[bars] Looking for software to identify digital modes

[Leandra MacLennan]

The "secret" technique to identify digital signals is to do lots of listening.

 I have done a lot of listening and can identify by ear most of the common digital signals.

FT8/FT4/JS8Call, these are the easiest to identify by their positions in the band. WSJT-X shows the frequencies where most of this operation takes place. These signals are synchronized to the clock. FT8 signals start at the top of the minute and at 30 seconds into the minute. FT4 signals are only 15 seconds long and start at second 0, 15, 30 and 45. JS8Call uses FT8, but are different frequencies that are not shown in WSJT-X. Every once in a while, a DX station will use an oddball frequency to keep their traffic off the FT8 watering holes. And they often use a special WSJT-X mode, so read up on them before trying to make a contact.

Start by listening to the ARRL digital bulletins. These are sent every weekday in three different modes: RTTY, PSK32 and MFSK16. Use FLDIGI to decode these signals. These signals sound very different from each other. After a couple sessions you will be able to identify which mode you are hearing.
https://www.arrl.org/digital-transmissions


In the 80M and 40M CW bands you will hear a lot of VARA. This is a robust digital mode with handshaking. You can identify these signals by the short and repetitive signal bursts.
VARA is heavily used for Winlink traffic, so you will see lots of VARA in the evenings on 80 and 40.
VarAC also uses VARA for data transport. The two watering holes for VarAC are 7.105 and 14.105.

And Packet is very distinctive - listen for APRS on 144.39 MHz

And FYI, all digital transmissions on all bands, with only one exception (packet on 40M), are all USB.

   -Leandra

________________________________
From: bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org> on behalf of JWAHAR BAMMI via bars <bars at w1hh.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 9:18 PM
To: Verhulst <verhulst at comcast.net>
Cc: CLUB BROADCAST BARS <bars at w1hh.org>
Subject: Re: [bars] Looking for software to identify digital modes

https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Signal_Identification_Guide

Is a good place to start

FLDIGI will identify most signal with an RSID

73 de ws1m
Bammi

On Oct 2, 2025, at 4:43 PM, Verhulst via bars <bars at w1hh.org> wrote:

Barsians,

There are plenty of programs that will let you hear different different digital modes offline. What I have not been able to find a program that connects to the radio and identify the currently tuned signal mode. I'm not particularly interested in decoding the signal. Anyone know of such a program?

Thanx  73s Tony W1DYS

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