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PSKmail Manual

1. ok Cancel This tab controls the connection to the modem Fldigi In most cases they will coexist on the same computer but its perfectly fine to have them run on separate computers on a local area network 1 IP Address Where is the modem if on the same PC then enter localhost or 127 0 0 1 if it is somewhere on the local area network or on the internet then enter the IP address of that PC If you would like to run fldigi on one PC in the shack for instance and jPSKmail on another in the garden perhaps then have a look at the next section of the manual where that is described next page 2 IP Port This 1s the port that the modem Fldigi uses and the one the client will try to connect to Standard now is port number 7322 3 Frame preamble Some setups have reported trouble with incomplete frames being transmitted If the start of the frame is missing then its possible to add extra characters to transmit before the start of the frame In most cases this will be empty 4 Frame postamble Works kind of like preamble only after the frame The characters in this field will be sent after the frame 21 Running fldigi and jPSKmail on separate PC s You cannot be in the shack all the time I wanted to use jpskmail from the garden table without moving the K3 and the antennas Fortunately jpskmail allows you to connect to a remote instance of fldigi To do this do the following 5 Start fldigi with the right command line
2. 408 352 250 1 3 9 2 3 Good all round mode PSK500 500 592 816 704 500 2 3 3 1 3 Very fast best 4 good condx PSKR125 125 74 102 88 125 8 2 2 3 2 PSKR250 250 148 204 176 250 5 2 2 2 3 PSKR500 500 296 408 352 500 3 2 3 1 3 Best allround mode MFSK16 15 6 58 58 58 316 8 1 1 3 1 MFSK32 31 25 120 120 120 630 6 1 1 2 1 Dominoex 11 10 8 70 70 70 262 7 3 2 3 3 fldigi implementation flawed Dominoex 16 15 6 100 100 100 355 6 3 2 3 3 fldigi implementation flawed Dominoex 22 21 5 140 140 140 524 5 3 2 2 3 fldigi implementation flawed THOR8 7 8 28 28 28 346 6 1 1 3 2 THOR11 10 7 40 40 40 262 5 1 X 3 2 THOR16 15 6 58 58 58 355 1 X 3 2 THOR22 21 5 78 78 78 524 1 X 2 2 Speed is an attempt Varicode and different ways to measure makes this difficult SNR is whatever I could find most at 3 Khz bandwidth You may notice that certain popular modes are missing from this table Two of the missing modes are Olivia and MT63 Olivia is not usable with pskmail as it doesn t support the full 8 bit character set that means the lt SOH gt frame start and lt EOT gt frame end cannot be transferred Mode tables for adaptive asymmetric link control As from jPSKmail version 0 5 separate adaptive mode control for up and downlink modes is automatic To accomplish this a number of changes to server and client were necessary John VK2ETA has played an important role herein The mode table can now be set in the c
3. MFSK PSK PSK PSK PSK PSK PSK PSK MFSK THOR 8 16 22 32 250R 500R 500 250 125 63 125R 64 4 Squelch Control Squelch level is automatically adjusted to a proper value by the client to match the relevant operating mode Compression techniques The PSKmail server uses gzip to compress web pages emails and binary files This zipped image is then Base64 coded for transmission with the ASCII127 54 character set Coding and decoding are automatic Unproto non ARQ operation There are 4 PSKmail functions which use unproto frames These functions are e Ping e Inquire e Link to server e APRS Beaconing and Messaging Like ARQ frames unproto frames consist of a header a data field and a CRC When the client sends a Ping or Inquire frame all servers answer with a Ping reply frame The Ping reply frame contains a signal quality indication representing the RX signal quality in at the server Ping frame lt SOH gt OQ0QuPAOR 7 ABCD lt EOT gt Inquire frame lt SOH gt OOuPAOR 8 PI4TUE ABDD lt EOT gt Ping reply frame lt SOH gt PI4TUE 71 99 BCDA lt EOT gt Every PSKmail server has a link table containing client calls A client can only be in the link table of 1 server This function Is used when the server sends an APRS message to a specific client This way the message is only sent by one server The client sends a link request to a specific server and on receipt of the req
4. additions arg server address HOSTNAME The default is 127 0 0 1 arg server port PORT The default is 7322 xmlrpc server address HOSTNAME The default is 127 0 0 1 xmlrpc server port PORT The default is 7362 6 Go to jpskmail edit gt preferences gt modem and fill in the host name 7 Hit the OK button 8 Restart jpskmail jpskmail will now connect to the remote instance of fldigi in my case it is running on an eeePC 701 When I minimize fldigi the machine only needs a few Watts and I combine it with a file server function I can now operate jpskmail anywhere around the house as long as I am within range of the wifi access point 27 Main user interface tabs Terminal tab connected operation ARQ r jpskmail 1 5 SMORWO 7 0 File Mode Preferences Info Link ldenti ca Help qur abort cQ pos send SMORWO 4 1 4 15 16 50 17 IM3B81 4 mails Auth ok QRX getting your into Solar flux 147 and estimated planetary A index 6 The estimated planetary K index at 1500 UTC on 30 December was 1 annd Terminal Mad Files APRS Modem lgate Rigctl lt SOH 2 25 G amp amp 6A1 3 lt E0T gt lt US gt lt S0H gt 725 amp SSE lt E0T gt lt SOH gt 2 25 amp amp 641 3 lt E0T gt E SMORWO 4 gt OT gt PsKsoo swomwo 4 v 1 5 1751 05 MB With the terminal tab you can start a connected session with the server
5. modes resulted in a move to PSK250 which is an excellent mode it is of course faster and thus wider abt 250 Hz Wait a second we almost always use 500 Hz filters in our rigs Why not aim for a 500 Hz wide mode then That mode was PSK500 and we moved there around summer of 2009 Lengthy discussions within the group resulted in the consensus that it was time to break free from the chains of the old PSK31 keyboard to keyboard concept PSK31 was indeed a fine 1dea but it had to make some sacrifices in order to reach its goal of being a suitable successor to rtty Processing times could not be long it had to deliver data pretty much in a similar way that the rtty operators were used to and one apparent problem was a lack of forward error control A missing character here and there can mostly be handled by the human brain not so by a computer with checksum control of received frames VK2ETA John Douyere made it his task to create the more robust modes where FEC and an interleaver net was added to the PSK modes the new mode is designated as PSKRobust 500 250 125 and has been a real success In fact PSK robust 500 has been the default EU mode ever since Mode profiles were added by Rein these control the server speed and mode that can be adapted by the server The server can move a connected session to a faster mode when the conditions are right and can of course select a more robust mode when the conditions deteriorate While writing this asymmetr
6. on the servers drop list at the bottom line of the screen On program start the server 1s loaded from the configuration file Your pskmail client will automatically add more servers to the drop down list as QSL s of beacons and messages are received To be able to receive messages via a server it is necessary to be in its link table The server link table makes sure messages are sent by only one server at the time To get an entry into the link table you can manually send a link request ctrl 1 to the server The server will acknowledge the request and enter your call into its link table This can also be done automatically The client checks if the last link equals the preferred server and will send a new link request if necessary Auto linking can be switched off on the APRS tab On the APRS tab you can set the aprs beacon icon the beacon period and the status message Beacon minute 0 4 can be set on the bottom of the screen the beacon second on the Preferences gt Edit gt configuration tab It Is common practice to set the aprs beacon period to 30 minutes or 60 minutes for non moving objects To send a position beacon manually you can use ctrl b or the Pos button on the Terminal tab 34 To send an APRS text message just enter CALLSIGN Texttexttext into the text input field at the bottom of the screen Use upper case for the callsign If the callsign is known at a VHF aprs digipeater it will be delivered to VHF To send
7. project But there are a few things that need to be taken care of for pskmail The necessary settings can be found through the menu configure gt modems the tab Mail can be found through the Misc gt Pskmail tab Carrier frequency Hz Carrier frequency is the audio frequency you wish to use with your transceiver Many use 1000 Hz here as that makes frequency calculation easy For instance if the server uses the assigned frequency 10147 and you enter 1000 Hz then the dial should say 10146 upper sideband It is important that the carrier frequency is in the center of your narrow filter E g if the center of your dsp filter in an IC756 1s on 1500 Hz set your carrier frequency to 1500 Hz AFC range Hz Its good to have the client and server stay on the same frequency the modems will try to find each other by adjusting the frequency AFC That is why we limit how far away that AFC will be able to move the frequency AFC range is the setting to take care of a 50 Hz limit should be fine for wide modes Narrow modes such as PSK 63 will require a more narrow setting say 10 Hz Reset to Carrier and Report ARQ frames average S N Reset to Carrier kicks in when there is no signal present and forces the audio frequency back to the set carrier frequency it is recommended to enable that Report ARQ frames MUST be set Fldigi configuration HR or Operator Ul Waterfall Modems Rig Audio iD Misc Callsign DB Sweet Spot Spottin
