6YQ's WinWarbler, F6CTE's MultiPSK, AE4JY's WinPSK, HB9DRV's DM780, PSK31 Deluxe, MMVARI, Fldigi, MIXW, and DL4RCK's RCKRtty. It is also supported in hardware by the Elecraft KX3.
Others are likely to follow, now that version 1.17 of the PSKCore dll supports both PSK31 and PSK63. QuikPSK, MultiPSK and PSK31 Deluxe can decode up to 24 signals simultaneously. QuickPSK has a unique additional capability to send colour thumbnail pictures (32x32 pixel, 16 colours) using the PSK63 mode.
A PSK63-only version of the PSKCore dll is also available at KH6TY's web site for use with any software that uses PSKCore to implement PSK31. Simply by replacing the original PSKCore file (it is suggested that you rename the original rather than deleting it) with the new version, the PSK31 software supports PSK63 instead of PSK31.
This technique has been used during early experiments with the PSK63 mode, but it is not likely to continue to be very widely used now that software that supports PSK63 directly has become widely available.
The official distribution of the PSKCore DLL, which supports PSK31, PSK63, and PSK125, is available on Moe (AE4JY) Wheatley's website. [2]
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PSK31 or "Phase Shift Keying, 31 Baud", also BPSK31 and QPSK31, is a popular computer-sound card-generated radioteletype mode, used primarily by amateur radio operators to conduct real-time keyboard-to-keyboard chat, most often using frequencies in the high frequency amateur radio bands (near-shortwave). PSK31 is distinguished from other digital modes in that it is specifically tuned to have a data rate close to typing speed, and has an extremely narrow bandwidth, allowing many conversations in the same bandwidth as a single voice channel. This narrow bandwidth makes better use of the RF energy in a very narrow space thus allowing relatively low-power equipment to communicate globally using the same skywave propagation used by shortwave radio stations.
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PSK Reporter is an amateur radio signal reporting and spotting network and website started by Philip Gladstone in 2014 which allows operators to see where their radio signals are being received. The platform works by collecting digital signal reports from software clients such as WSJT and FLDIGI, then mapping them to show which stations are being heard by other clients. The website takes its name from the popular amateur radio digital mode PSK31 and supports numerous digital modes, but now the vast majority of digital modes recorded by the service are FT8 traffic. Most traffic recorded on PSK Reporter is in the HF amateur radio bands but the platform also supports MF, VHF, and UHF bands. As of 2021 PSK Reporter had collected over 20 billion reception reports.
Amateur radio digital modes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Frequency-shift keying (FSK) |  | |
| Multiple frequency-shift keying (MFSK) | ||
| Phase-shift keying (PSK) | ||
| COFDM |
| |
| Non-traditional digital modes | ||