The good news is that one simple hardware and software arrangement will put you on the air with a station that can do virtually all digital modes.

There are many different digital modes and discussing all of them is beyond the scope of this post (a good overview of the more common digital modes may be found here). Some other reasons to try the digital modes include access to additional stations, a chance to work QSOs for operators who are hearing and/or speech impaired, and the opportunity to try a new mode of operation.

In the extreme, modes like JT65 can be used to receive digital transmissions where the signal is at or below the noise floor! The digital modes on the HF bands present many good DX opportunities for modest digital HF stations. Early in my Amateur Radio career, I completed a DXCC Award using a simple Off-Center Fed Dipole antenna and a 100W transceiver over the period of about 6 months using the digital modes.

The more modern digital modes use narrowband signals along with error management techniques to increase the Signal to Noise (S/N) and error performance of a radio channel. Probably the biggest single reason to consider using the digital modes on the HF bands is that they can increase a station’s range without building new antennas and/or increasing output power. For those who decide to set up a Digital HF Station, I would recommend that you obtain a simple text such as the ARRL’s “ Get on the Air with HF Digital” which gives a more in-depth explanation of what’s required to get on the air using the digital modes than I can provide here. My goal for this post will be to introduce you to the digital modes and give a flavor of what is involved in getting setup to use them on the air in the HF bands. I am going to break this post into four parts: I hope to encourage others to give the digital modes a try. I have done quite a lot of digital HF operating over the past couple of years (approximately 4,000 Digital QSOs) and have had a lot of fun doing so. I was looking back through a reader poll that I did some time back and noticed that a post on how to set up a Digital HF Station was pretty high on the interest list so I plan to cover that topic here.

Ft8 on ham radio deluxe setup