8. quality The Send button starts the upload of the first email in the Outbox As soon as message sent has been received from the server the email will be deleted from the Outbox It is still available in the Sent file With the Delete button you can delete mails from your mailbox at the ISP Enter the numbers of the mails to be deleted in the input field You can enter more than 1 number separated by spaces The server will answer with Mails x x deleted in case of success The numbers reflect the numbering in your ISP mailbox After a delete mail operation you should clear your headers list and rebuild it so the list reflects the numbers in the ISP mailbox 3l Files tab connected mode jpskmail 0 8 PAOR 10147000 w PIJTUE PSKSOOR To download a single file from the server first enter the file name into the input field or double click a file name in the files list and push the download button jpskmail 0 8 PAOR 10147000 YF pr JH T FIL danish sea areas 2010 12 05 16 23 3370 dutch news 2010 12 05 16 23 1629 dutch wx 2010 12 05 16 23 2449 fleetcodes 2010 12 05 15 00 2624 fregs txt 2010 12 01 09 50 144 PI4TUE info 2010 12 01 09 50 239 pings log 2010 12 05 16 56 494 stdmessages 2010 12 05 16 23 258 uk shipping 2010 12 05 16 23 3629 WwW txt 2010 12 04 13 05 475 je PI4TUE 22 File download is binary compressed with gzip and base64 coded The client decodes and unzips it and puts it into
9. to get number of Get camper sites the wanted tide station SIM Get server fregs Get pskmail news Get web pages he 40 Get Grib file Here the client will send an email to query saildocs com requesting grib data centered on your position 5 degrees The server needs to know your return email address send your mail record to the server if that has not been done The grib file 1s delivered to your mailbox in the cloud Download it and view the file with ZyGrib Get IAC Fleetcodes This will query NOAA and fetch the IAC fleetcodes that produce a current pressure map for the north Atlantic A file will be downloaded to the client and placed within pskmail Downloads You can view the file with zyGrib Get IAC forecast This will query NOAA and fetch the IAC fleetcodes that produce a 24 hour forecast pressure map for the north Atlantic A file will be downloaded to the client and placed within pskmail Downloads ZyGrib is a good choice for viewing these files Get WWV Get latest Geophysical Alert Message wwv txt from NOAA Get APRS stations Get a list of nearby APRS stations uses clients reported position Get VHF UHF Relays Get VHF UHF Relays from DARC de centered at latest reported position Get camper sites Get nearby camp sites from DARC de Works only in EU Get Server freqs Get list of server frequencies entered at the PSKmail wiki server page Get pskmail news Get the latest pskmail news from the P
10. to request a web page fetch of the weather forecast 1s il gt 3 4 Find a web page with a suitable weather forecast look to the wiki for suggestions Prepare the web page request bookmark Connect to a server and During the connected session push the web page button and request the weather page Also the email compression selector will affect the way web pages are fetched If compression Is enabled then the web page will be asked for in a zipped format TGETZIP and if not in clear text Download a file from the servers file area Servers are connected to the internet and can fetch weather data periodically This means that forecasts warnings and even images etc can be available on the server ready for download to the client The server file area can be accessed during a connected session with a server Connect to the server and select the Files tab To see what files are available on the server just click on the List button The server will respond with the current list of files like the image below kueste 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 METAREA I HIGH SEAS FORECAST 2011 04 27 11 07 6366 METAREA I OFF SHORE FORECAST 2011 04 27 11 07 2895 METAREA I WARNING 2011 04 27 11 07 294 MMost 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 MMwest 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 navtex dutch 2011 04 27 10 08 1657 navtex emden 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 navtex rostock 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 nardostsee 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 nyheter 2011 04 27 11 06 5216 pings log 2011 04 27 11 06 1
11. 21 23 35 For another copy t Bilder RFI supportavtal radiomat send Dokument Tindices zip a blank email to GribWarning saildocs com GNUstep alFons iso Terminal Epi Hamtningar antan_test ina LO Sm SP 2m Sm menie or de apr og pl Markeringen home per Attachment gfs20120219105701150 grb gfs20120219105701150 grb Listening Filter ALA i PSKSOOR SMORWO 4 Alla Fi Ler Incoming email with attachment shown at the bottom of the window Click the save button to save the attachment as a local file Mail headers tab This tab will display the message list fetched from your email account while connected to a pskmail server You can choose a mail for download by right clicking on the header One mail at the time 29 isi SET MURS File Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter Link Help Mo From Subject 1170 Per Crusefalk User interface translation 171 kein Couperus pskrmail twitter is here again 172 kamal Mostafa ke Hamlib developer libtool chan FEE rOrP 22Bir Crusefa pskrnail Fe twitter is here again 174 Matthias Kromm FRADA Frage zu es und NIMM 175 Franco Spinelli pskrnail Ke twitter is here again 176 ESSE pskmail Ke twitter is here again Lee Twitter Michael Stafford is now following vau 178 0 F228 r Crusefa pskmail Ke twitter is here again 173 Roberto I50GRB Ke User interface translation 180 EEDXA Claimed Score Submission REDS A CRESL CoOleOm S
12. 255 SM wx 2011 04 27 10 08 4208 Stationsmeldungen 2011 04 27 10 08 2368 Terminal Email Files APRS Modem Igate Rigctl 45 Files are listed with filename date when it was last fetched and size in bytes The size part is important get the bigger files when the connection is good To get one of the files just click on it to select it and then use the Download button located just above the text control The client will then request the file from the server The available files and content will vary with the servers but some files will probably be available everywhere Some of those include METAREA I WARNING METAREA I HIGH SEAS FORECAST and METAREA I OFF SHORE FORECAST and these originate from the World Meteorological Organization these and similar for other areas can be seen at http weather gmdss org Below 1s an image of what the warning file looked like when writing this chapter METAREA I WARNING Wed Apr 27 10 07 06 UTC 2011 WONTS4 EGRR 270800 SELURITE STORM WARNING AT 2 0000UTC LOW 60 NORTH 56 WEST S84 EXPECTED 57 NORTH 42 WEST 993 BY 280000UTC WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH STORM FORCE 10 IM THE FAR SOUTHWEST OF WEST NORTHERN SECTION FROM 260300UTC Getting IAC Fleetcode data WMO FM 46 or IAC Fleet are weather standard codes maintained by the World Meteorological Organization These codes are designed for extreme brevity with mechanical typewriters or telegraphy operators in mind The standard code is also
13. Connect 1 Hit the Connect Button or goto Files gt Connections gt Connect The Connect button will give you a connect window where you can choose the modes Wait until server acks and starts the session The Connect Status will change from Listening to SERVERCALL and the small coloured indicator on the bottom right will turn green PSKmail uses a 3 way handshake for connect you know for sure the connect was successful when you receive the greeting message from the server You can now issue any command the server will recognize The most important functions can be reached with a button or via the menu To end the session hit the QUIT button same as Connect If the server does not receive this command you can abort the session by hitting the Abort button It is courteous to wait for the QUIT to disconnect in that case the server will not send polls until it times out 23 Abort With the abort button you can close a connection one sided The client sends an abort frame to the server If the server does not notice that it will continue polling until it times out It is not regarded very courteous to do this Pos With the Pos button you can manually send an APRS Posit packet Any server receiving it will send a QSL packet You do not have to be connected for this Terminal tab chat mode ARQ To use the chat client to client mode just put the callsign of the station you want to call into the server sel
14. IReception disables detector Notifications only X qU squelch open sec Illustration 2 RS ID settings It is advantageous to disable RSID receive and transmit for modes which pskmail is not using that makes sure fldigi does not switch to an invalid mode 12 Also enable the XMLRPC port in fldigi which is used for rig control and S N reporting on the client Fldigi configuration Operator Ul Waterfall Modems Fig Audio ID Misc Callsign DB Hardware PTT RigCAT Hamlib MemMap XML RPC Rig control via external program using xmlrpc remote calls willse XML RPC program Initialize Restore defaults When Fldigi works you can try to send some pings on one of the server frequencies if your signal is decoded by a server then you will get a reply In some configurations Fldigi will not send the last character of a frame lt EOT gt When this is the case you can add some random characters to the frame in the Modem Tab of the Edit Preferences screen Once you get answers from a server the preparations are done You could ask another station on frequency to take a look at the transmitted signal make sure it is not too wide The TX audio should just touch the ALC You are now ready to join the fun But you will of course read through the rest of the manual first 13 User Interface tour The jPSKmail application has an interface with some permanently visible parts and some that are grouped
15. MMON button is special If the RX Current and SERVERCALL frequencies are different the summon button will e Issue a Connect Request on the SERVERCALL frequency e Listen for the acknowledge on the RX Current frequency This tells the server to come to your RX Current frequency to handle the traffic Of course this only works if the server is configured to support summoning Main menu 38 File Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter Link Help The main menu 1s divided into these main sections File General operations like connecting to a server or client clearing lists and closing the app Mode Controls the main mode of the client and the modem mode including mode profiles for adaptive speed during connected sessions Preferences The way to edit or save the preferences dialog Mbox The way to handle local messages on a server during connected session This menu item is only visible if there 1s local mail waiting at the server Info Commands to send to a server during a connected session See a detailed breakdown of Info further below denti ca Send and get status updates on Identi ca Link Here is where we handle the link to servers Map Not currently used An integrated map that displays aprs data has been evaluated and an even better one will be worked on later Help Opens the interactive help which will be created from this manual and also displays license information about the application 39 Fil
