WSJT-X V1.5 Released

Development of WSJT is very active right now. While 1.5 was in its final phases of testing (so-called "Release Candidates") the development team were hard at work on V1.6. The main feature of the new release is improved decoding, in terms of both the ability to decode weak signals and the speed it which decoding takes place. The decoding speed is greatly enhanced by the use of multiple processing threads (it looks like up to four). On my 3 year-old Pentium Core i7 computer the improvement is dramatic, normally with sub-second decoding times.

Release 1.6, which is under active development, is attempting to consolidate all the JT "slow" modes, like JT4, JT65A, B and C, and WSPR. WSPR is getting the most attention now and will include a scheduler for band hopping based on 4 time periods, which are day, night, and the twilight periods for gray line propagation. I think this will really increase usage of WSPR worldwide once it is released.

If you want a copy of WSJT-X V1.5, you can download it for free from the WSJT-X Web Site. If your station can run PSK31, then you can run WSJT-X, although you will need a way to synchronize your computer clock. Usually that's done with time servers on the Internet (more free software), although you can also use GPS or time signal stations.