Documentation
Operator guides, protocol references and recorded results. VarAC-compatible chat and supervised voice/CW contacts are included in 0.4.0.
Project contact: [email protected].
Modes
| Mode | Release status | Implementation | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| PACTOR | Alpha (1–3); experimental (4) | shrike | PACTOR guide, PACTOR-4 protocol and PRNG, PACTOR-4 limits |
| VARA | Alpha | kestrel | VARA |
| ARDOP | Alpha | besra | ARDOP |
| Robust Packet | Experimental | brubru | Illustrated guide, waveform, framing, link boundary, station |
| RTTY, SITOR-B and NAVTEX | Experimental | lanner | Illustrated text-mode guide, implementation limits |
| MIL-STD-188-110, STANAG waveforms, 2G ALE and HF selcall | Experimental | bateleur | Illustrated STANAG and military-waveform guide, host interfaces, ALE and selcall console |
| sabir | Experimental | sabir | Experimental mode |
| Voice and CW | Experimental | macagua, merlin | Supervised contacts |
Compare the modes by channel occupancy, framing, coding and link control. Recorded evidence and implementation evidence record completed transfers, independent decodes and simulation results.
Running hfmodem
Start with the Winlink quickstart or VARA chat quickstart for an FTDX10 or FT-891 on macOS or Linux.
| Subject | Reference |
|---|---|
| Console setup, operator data and logbook | Operator guide |
| Station setup and operation | Station setup, service and ownership |
| Separate CW and digital callsigns | Identification options |
| Kestrel chat, passive QSO following and VMail | Quickstart and commands |
| Supervised voice and CW | Contact commands |
| VARA transmit calibration | Calibration |
| Single-mode receive monitoring | Console monitor |
| Automatic ALE, calls and native text; selcall and paging | HFLINK console |
| Application and modem hosts | Host compatibility |
| Station files | Configuration |
| Shared components and mode implementations | Architecture |
Technical references
| Subject | Reference |
|---|---|
| PACTOR-4 framing, coding and PRNG | Protocol guide, packet framing, PRNG, C2 recipes |
| PACTOR generation selection | Capability negotiation |
| PACTOR implementation inputs | Constants, coding and permutation map |
| VARA implementation inputs | Constants and high-speed waveform map |
| Sources and strength of evidence | Evidence tiers |
| Classic bulletin board (BBS) | Note (not included in this release) |
The comparison, PACTOR, VARA and ARDOP figures are checked against their source data by docs/viz/tools/build.py --check. Sabir illustrations and recorded simulation results are maintained separately. Robust Packet, STANAG and text-mode guides use implementation-derived schematic data checked by the site tests. The PACTOR-4 guide includes offline waveform renders and recovered permutation recipes. All nine illustrated guides can be opened offline.
Regenerating the comparison's recorded figures also requires the flac command-line decoder and the retained recordings under site/examples/ and site/recordings/. Viewing the built figures does not require a decoder or an audio download.