16. Mode table and the default mode rrrrrrrrnnnnnrnrnrnnrrorrrnnnnnvrvrrnnnnnnnsennnnnnnnnrnnsnnnsnsnnsnne 19 Delle operaie NOE eee 19 Fre 19 Configuration Terminal tab connected operation ARQ rrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrrrrnrnnnrnnnnnrnnnnnnerrnvrnnnenr 20 Dec 21 Modes eee 22 Running fldigi and jJPSKmail on separate Purse br LOAD Od dcdES 23 Mir 24 Terminal tab connected operation ARQ Jenera ei e O EAE R R 24 Terminal tab chat mode AROJ urere Sent oe pr pente a ers E O E PES A aston 25 Compose SLN 26 Mail headers va 30 Nibba 31 Files tab comnecied ape 33 APRS fab Unconnecied Operaer 35 PE eee 36 Bottom PETN 36 Stat s Line Monitor THOGG iioi oed ento eov Peut e ded Erase un vata psu a Mri doe e LEE 36 Tb 36 Moden dyser 37 AUS AD EE 38 ror 38 Mie 39 PIC EEE EE REE EN EN ER 41 MO caesi NTN 4 FN CS osdonttub tied settee et Odnttesu esas iaa pin d ve opin tecum tubalbeptut d o ha nook Gen ae ua E dd dE 4 Moa 41 TOI TRI C EE EE NE UOI ELM DIM Eb D I UK Lond 42 IE qoc TC ESS 43 lo E PRENDE TURN ECTETUR 43 MINN 44 How to get weather information through PSKmail sees 45 Weather reports the human readable Kit I Ere e eH v et rr Lr PR epo des 45 Getinge IAC PIeetcode daa sudes eee one tU UL Uo ua Ode 47 CHET orno TIES NR m slewiaousbammcans 48 A Dpendre Ac Mode sele 49 Mode tables for adaptive asymmetric link control rrrrrnnnnnn
17. N ON Server data transfer OFF OFF Server changes mode ON OFF Client 1 5 6 uses TXID ON more often on slow modes like THOR8 and THORA This to enhance the robustness of the mode change protocol Also block size and blocks per frame are lowered using the slow modes 56 References MFSK modes http www gsl net zl1bpu MFSK PSK modes http aintel bi ehu es psk31 html Fldigi descriptions http www wlhk com FldigiHelp 3 12 Modes psk htm http www wihkj com FildigiHelp 3 12 Modes mfsk htm http www wihkj com FildigiHelp 3 12 Modes thor htm Fldigi http www wlhkj com beginners html PSKmail http www pskmail org Mailing list http www freelists org archive pskmail REV 8 Authored by Per Crusefalk amp Rein Couperus PAOR 02 03 2012 57
18. SB Multi 181 Fein Couperus ke digitalradio Ke PSEMLAIL twitter 182 query repk saildocs com gf s 45M 35 KM 5E 5 WW Terminal lt LI gt lt S0H gt zEOT gt EOT gt jeeiA y dtOn oiotnhiegectnhtutsu ttl mge ztnan zi stat Jan Ir ddtp si c n umvtct tnbpnnirytQomtodet Y mf 4cf nrinv tts e0E YeappjtenpaEc jEoep ehtceR 4v LO e elne metlFpnzarl eawvz25swscaqmi t k iad thatr v za x pna gbfhceuenithwi ahtn sitLella iui iesacu d tt ckerWnlez o Irt m 50 seweheau ole gi dtetLiopwf A ea stbelposrc2ondpeom sic s tecgea zegoid 4 pamMP eleP q sd amwhei ttic bthdicz23 md le nfanaeMte ej ngma gohrrme s Oikim cooet hIP gegtpsc amp daaeeeGehWitot eksooR 2E 15 36 26 B Mail tab buttons New mail The New button starts a dialog which allows composition of a new email It is possible to add a small attachment 6k OTC The QTC button requests the new mail headers from your email account It first reads the headers file to see what the last header is that was downloaded It will request only the new headers You can override that behaviour by either cleaning the headers file File gt Clear gt headers or send QTC 0 To the server Mail download is done by right clicking on the header As soon as the download starts the progress bar will start indicating 30 The progress bar goes to zero as soon as it reaches 100 In monitor or Listening modes the progress bar shows received signal
19. SKmail wiki Get web pages Open the web page window where a web page can be requested from the server Identi ca Send and get status updates for the PSKmail channel on Identi ca These updates will be sent to the PSKmail Identi ca account so follow that to get the news 4 Link Here is where to handle the link to servers Ping Send a ping frame on frequency Ctrl P Inquire Send a ping to one specific server Ctrl I Quality Show signal quality table on main terminal Ctrl Q e Link Send a link request to the server Ctrl L Update Update server with your mail data record Ctrl U Telnet Start the telnet agent Ctrl T hast verygoodserver se port 21 userid smOrwo password mysecret Cancel OK Connect Quit Illustration 3 Telnet connection dialogue Help Opens the interactive help which will be created from this manual and also displays license information about the application 42 Mapping application APRS information is mostly geographical by nature Most often we transfer our position and while doing so others can and will receive that data During a connected session we may ask about stations in the vicinity and the server will return a long list of stations with position attached The geographical data can be very useful as text but even more so when displayed on top of a nice map JPSKmail includes a server socket that many APRS clients can be very easily connected to The APRS server is ena
20. When idle and not monitoring the client will switch back to server vj the default mode automatically J RX PFSKS500R bal Cancel Connect Email settings Edit gt Preferences gt Malil options 1 Pop host The name of your pop server e g pop myisp com If you intend to use a gmail account then enter pop gmail com here 2 Pop User Your POP userid For gmail it is your full account name including gmail comor your domain com 3 Pop Password Your POP password 18 4 Return address When someone wants to respond to your email then the reply will be sent to this address if you want to receive the answer when away then use the address you can check When sending emails an smtp server checks whether your return address is valid This is also necessary for sending one line emails via APRS A server which does not have your return address may be unable to send your email For gmail this is your full account name including Ggmail comor your domain com It is now also possible to use a different return address for every mail which is convenient when e g you are on a boat with several people Compressed OTA Check this to enable compressed email handling and web page downloads over the air Compressed means that emails and web pages are transferred as binary zipped files this can speed up the transfer by a factor of 2x Configuration Terminal tab connected operation ARQ User data Email settings Con
21. a short email enter email addres xxx Texttexttext into the text input field Bulletin reception mode Whenever the client receives a bulletin anything starting with ZCZC and ending with NNNN it will go into bulletin mode Several things happen in Bulletin mode Frequency scanning is stopped during reception of the bulletin The received text will be appended to the file pskmail Downloads bulletins Bottom part of the client ETHE S amp O0H OOuSMORNWO 7 gt lt SMORNO EDO6 lt EOT gt per crusefalk se Hi myself Status Line Monitor mode The status line shows what the client is doing Listening most of the time When you click the Status Line it will switch to Monitor Mode In Monitor mode incoming packets are shown with a time stamp and if available the session partners 220643 H Monitor mode stops automatically as soon as a connected session 1s established or when a Bulletin is received Also Monitor Mode stops halts the frequency scanning so you are effectively monitoring a single channel Status Indicators There are 2 status indicators the channel indicator and the link status indicator The left hand one is the channel indicator Colours mean Grey Idle no data Data not valid Data block in progress Transmitting data 35 The right hand indicator shows link status The colours mean no errors on the link rx error tx error rx tx errors Ther
22. and accessible through tabs Upon starting the application it will display the main window jpskmail 1 5 SMORWO 7 0 File Mode Preferences Info Link Identi ca Help eu aet co J Pre J se SMORWO 4 1 4 15 16 50 17 IM3B81 4 mails gt Auth ok QRX getting your into Solar flux 147 and estimated planetary A index 6 The estimated planetary K index at 1500 UTC on 30 December was 1 annd Terminal Ma Files APRS Modem lgate Rigetl z gt lt SOH 2 25 amp amp 6A1 3 lt E0T gt lt US gt lt SOH gt 7256 755E lt EOT gt lt SOH gt 2 25 amp amp 641 3 lt E07 gt gm El SMORWO 4 PsK500 swomwo 4 v G a 175105 MM The main tabs and their purpose are Terminal shows the error corrected exchange with other stations Its not like the modem monitor further down in that only session text 1s displayed Email where you can send and receive emails Files where you can upload and download files to a server or to another client APRS the center of the APRS action including positions messages beacons etc Many will have that tab page up whenever not connected to a server Modem shows S N mode and lots of modem statistics also includes statistics on what servers can be used Igate shows all relevant information on what beacons have been relayed to the internet Rigctl allows access to th
23. b if you are connected to a GPS At this time jPSKmail will not update the system time the reason for that is that it requires different user privileges on different operating systems During a connected session while the Monitor function is active and also during reception of a Bulletin scanning is halted and the client will remain on the channel Choosing the appropriate modes Receiving conditions can be completely different at server and client Often the server runs more power than the client and the client s antenna is often too small badly tuned and in the middle of an electro magnetic field we usually call local QRM The latter is typical for camp sites with lots of RV s or boats in a harbour That is why PSKmail can use asymmetric link control providing different modes for uplink and downlink Link control for both up and downlink is done by the server Mode changing is established using RSID a separate super robust MFSK signal telling the modem at the other end of the link which mode to listen in Proper reception of RSID signalling 1s critical to efficient arq operation and it is the lower limit of what can be achieved on a link It is important to choose modes which are capable of connecting to the other end of the link A good choice for the client mode 1s the default listening mode of the server PSK500R or PSK250 THOR22 or MFSK16 Once the connect has been established the server will take over mode control and will use th
