Hi Phil,
My take is that there is more similarity than difference. Most of the
multimode digital programs will support the most commonly used modes.
All other modes are very rarely used and can quickly fall into disfavor.
Consider the primarily used sound card modes, PSK31, MFSK16, and some
Olivia modes that are used for keyboarding. Other modes that may be
available include faster PSK speeds up to PSK250, ALE, particularly the
FAE forms of the 8FSK ALE waveform, Hell, etc. But these modes are not
that commonly used.
If you like to experiment with the latest technology, then you would
want Multipsk over all the other multimode programs because only
Multipsk has these modes available. If you are mostly interested in an
ultra high quality, polished interface, you would likely consider Ham
Radio Deluxe/Digital Master 780.
As has been pointed out, both of these programs can interface with DX
Lab and that will give you one of the best suites available,
particularly for logging data and handling electronic logging.
Standardizing on one program may be best for most hams because they can
get better at using a given software program and make the logging easier
than having logs scattered around on many different programs. I do find
it difficult to switch back and forth between what I consider to be the
two main choices.
But then I also am interested in the newer NBEMS concept for emergency
communications and I tend to favor anything that uses ARQ. Since VBDigi
(part of NBEMS suite) does RTTY/MFSK/PSK, it actually works FB for much
of what I do. But then a new mode comes along, and it is often found
only on Multipsk so you still must use that program anyway for those
purposes.
At this time Multipsk does not support NBEMS so you have to use the
NBEMS suite on either Windows or Linux if you want to use that system.
Actually, it is a rather nice problem to have considering that a few
years ago we only had hardware solutions, and at great cost for modest
performance.
73,
Rick, KV9U
Phil Wells wrote:
Hi All,
Am fairly new to ham radio and I read a lot about the different apps
for different modes and particularly the multi-function apps like HRD
and MixW (for which I have a license) and it's all pretty daunting.
I'm wondering if anyone has done a comparison of features of the
different offerings, perhaps a spreadsheet, either for their personal
benefit or posted somewhere.
I didn't find anything after a brief Google search and a search of
this forum.
The purpose of such a document would not be to say which is best,
like a Consumer Reports rating, but simply to show which have what
features so that a newcomer could decide which one(s) might best
satisfy *their* needs.
Certainly, such a doc would be out of date within a few weeks of
release since most programs are always being upgraded, but it would be
a start.
I might attempt this on my own at some point but don't want to
reinvent the wheel so thought I'd check here, first.
73 to all
Phil
AF6AV
San Diego
