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Re: [WriteLog] Best RTTY decoder

To: writelog@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Best RTTY decoder
From: Jim Smith <jimsmith@shaw.ca>
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 00:15:33 -0800
List-post: <mailto:writelog@contesting.com>
I too use RITTY. I have found that running the Rx audio through a mixer allows me to adjust the audio level as needed. Originally, I had a lot of trouble getting reliable printing with signals S5 or lower. Being able to adjust the audio level has taken care of that problem. While you can adjust the sensitivity of RITTY when running it in DOS, I have found no way of doing that in the WL version. Fiddling with the Windows volume controls during a contest is a non-starter for me.

In the process of doing this, I found my old PK-232 MBX without the new mods will print signals just as weak as RITTY will, provided, once again, that you adjust the input level properly. (The mixer sure makes this easy - a different slide pot for each.) I haven't compared them under QRM conditions. So, now I have them printing in separate windows. Sometimes the PK-232 gets it right when RITTY doesn't.

See my WPX RTTY story on 3830 for mnore info on this.

73 de Jim Smith VE7FO

John Cashen wrote:

Bill, W6WET wrote:

"I know this doesn't answer you question directly, but you'd be better
off to ditch the HAL and download MMTTY.  I've compared the two side by
side using two computers with the same audio feed, and MMTTY beats the
HAL hands down for pulling the weak ones out.  My DXP-38 has been
gathering dust for several years now.  Anyone want it?  Make me an
offer; it'll go cheap.

And if you want the absolute best in RTTY decoding, purchase RiTTY by
K6STI.  It isn't cheap - $100 - but it beats everything else I've tried.
It requires specific soundcards and runs only under DOS (real DOS, not
the Windows emulation).   Personally, I wouldn't be without it."

I agree with Bill and have been saying so for several years now. When one looks at what the HALs used to cost, RITTY seems good value for money. Certainly MMTTY is the best value, being freeware. The difference between the two S/W decoders is that RITTY is optimized for RTTY contesting whereas MMTTY is more an all-purpose decoder. There are several very important features in RITTY that makes it superior for contesting whenever there are weak signals, or in QRN, or QRM environments, or all three. When the S/N is high then both decoders perform very well, but then so do most decoders.

RITTY works very well in SO mode with both Writelog and RTTY(by WF1B), but you cannot use two copies of RITTY with two separate sound cards to use Writelog in SO2R as you can with MMTTY. RITTY was configured without regard for a second sound card (or the advent of another board standard other than ISA) and one must use a different decoder type for the second radio. Some use their HAL ,while I (and others) use MMTTY on a second sound card (PCI).I have had no significant problems except that I couldn't make the new dueling CQs work in Writelog 10.45. This was because of a timing problem with MMTTY and was presumably fixed in 10.46G, but I still can't seem to make dueling CQs work.

Since K6STI no longer upgrades RITTY and because it is DOS-based and limited to using only ISO sound boards, there will eventually be only obsolete S/W or hardware platforms that it will run on. What a shame if technology were to take a step backwards. Wouldn't it be nice if MMTTY or some other new Windows-based PCI/USB decoder were to capture the contesting features that make RITTY so great so we could have it on future machines?

I for one would pay another $100.

John VK4UC




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