24. bled within options please have a look at the chapter here that deals with the devices tab Just set that to enabled and select a port to use or use the default 8063 which should be fine in most cases Beneath is an image where xastir http www xastir org is connected to JPSKmail running on the same computer The procedure is simple just ask xastir to connect to an internet server located on localhost at the port set within options default is 8063 TrackMe a Draw Fil Mi H Stati H Interf l 1ie HIEM aP E eh essage Interface Help J Measure J Hove In out A rj i z zx Pi Gurnshalmen Crna aris JI 1 Va i L E u LS Figisthiairier l rac oe rmera Torild ar Struten She m 1 E 1 J ET E 3 E eger M L NGGENT HIF es fan sr SPORET AL 1 A kN amp he i Y x P z an E qt r E LI I ELI LC ML gt As rund gt MELELELLILLLIL LOLL l11 1 1 11 1 1 M i p amp c ce coco L ia r d LEE Torg he Bee 8 opel V p comin e B E F FORTE Rn x rmn FW r Pj i 5 i Interface Control Device 0 LIP Internet Server localhost 8063 jpskmail E r re cp m 1 u l rre SCALE 3 fm Es l Amateur APRSttm St 57 43 How to get weather information through PSKmail This section is mostly intended for sailors but can of course be useful also for ot
25. cial PSKmail is designed with the mobile portable maritime too ham in mind There is no big power hungry and expensive modem to carry along PSKmail is designed to use your PC soundcard as modem right now the digital modem program Fldigi 1s what 1s being used for that very purpose A mobile portable station is mostly not what we sometimes refer to as a big gun antennas and power output tend to be on the modest side With that in mind PSKmail uses bandwidth efficient modes hardly ever wider than 500 Hz for frequencies gt 30 MHz that may of course be the case Wide data modes require a better signal to noise ratio than narrow ones PSKmail is even able to adapt the speed and the mode so that the client can select a really narrow and efficient mode Then again as the signal to noise ratio increases or the QRM goes away it will use wider and faster modes PSKmail network topology is flexible Clients can connect each other using ARQ for chat or message transfer Clients can connect to servers which are gateways to the internet Clients can send each other messages in unconnected mode B oe Clients can send APRS message and position beacons to the APRS backbone through the Servers GN Clients also contain a passive Igate which can gateway messages and posits to APRS Clients contain a telnet port where you can connect a map application like Xastir or Uiview 1 The system also includes a telnet client to connect to telnet serv
26. coast and sea shipping forecast Zarea 4 As PSKmail is not a broadband connection to the internet its a good idea to limit the amount of data requested and just get the necessary text By browsing this web page its easy to see that we can cut away things before and after the area we are looking for for instance we can start getting the page from general synopsis and end at Cromarty This way we can get just the part we are interested in The web page request window can be prepared like the image below Design Preview GetWebPageDialog Get URL From to URL 1 http news bbc co uk weather coast and sea The general synops Cromarty URL 2 URL 3 URL 4 URL 5 URL 6 OK Cancel 44 When the web page bookmark has been prepared we are ready to connect to a server and push that button to request the page When the server returns the requested page it will look like the example image below ro Identi ca Link Help Connect Abort CQ Pos Send The general synopsis at midnight High northeast Scotland 1032 expected Forties 1029 by midnight tonight Low just west af Rockall 1018 expected 150 miles east of Iceland 1011 by same time Viking Wind North becoming variable 3 or 4 Sea State Moderate occasionally rough at first Weather Fair Visibility Good North Utsire Terminal Email Files APRS Modem Igate Rigctl So in summary what is needed
27. e Handles general operations like connecting clearing lists and closing the application EJ PSKmail 0 8 9 Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter conned Clear p Abort Pending Transactions Connection Clear Inbox or Outbox Accept partial docs D Reject partial docs 2 Delete partial docs perus Clear headers Clear bulletins Show pending transactions Twitter j178 770PP amp 228 r Crusefa eSet file up download resume policy Mode Controls the main mode of the client and the modem mode including mode profiles for adaptive speed during connected sessions For a description see Appendix A Preferences The way to find the preferences dialog Mbox The way to handle local messages on a server during a connected session By local messages we mean messages addressed to user server These messages are stored locally only not forwarded to other PSKmail servers now The Mbox menu is only available when there are messages pending at the server You can send mails addressed to a server by using the CALL a SERVERCALL mail address Info commands Mbox SEE Identi ca Link Help Get Messages Fetch APRS messages for user stored at findu com Get tide Get Grib File Get tidestations Get IAC Fleetcodes Get list of tidestations close to current position Get IAC Forecast G et ti d e HHH Qs od bs stations Get VHF UHF Relays Get tide data for tide station use get tidestations
28. e In case two clients connect each other for a TTY chat session the caller is the slave All control functions are in the master which makes timing a lot easier than in the first PSKmail implementations where client and server would compete until they were transmitting synchronously on top of each other Status diagram server Client Connect request Listening Listening Connect ack Status msg TA elcome Connected Session Request esult Disconnect Transfer status Result Transfer QUIT Abort Disconnecting Protocol details All transactions between server and client are packed in frames Every frame consists of maximum 18 blocks viz O 16 data blocks 1 status block and 1 optional identification block at start of session and every 10 minutes thereafter 52 Frame structure lt SOH gt lt ident block data block data block status block EOT All blocks have the same structure They contain a header a data partition and a CRC16 number The start of a block is marked with a lt SOH gt ASCII 0x01 character A status block ends with a lt EOT gt ASCII 0x04 character The data partition can be O 64 characters long Or Block structure lt SOH gt lt header gt lt data gt lt CRC gt lt SOH gt lt header gt lt data gt lt CRC gt lt EOT gt status block The header consists of 3 characters The meaning of these c
29. e is a slight delay because the client does not know the link status until it receives it from the server 1 e most of the time the link indicator is 1 frame behind Modem tab This tab shows some interesting facts about the current modem status For instance it shows both the receive and transmit data mode this can differ during a connected session thanks to the asymmetric linkup capability S N value get fed back immediately and this 1s can will also used to rank heard servers Rx CPM shows the receive speed Characters Per Minute The maximum possible speed has been measured as 1862 characters minute PSK500 PSK500 jpskmail 0 8 PAOR 10147000 Fle Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter Link Help ARG Statistics Server statistics Rx PSKSOOR Av Qual 100 36 12 04 PSK500R tx Psks00R Blocs 3 6 12102 PSkSOOR O Alt sin 19 dB cPM 72 Files APRS Modem Igate Riget a Listening node reco ED x 36 Igate Tab jpskmail 0 8 PAOR 24925000 File Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter Link Help Igate ON Connected to netherlands aprs2 net Igate call PAOR IW2DHW PSKAPR TCPIP 14539 43N 00810 27E yOOO 000 jpskmail 0 8 5 Bl Listening The Igate can be activated on the Igate tab When it is on it will connect to a APRS Tier2 server All beacons and messages received by the Igate will be sent to the APRS IS backbone Rig control tab R
30. e proper modes for up and downlink channels If you are not sure your frequency is exact you can try THOR22 which is largely insensitive to small frequency offsets The new Connect window 1 5 6 allows you to set different RX and TX modes for the connect sequence Please be aware that slow modes need more time to get a connect packet through to a server It pays to start connecting at the beginning of the minute The newly introduced THOR4 mode will even need 90 seconds so it can only be used for connecting if the server actually listens in THOR4 for minimum 2 minutes 17 Setting the Mode table and the default mode Starting with version 1 4 0 the client can set a custom mode table which is sent to the server during the connect sequence The mode table can be set using the Preferences Modes dialogue User data Email settings Configuration Devices PSK500 PSK500R PSK250 PSK250R PSK125R J PSK125 O MFSK32 THOR22 O MFSK16 C THOR11 THORS THOR4 Fix list Def Mode Psksoor Lex Cancel By hitting the Fix list button you fix the mode table Set the Default mode with the Def mode spinner and push OK to store the modes list Setting operating modes The new 1 5 6 Connect window lets you choose which server to connect and which modes to use for TX and RX during the connect sequence Connect As soon as the session is established the other side will control your mode Connect to server
31. e scanner and summoning functions 14 The main user interface is divided into several sections the sections have different main purpose and they are as follows jpskmail File Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter L Main menu xOxdfje5 2B3yVbGdqmawuwuvlAlvsk6sLl alFMr ZZWiyOTIpeSstedwxIisEaaARvqvhxcpbkaberEDS5dk k V seovTEwS O7 Immer paapznmis mg usgogqvixeL ArzwWvpslzwzciTcHCXxzfoSspoaBgHI2EGgJSLeyucY XxME37mgGsIROsapcvDb3NF2tYcislvlmfdkgisrnmi eaclz ARSm wWwsJ txsAkpXde EGAAA pr Buttons for important functions on the selected tab Tab area contents depend upon selected tah end 2010 12 04 22 05 dutch news gz received SMORWO Pskmail server 1 0 24 10 41 58 1M8 Grouping tabs Modem monitor area always visible Application status outgoing text Server selector etc SMOR VY O sin 44 dB But before we go into detail about the main user interface we need to dive into configuring and setting up the client 15 Preferences window User data The first thing to do is to set up your preferences The preference window can be reached through the menu choose the preferences item and then edit Configuration Devices Moden Rig User data Email settings Callsign PAOR Linkto SMORWO Minute 2 B Longitude 13678742 re OK Cancel The fields on the first tab page need editing the fields are I Cal
32. ector and hit the connect button Since JPSKmail 0 8 5 automatic mode control is implemented YNG reins X desktop sleepy 10 BYEN Ex E Applications Places System hes 17 11 24 j rein PSK jpskmail 0 8 PAOR 10146000 nest File Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter Link Help jPSKmail Pos Solar flux 8 d mid latitude A index 0 The mid latitude K index at 1200 UTC on 04 December was 0 04 nT end Hi this is the PSKmail client of DJOLN Version is jpskmail 0 8 Terminal Email Files APRS Modem Igate Rigctl gt i R heropt rat G lt S0H gt 7 s D47E EOT gt lt SOH gt w s 7551 lt EOT gt et ge B a DJOLN s n 14 dB PSK500 Se oew 2 n a fldigi waterfall only mode e x GPDRIVE zyGrib Pr imi File Op Mode Configure View Spot MRXID c TxID TUNE 10145 5 0146 0 zs ae T 0146 5 10147 0 Fa TE ETE DE F yo i EO 24 For File upload go to the Files Tab and hit the Upload button After choosing a file to upload the client will ask you what the addressee for the file is jPSKmail is being prepared for Delay Tolerant Networking in future VNC rein s X desktop sleepy 10 EN PEN es 17 25 06 Jrein amp 3 Applications Places System PSK m M 9 x nat jPSKmail File Mode Preferences Mbox Info Twitter Link Help Connect Abort Read Upda
33. elow But the steps are 1 Get and install Fldigi 2 Install PSKmail 3 Make sure you have a java runtime environment 4 Launch the actual installer 5 Configure Fldigi and the jPSKmail client Optional aprs mapping client APRS contains geographical information such as positions of boats vehicles etc Its very nice to see that information on top of a map that is why an aprs mapping client can connect to jpskmail and use that as a local internet server JPSKmail outputs APRS information to that client To connect a map application to pskmail use tcp port 8063 Installation Instructions for RXTX jPSKmail needs a JAVA Communication API to communicate with a GPS via the serial line RS232 or USB that library is the rxtx package These steps are only necessary if you intend to actually use a GPS Windows 98 NT 2000 XP For installing the RXTX package you will find the necessary dll and jar files within the directory where you installed jPSKmail Installation procedure copy rxtxSerial dll to JAVA HOME bin JAVA HOME is the folder where JRE is installed on your system e g c Program FilesJavay2rel 4 1 01 copy RXTXcomm jar to JAVA HOME lib ext Linux If you are using Ubuntu you may very easily take care of that by installing librxtx java using synaptic or from a terminal with sudo apt get install librxtx java Others manual procedure For others linux other than ubuntu the simple procedure that foll
34. figuration Devices Modem Rig Log File client log Max retries 16 5 Idle time 15 g TX delay o g Second 20 g peo 1 El Cancel Edit gt Preferences gt configuration 1 2 Log file Max retries Maximum number of retries in TTY chat mode Idle time Max time seconds the client waits for the end of a session when idle in chat mode only TX delay Time delay in seconds before the TX starts sending Normally 0 Beacon second You can fine tune the time your beacon is sent by changing this value 19 6 Offset minute Deprecated 7 DCD hang time The DCD hang time sets the sensitivity of the RX to noise on the channel A value of 1 2 is adequate in most cases A value of 0 effectively switches DCD off If the value is too high the delay can interfere with the beacon timing of the system If there is a lot of noise on the channel random characters received the client may not be able to send a status packet in time During a connected session DCD is not active Devices User data Email settings Configuration Devices Modem Rig Modes GPS settings GPS is connected Use gpsd Serial port v Get ports Speed 1200 gt APRS Server port Enabled Port number 8063 OK Cancel This tab controls external devices and connections At the moment that means an external GPS and the internal APRS server for external mapping clients The GPS is used for updated positio
35. g Macros CPU Text Capture Pskmail Mail Server Attributes 4 1000 Carrier frequency Hz v Reset to Carrier k 20 F Search range Hz 1 3 P Acquisition S N dB 4 40 HAFC range Hz General v Report ARQ frames average S N Restore defaults These settings are only valid when Fldigi 1s connected to the pskmail client If Fldigi drifts away from the frequency and seems to ignore what you have entered here then perhaps the connection 11 between the client and the modem was not successful The initialization will only take place when the client or server connects to the modem Fldigi This means you should always start Fldigi prior to starting the pskmail client or server Please ensure That Fldigi is started before the server or client is started If Fldigi is restarted for any reason the server or client must also be restarted RS ID The next to take care of is RS ID settings which is very simple Just uncheck everything in the RS ID frame illustration of that below Fldigi configuration Operator Ul Waterfall Modems Rig Audio ID Misc Callsign DB Video Preamble ID Transmit mode ID video ID modes ITransmit video text 1500 Hz limit Use small font Chars Row vw Mode width limit CW Postamble ID Speed WPM Transmit callsign I DE CW ID modes Reed Solomon ID Rx Reed Solomon ID Tx IDetector searches entire passband Mark previous frequency and mode
36. haracters is different for master server and slave client and also depending on block type For the client header Block type Character 1 Character 2 Character 3 Status Rx s n 0x20 Ox7A Session 0x20 Ox5F s Data 0 Session 0x20 OX5F Blocknr 0x20 Ox5F Connect Protocol version 0 1 O C Summon Protocol version 0 1 0 n Abort 0 Session 0x20 Ox5F a Ident 0 Session 0x20 Ox5F i For the server header Block type Character 1 Character 2 Character 3 Status Next Txmode 0 8 Session 0x20 Ox5F s Data 0 Session 0x20 Ox5F Blocknr 0x20 Ox5F Connect ack Protocol version 0 1 Session 0x20 Ox5F k Disconnect 0 Session 0x20 Ox5F d Ident 0 Session 0x20 Ox5F Some blocks have a fixed data field Block type Data partition Connect PIATUE 24 PAOR 1024 xyyyy x 0 38 initial server TX mode yyyy mode table Connect ack PAOR 1024 PIATUE 24 x x block data length Summon PIATUE 24 PAOR 1024 10146000 x x 0 8 initial server TX mode Ident PAOR de PI4TUE 53 ARQ control and repeats The receive buffer is a circular buffer with room for 64 blocks The status block data field carries the status of the receive buffer Char 1 Char 2 Char 3 Chars 4 12 Last block sent Buffer o k Last good block Missing blocks this frame until incl b
37. her purposes and situations I am mostly writing as a sailor as that 1s the situation familiar to me There are multiple ways to get weather information there are also multiple ways of using this information and the intention here is to briefly talk about all of this In no way is this the complete resource on how to do this as that would require several books or years of study The three main ways to get weather data at the moment is as clear human readable text 1 e the weather report or forecast IAC Fleet codes and grib files The latter two are intended for use with a viewing tool There are also other possibilities weather fax stations are available on the hf bands and a server sysop can set up a job that makes sure the latest report forecast or image is available at the server all the time contact the system operator for special needs Weather reports the human readable kind The main ways of getting these reports and forecasts are three 1 Geta web page containing the necessary weather data 2 Download a file from the servers file area 3 Listen to a broadcast from a server Fetch a web page Getting a weather forecast from a web page involves a few steps The first step is finding a reliable source web page to get data from There are of course numerous sources for these and the PSKmail wiki 1s a good place to list the ones that work now Here I will use BBC as an example for instance the url http hews bbc co uk weather
38. ic linkup has been implemented By that we refer to a connection that does not use the same mode and speed in both directions For instance its now possible to have a weak client use a slow and robust mode while the server uses a very fast one The mode scope now ranges from THORA to PSK500 using PSK MFSK and THOR modes to cater for differing adverse conditions including polar flutter multipath Doppler and QRN What is PSKmail PSKmail is a system that uses data modes to enable clients to access both the internet and to communicate with other pskmail clients Data modes are used over a suitable radio mostly it s a hf radio but higher frequencies are also in use Just saying internet access could mean that the system should support a whole range of services and indeed it does just that 1 Messaging o Handles the users regular email account including gmail etc o For emergencies its even possible to handle messaging off the internet the whole internet could be down messaging works anyway Web browsing fetch and read any web page Twitter send and read tweets via 1denti ca File up and download supports APRS including position reports messages and short emails Supports map clients like Xastir and Uiview E Lo add de But that s just part of what s there now Servers can also fetch your weather report periodically show you where the nearest camp site 1s and tell what other users are nearby and so on So what makes PSKmail spe
39. ices on the internet or on a LAN connected to the server In summary what is pskmail The main characteristics of PSKmail can be summed up as A semi duplex ARQ Chat client capable of transferring files A full fledged solution for HF APRS including integration with the map clients An internet connection that can be used where there 1s no internet connection Such as from a boat at sea or a cottage somewhere or on expedition or Narrow efficient data modes are used Thus enabling even the most modest setup Servers on short wave provide long range connectivity No expensive and bulky modem all you need is a PC a transceiver and an antenna Available on multiple operating systems Linux and Windows MacOS and FreeBSD What about security in pskmail Starting with jPSKmail 1 2 the link is protected with a password If no password is set the link is insecure To use the POP3 mail agent on the pskmail server it must know where to get your mail Unlike other HF mail systems the pskmail server does not store your mail it has to get it from the mailbox at your ISP The server uses a database to store your POP data viz Pop server userid and pop password The database can be updated from the client by sending a record to the server with the update server command To make sure only the server gets the data the client sends the record using a cooky By setting a link password via the Preferences dialog you make sure somebody else using y
40. ig control can be switched on via the Preferences gt Edit gt Rig options dialog E x Email settings Lise rigctl scan Status OM Offset Hz 1000 Channels 0 IL 2 3 4 10147000 10147000 10147000 10147000 10147000 DJ The scanning function can be switched on separately You can also enter the default frequencies for the scanner These should be entered as the center frequencies of the channel as the scanner will use the Offset to calculate the VFO dial frequency It is possible to store the frequency tables of known servers in the pskmail directory The files are called SERVERCALL chn and contain a comma separated list of frequencies in Hz Example for PI4TUE chn 29250000 10147000 10147000 10147000 18106000 B jpskmail 0 9 3 PAOR 10147000 File Mode Preferences Info Identi ca Link Help Server summoning Rx Current 10147000 active Frequencies to scan Scan 10147000 10147000 10147000 10147000 10147000 Terminal Email Files APRS Modem Igate Rigal SOH gt 000uPAOR gt zSMORWO EE92 lt EOT gt psksoor I 2149 16 22 52 EB Whenever CAT control is activated on Fldigi the transceiver can be controlled from the rigctl tab SERVERCALL will follow the server frequency table The Set button will put this into Rx Current which is the CAT frequency in fldigi Rx Current can be incremented and decremented with the and buttons The transceiver will follow The SU
41. ingle digital radio mode Instead it uses a range of modes with separate adaptive control on up and download channels The maximum bandwidth of the HF system is 500 Hz and speeds range from 44 CPS for ideal channels down to 2 CPS for the most problematic ones For clean single hop channels PSK modes are used for fuzzy channels MFSK and THOR modes are employed including convolutional coding Viterbi decoders and interleavers to counteract static noise Radio interface The radio is always used in USB mode as several of the modes used are polarized THOR modes e g are derived from DominoEx Often a hardware interface is needed between modem and radio to provide galvanic isolation for audio signals and PTT signal The protocol timing also allows the use of VOX Modem interface PSKmail uses Fldigi gt 3 20 as a modem which is a multi mode digital modem program using the computer sound card PSKmail uses ASCII characters 0x01 SOH 0x04 lt EOT gt 0x06 lt ACK gt 0x12 lt DC2 gt and printable ASCII characters 32 127 to talk to the modem The system uses RSID signalling to notify the link layer protocol engine of mode changes and also makes signal noise ratio data available to the application PTT signalling is generated by Fldigi 51 The modem program is available for all operating systems Link layer protocol The PSKmail system uses a master slave protocol The server is the master the client is the slav
42. itched off again This to prevent mode chaos on the frequency Squelch Control The squelch in fldigi is controlled by the jPSK mail client The squelch level is automatically set to match the operation mode If the squelch is switched off inadvertently JPSKmail will automatically switch it back on Without squelch operation the DCD function does not work and the client cannot send beacons if the squelch is open 50 Appendix B PSKmail ARQ protocol specification 3rd draft Introduction PSKmail is an ARQ data transmission system It has been optimized for use on short wave HF radio frequencies PSKmail has both a client server architecture and a client client architecture The servers are gateways to diverse services on the internet The clients enable mobile or portable radio stations to access the internet where there is no other coverage or send messages and files to each other To use PSKmail one uses a short wave radio and a PC with a sound card and often a hardware interface between the radio and the PC The communications protocol has been optimized for the specific conditions on short wave e Varying propagation conditions on short wave with multi path doppler effects and often weak signals near the noise floor e Often the mobile stations run low power and compromise antennas e As ham radio uses shared frequencies interference levels are high To cater for this wide range of conditions PSKmail does not use a s
43. jPSKmail User guide PSK mail User manual updated Wednesday February 22 2012 Reflecting jPSKmail version 1 5 7 Copyright c 2010 2012 P r Crusefalk and Rein Couperus Permission is granted to copy distribute and or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License Version 1 3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections no Front Cover Texts and no Back Cover Texts A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License Contents A brief attempt at writing the history of the project sss 5 VMS Pok Mal PE 7 50 Wiat makes PARKEN SG fi nm ys what 1s PM vvs 8 What about security 1 PSKNAI Laden 8 T stalabtroncand CUEING Ed NN 9 Ti Stall DOC e UM NE NE Se ER EE 9 Optional dprs map pie LNG 9 Tnistallation Instrucuons or RX EX osse etie poe DO Ge bod tuia hee voee bod aaa uM des 10 Hardware selec UOfleneesdadiscestco meme ictus adis scs eraut m ius decise ue tags Rue T adi aseo duele 11 TR 11 DOUBdCdrt e bL C EPIO ENE EE ENE NN EN der 11 MANN NE 11 SSS He UD TI un ta vett team utm sitom mt t Mitte Eu 12 User Interac e ai c P 15 Peel svev 17 SCR CALA Vh4 v444rr PP 17 sending the link password to the Server sisisi tepina inna EETA EAE AEAEE a 18 Beacon minute and Server Channie lorena a E ago od Cue ioci oet a eu e ptaR c 18 CHOOSING the appropriate THOGGS eee Ne 18 setting the
44. l address Its done in unconnected mode and a server that receives it will transmit an acknowledge packet user dornain com Will anchor as planned all is well 73 sw vs OL sese 28 This email 1s sent in unconnected mode so keeping the text short helps it get through to a server Receiving email Received emails are added to a file called Inbox This file 1s in mbox format so you can use it as a spool file for mail clients like Sylpheed or Thunderbird That way the mail you receive via PSKmail can be integrated with your regular mail To read your mail using jPSKmail e Connect to the server e Go to the email tab e Hit the QTC button your headers will be added to the list e When you want to download a mail double click on the header it will be added to the Inbox Right clicking on the header will give you a short menu Get or open e When you want to read a mail go to the Inbox tab and double click on the header Again right clicking will give you a small menu Arkiv Modes Nytt brev MI MIT Tel Te Tu M AEREE Headers Svara Vidarebefordra inbox mne fs 64N 54N 23E 13E Outbox Fran query reply saildocs com Ny mapp Byt namn p fil Svara till Datum 19Feb2012 10 57 59 home per v Till Mappar Grib extracted From File gfs120219 067 grb dated 2012 02 19 10 50 34 request code gfs 64N 54N 23E 13E m CIMG0861 JPG Audiobooks Pi2 ny csv ReFer to notice amp warnings sent 2012 01 31
45. lient and the server will follow this table Separate RX and TX modes and speeds can be set for the connect sequence the server will change the modes according to the channel condition The table incorporates the most popular modes covering a large range of speeds sensitivities and robustness qrm Doppler multipath 49 Possible mode table PSK500 PSK500R PSK250R THOR22 MFSK16 THORS THOR4 The modes in these tables run from fast to slow and become more robust and sensitive from right to left The server knows the S N ratio and the download success rate in the client and chooses the modes which allow the best throughput for the present channel conditions Initial tx and rx modes are set on the client prior to issuing a connect frame This is still under operator control Before sending a frame the server decides if a mode change is possible up or necessary down based on the S N ratios of both links and arq success history In that case the server switches one position up or down in the table APRS Mode choice For the APRS functions the best mode is normally the default channel mode In Europe this is PSK500R US servers will use PSK250 unless they operate on MARS frequencies In case a station does not come through in the default mode it 1s possible to use a lower speed mode with RSID on TX RSID can be switched on manually in fldigi On receipt of a QSL from a server the client s TXID will automatically be sw
46. link password to the server Connect to the server After sending your mail user record Write SETPASSWORD lt enter gt Beacon minute and server channel A server sysop may want to cover several frequencies using only one transceiver By switching between several bands its possible to have both local coverage on 80 meters and DX on higher bands provided the antenna is capable of that PSKMail uses a five minute continuous scan loop where servers can monitor one frequency per minute The beacon minute setting in the client controls what minute to send aprs position beacons a correct value there is then the minute that the server you want to link to listens to the frequency you are tuned to The server scans during minute 0 4 and can use one default mode and frequency per minute The scan loop goes on and on so minute 5 of the hour is minute 0 in the loop and so on Let s say that the server scans 80 40 30 20 and 17 meters It listens during one minute on each frequency and all the servers update their scan table on the wiki that way you can find what frequency and mode the server is on So if you would like to try 30 meters then the server in the example 1s there during minute 2 So you should set minute 2 on the client and it will handle beacons etc on the proper minute This means its important to sync your pc clock using ntp or manually There are numerous ways about this from GPS GPS time is visible beneath the position on the aprs ta
47. lock x received 0x20 Ox5F 0x20 Ox5F 0x20 Ox5F 0 8 x 0x20 Ox5F Missing blocks are repeated by adding them to the next frame Adaptive mode control The server controls both its own digital mode and that of the client The mode table covers a broad range of speeds and modes PSK500 PSK500R PSK250R MFSK32 THOR22 MFSK16 THORS For use in USA where Baud rates over 300 Baud are not allowed on ham radio frequencies below 30 MHz an alternative mode table is available PSK250 PSK250R PSK125R MFSK32 THOR22 MFSK16 THORS In client version 1 5 6 and server version 1 5 1 THOR4 has become available Both client and server measure S N ratio of the frame received and the client sends its SNR data to the server in every status block The server signals mode changes to the client via RSID and through a flag in its status block header If a status block is not received a poll frame is sent which is just an empty frame without data blocks TX and RX modes are controlled in such a way that the number of ARQ repeats are limited providing optimum throughput for the relative channel The server uses RSID on receive so the client can connect in any of the available modes Default listening mode is PSK500R but the server can scan more sensitive modes for DX if necessary Mode indicators for sending the Mode table to the server 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b C e THOR MFSK THOR
48. lsign Please use capitals for your call and don t use additions like ZL or M SSID s 2 15 are allowed Your email settings are stored at the server using the callsign as key If you wish to check several email accounts then you could tie them to an ssid each I use no ssid for my primary email account and 2 for gmail Just type in the first update the server and repeat the procedure for the next account 2 Linkto Call of the server or client you want to connect normally the one you can hear best There is a list of servers on the pskmail wiki server operators are requested to keep that list up to date http pskmail wikispaces com PSKmailservers The server call can be changed with the server selector at the bottom of the page 3 Minute The minute the client beacons The server has 1 minute time slots with a 5 minute period The beacon minute runs from 0 4 It is used to make sure you don t tx on top of someone else Also some servers are scanning several frequencies and you can choose the channel this way 4 Latitude In decimal degrees in case you do not use a gps unit You may leave this field empty if you intend to use the devices tab to declare how a gps is connected North is positive 16 5 Longitude In decimal degrees in case you do not use a gps unit may leave this field empty if you intend to use the devices tab to declare how a gps is connected East is positive 6 Set link password Sending the
49. ltiple recipients can be entered its important to then separate them with a comma like userl domain com user2 domain com By clicking on the TO button a window showing the address book contacts 1s shown and those can be used to address he message Just select the desired contact on the left hand side and push add for the TO or Copy fields When done just push the close button and the addresses will be displayed on the new email Copy Please note that this functionality is not yet included in the server In time it will be used to add copy addressees to your message much like any other email client is able to 26 File Edit N noidea com gt John Public john public amp noagenda gov John Smith lt john smith noidea c Attachment Addressing an email using contacts Subject Well its the message subject keeping it somewhat short is good Message body The message text the actual content of the message Add attachment If you wish to add an attachment then browse for it after clicking this button The attachment will be compressed and packed into the message so please bear in mind that it needs to be small I would not add attachments bigger than a few kb De Sending email connected When connected the Send button on the email tab can be used to transmit your prepared messages in the local outbox The Send button currently sends one email at a time so if you have two emails then you will ha
50. n beaconing and also GPS time is fetched and shown on the client The internal APRS server is used from an aprs mapping client for instance xastir APRS data is fed to the mapping client so that geographical aprs information can be viewed on top of a map 1 GPS is connected If the rxtx libs are installed then this checkbox can be used Select it to have the client look for and use a gps 2 Use gpsd Gpsd is a gps data server which is only available in Linux It allows several programs to use the data of the gps unit Uncheck this if you are running windows jPSKmail uses the new gpsd protocol so you must use gpsd version gt 2 9 0 3 Serial port Where is the GPS connected The client will attempt to fetch the systems serial ports and in the example above the client is running on linux Other systems will refer to the ports by other names such as COMI etc 4 Speed 20 Standard NMEA speed is usually 4800 bps but if other speeds are used then just select the correct one here 5 APRS Server port enabled jPSKmail can act as your own internet APRS server Just point an APRS mapping client to localhost when jPSKmail and the mapping client are installed on the same computer that is 6 Port number Connect the APRS client to localhost and the port noted here Modem User data Email settings Contiguration Devices Modem Modem settings IP Address lacalhast IP Port 7322 Frame preamble Frame postamble
51. nnnnnnnrrnnnnnnnrvrrnnnnnnnennnnnnnennnnrnnnensene 50 PRS NO NONE 50 SINT Le 50 PX PCT D NN 51 PSKmail ARQ protocol specification 3rd draft orrrrrnnnrnnnnnnrrrrrrnnrrnnnnnnerrrrnnnnerrnnnnerrnnnnernnnneer 51 Ker 57 Preface A brief attempt at writing the history of the project The PSKmail project was started by Rein Couperus PAOR early 2005 The baby steps were taken with a modification of gMFSK the mode of choice was PSK63 and traffic was handled by the one and only server PI4TUE that existed Soon another server joined the effort SMORWO in Stockholm and suddenly the project had multiple users two and had to evolve For a time there was only the server in Stockholm and two clients PAOR and SMORWO and the project made necessary adjustments for the hf environment Soon more servers started to appear ISOGRB Roberto added a much needed server in the Mediterranean Then more and more servers joined such as WB5CON Fred and DL9Y CS J rg The Intermar group then followed with several servers At the start only email traffic was handled and as stated earlier only done so using PSK63 Soon more services were added web browsing was one of those One of the more important additions was APRS Traffic was handled nicely by PSK63 but yours truly SMORWO felt the need for speed and noticed that the Fldigi project offered PSK 125 Quickly Fldigi was integrated and PSK 125 was the mode of choice for a long time That urge for faster
52. not necessary for a client at the moment but could be useful for handling the PTT Soundcard interface A soundcard interface 1s used to connect the computer to the transceiver It may in theory be possible to connect straight lines between sound in out and the microphone connector on the transceiver but that method has so many drawbacks that it is not recommended A soundcard interface will provide isolation between the pc and the radio it will normally be attached to the transceiver data connector and that helps keep the receive level correct Its also much better to have the interface control the keying of the PTT instead of using a VOX In all please do consider using a soundcard interface Antenna This 1s a favourite subject among radio amateurs and I suppose whatever I write here will be subject to discussion Anyway an old truth may help big antennas are good antennas and small antennas are only small You are more than welcome to discuss antenna choice on the pskmail mailing list many experienced hams should be ready to help For a sailing boat a classical antenna 1s to use an insulated backstay with a tuner mounted close to that wire Illustration 1 SMORWO portable setup from left Yaesu FT 817ND SB 2000 interface and EEE PC Setting up Fldigi PSKMail needs a modem to work that modem is Fldigi and setting it up properly is absolutely crucial General Fldigi setup is best described by the help provided by the Fldigi
53. our callsign is unable to get your mail You have to do this only once for every server unless the database gets lost From jPSKmail 1 5 6 and server 1 5 1 you can also erase the record from the server Data mail files web pages are NOT encrypted on the link but it is possible to send them compressed zipped to speed up transfers Installation and getting started To use PSKmail you need 1 A ham radio license 2 An HF transceiver with a working antenna solution for boats that may include an antenna tuner and an insulated backstay or a whip antenna 3 A computer running Linux Mac OS or Windows o FreeBSD should also be fine but we lack test reports there 4 An interface for connecting the computer soundcard to the hf transceiver 5 Anarrow filter 500 Hz in the transceiver is highly recommended A bandpass dsp may also be very nice but 1s normally not a replacement for a real filter To install and use the JPSKmail client you will need l A java runtime environment o For Linux and MacOS you should be able to get that through your software distribution system software update o For all others windows its here http java com en download manual jsp 2 Asuitable modem we use Fldigi for that now o Fldigi can be found here http www wlhkj com Fldigi html Install procedure The install procedure is in principle the same for all operating systems there are subtle differences and they will be shown further b
54. ows involves copying files from the folder where jPSKmail was installed Installation procedure copy librxtxSerial so to 4JAVA HOME jre lib 1386 JAVA HOME is the folder where JRE is installed on your system e g usr local j2sdk1 4 1 01 copy RXTXcomm jar to VoJAVA HOME re lib ext Hardware selection Transceiver There are many kinds of transceivers in use many work really well with pskmail Selecting a transceiver can be tricky and is of course guided by many factors few words of advice may be helpful for the beginner anyway A good transceiver should have an optimized digital mode a mode where a narrow filter can be used for better reception Adding a 500 Hz narrow filter is a very good way to enhance the S N ratio on receive and may be the difference between a working and a non working connection Older transceivers may lack a dedicated digital mode and may require special handling in order to employ a narrow filter One way around that is to use a split and listen in cw with filter and transmit in USB That method may also require tweaking the rig BFO for cw A memory for all of that is then useful As some of the modes markedly the slower MFSK modes used require precise TX and RX frequencies choose a transceiver which is capable of doing that A server that intends to use some kind of scanning will require a computer control connector such as CI V or CAT or whatever hamlib will support Computer control is
55. ready you can view the attachment with zyGrib 47 Wed 2011 04 27 06 00 UTC Ui EOM 10 m qe T AB a S esc S fw ere SEE SERES So di ime Wu N punt o A C M Sa UE 1 me 4 A grib p fi le le fetched and displayed when writing this manual So summing it up Connect the the server request the grib file download the grib file and view the grib file with zyGrib or another viewer for grib files The attached file will be placed within the Files folder within the pskmail directory pskmail Files on linux 48 Appendix A Mode selection This table tries to gather data about the data modes that are usable with pskmail Its important to note that this 1s an attempt and a work in progress test results and data that can be used to enhance this table is most welcome Anyway a few facts and conclusions can be drawn from this table The fastest mode 1s PSK500 live tests have shown speeds of 1862 char min with ARQ The fastest mode for US hams on HF is PSK250 The slowest mode here is THOR 8 at 28 wpm The most narrow mode is PSK63 63 Hz wide Choice 1 3 for Baud Speed wpm Speed wpm Speed Bandw SNR Weak High Flutter Mode rate capital letters small letters bps hz at least NVIS signals Speed fading Description and use PSK63 63 14 102 88 63 2 3 3 3 3 Vy narrow bt also vy slow PSK125 125 148 204 176 125 1 3 3 3 3 Better PSK250 250 296
56. te Download Upload List EE ulcer Bible Med eee od iocus na 21GrKAanexKN Rt 2M5tHPIES7RNOAN On drFeNvRmPNA7RANthfv dXp473m ES EYORs VMvZ bQYdNOYN 597s YBG H SlZuH669 IHcp AkRSK kJhqNhc2 VtEt6k4w 8t3B2YEl GzufXlH4 6 PfPVPn7Cf3J49ApsQzDiEpgiu2QKKxA6hQWxM2737K7pi ram6 XWd J2c NKbLdhVe7tha xkz75CF AA Open Fidigi New Folder Rename File home rein DL v Folders Eiles 7 la IDL wetter DOTjwmrc bak METAREA HIGH SEAS FC METAREA OFF SHORE FC arctic AMSRE nic lewqualit barcelona WX _ gt immi a To Selection home rein DL bp 7y ctl6Iu Pb eel tnu E GPDRIVE Hey PI4TUE_info EN I Filter all Files iv P Don v 26 17 25 06 EM zyGrib B weg 10 Dal 70 pen Jee non jaja 1000 ejes Composing an email There are two basic ways to create and transmit emails from jPSKmail Proper emails with custom subject and possibly an attachment Very short emails called pskaprs emails with fixed subject and no attachment Preparing an email The email editor can be reached with the New button on the Email tab The email editor 1s rather simple there are fields for address copy subject and message content 25 File Edit add attachment add attachment mm Copy i Subject To Enter the addressee email address here Mu
57. the Downloads directory After download the file can be READ or UPDATED There is a file chooser dialog to make that easy New Folder Delete File Rename File c om hame rein DL a E dbuienradarnl anil20phone bulletins coanv sh Filter All Files 33 APRS tab Unconnected Operation e jPSKMail v 0 3 7 MEEI File Edit Mode Mbox Info Twitter Link Map Help Terminal Mail headers a APRS Im Position Beacon settings Icon y ii Beacon Period 10 v W Autalink PI4TUE i 51 3742 Lami d 16 42 PAOR test 01 Longitude 005 3365 Course 210 Speed 001 Fix taken 144238 og Wl Beacon on n Status test TX lt SOH gt O00uPAOR 26 PAOR test lFCAS EOT lt US5 gt lt 50H gt Q5L PAOR de PI4TUE 55F lt EOT gt TX lt SOH gt 00uPAOR 26 PA R test 0Z2FDES lt EOT gt lt 15 gt lt 50H gt 006PIS4TUE 26 PA R PSKAPR PA R test 017E92 lt EOT gt lt U15 gt lt 50H gt 5L PAOR de SMORWFOCE lt EOT gt hd PIATUE vi 16 42 38 n Unconnected operation like UI frames in packet radio 1s done from the APRS screen From this screen you can organize position beacons send aprs messages to other pskmail stations to VHF units or to the internet Uiview Xastir or send APRS short emails to any email address You do this via a PSKmail server which is a gateway to the internet Servers are interconnected through the APRS Internet backbone APRS IS You can set the server you want to use
58. uest the server acknowledges the request Link request lt SOH gt O00uPAOR gt lt PI4TUE ABCD lt EOT gt Link acknowledge lt SOH gt 00uPAOR lt gt PI4TUE ABCD lt EOT gt The server and the client can send a beacon on HF containing its APRS position and a status message Server beacon lt SOH gt 00ulSOGRB 3 72 Pskmail Server 0 9 34 10147 0KHz DD6E lt EOT gt Client beacon lt SOH gt 00ulk2YXT 26 14507 95N 01044 65E 11B80 lt EOT gt When the server hears a client beacon or an APRS message it confirms reception with a short QSL message The QSL message contains a signal quality indication 96 QSL message lt SOH gt QSL PAOR de PIATUE 99 555F lt EOT gt An APRS message has the same format as the client beacon an APRS email starts with an address something xxx APRS lt SOH gt 00uDJOLN 26 PAOR This is the APRS message 1B80 lt EOT gt message APRS email lt SOH gt 00uDJOLN 25 PAOR ISP ORG This is the email message 2A97 lt EOT gt 55 CQ SOH 00uPAOR 27 CQ CQ CQ PSKmail 02B2 lt EOT gt RSID signalling RSID Reed Solomon Identification is used for mode change signalling Thereby the following rules are applied TX RSID RX RSID Client Idle APRS OFF OFF manual switch ON Client receives acknowledge OFF OFF Client connect request ON ON Client data transfer OFF ON Server Idle APRS OFF ON Server sends acknowledge O
59. ve to push that button once make sure the first email is acknowledged by the server and removed from the outbox and then repeat the procedure If you wish to send a certain message in the outbox first for instance when sending a message addressed to a local user at the server you are currently connected to then select that message row in the outbox before you push send This will send the selected message first and bypass the message queue This procedure currently only works when doing compressed email traffic jpskmail 1 5 SMORWO 7 0 MENT File Mode Preferences Info Link Identi ca Help Se emen are sene JG ots Headers To Jsubiett Dae Si John Smith lt john smith noide Important John Public lt john public noag Spamalot Inbox Outbox Terminal Email Files APRS Modem Igate Rigctl eRet g oOR o LS S0H 0uSMORNO 4 lt gt SMORA0 7 BOEBSEUT CTa aa o aTa aa o hdTaTadaebe s ecTf Swec eqHP 7ye xoegh tlOe v ttafllbbygfrad 5qt DeFiZenexiRLn lt U5 gt lt S0H gt 00uSMORNO 4 26 15904 18NPOL 792 SSE amp 3 92 lt E0T gt daoaTa aa o ala a ao aTaTaakoitat secotjipryleltr be Z ohtmR bratooncabWbe ees wrnrtell exse 9 S E Selecting a certain message to be sent first PSKaprs emails This 1s a way to transmit a short text with a fixed subject to one emai
60. very good in that its not a standard unique to only one country language barriers can be overcome by using this common reporting standard These codes are indeed very compressed the image further below came from a file with a size of only 3 kB The codes themselves are sent as five number code groups and look like 66450 57368 56367 54375 51388 49416 47448 46505 As can be seen above these codes are not easily read and to view them it is possible to plot and draw by hand but tools are available that do this The image below is where this data is presented within the zyGrib software which is free and available for multiple platforms 46 code Analy Ref 27 00h00 UTC To get an updated IAC fleetcode file just connect to a server Locate the menu option Get IAC Fleetcodes within the Info menu and use it That will have the server download a fleetcode file to your client When done just close the connection and open the IAC fleetcode text file using an appropriate viewer zyGrib for instance The file is located within pskmail Downloads For users of other operating systems that means the users home folder On windows that could be something like c documentsandsettings users per pskmail Downloads Main thing is that its stored in your home folder Its also possible for the servers to broadcast this file on a regular basis that way it will effortlessly just be there on the client without the need for a connect How
61. when and perhaps even if the servers should broadcast 1s being discussed and investigated at the moment so this will have to be updated later Broadcasts could be done at a different frequency to minimize QRM to the APRS channel Getting grib files Grib file Gridded Information in Binary are files used to store forecast information by National weather meteorology Services These files contain much more than the IAC Fleetcodes and so the files can be much much bigger But they are also by most considered very valuable as they contain weather information wind direction and speed directly usable for navigation Many electronic chart display systems can import these files and use them together with boat data to optimize the actual boat route What you have to do to get them 1s the following connect to a server once connected go to the Info menu and hit Get Grib File The client will send an email to query saildocs com requesting the data centered on your position 5 degrees For that the server needs to know your return address send your mail record to the server if that has not been done The grib file is delivered to your internet mailbox immediately While still connected hit the QTC button on the client return email address has to be correct The mail headers will be downloaded Click on the header containing your grib file The server now sends the grib file to your client using ARQ so no errors When download is

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