MAP65 Quick-Start Guide July 28, 2008 ----------------------- An instruction manual has not yet been written for MAP65. This Quick-Start Guide is intended to help early users of MAP65 to get started. REQUIREMENTS ------------ To use MAP65 effectively you will need the following: 1. A dual-polarization antenna with separate preamps and Rx feedlines for the two orthogonal polarizations. 2. Receiving hardware that converts the two polarization channels to baseband. 3. A functioning Linrad system (version 02.34 or later) that samples 4 channels at 96 kHz or two channels at 192 kHz. 4. A second computer to run MAP65, with at least 1.4 GHz CPU and 1 GB memory. The two computers must be networked together, preferably with a decicated ethernet connection. ... -OR- ... 5. Linrad and MAP65 can also be run in the same computer. In this case you will want a fast machine with at least 1.5 GB of memory, and preferably with two monitors. INSTALLATION ------------ MAP65 is installed the same way as WSJT. If you are installing on Windows, download the file http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/MAP65r1001.EXE (or a similar name with a later revision number, if one exists) and execute it. You may install MAP65 in the same directory as WSJT6 or WSJT7. The installation program will probably present one of these as the default option. If you wish to run MAP65 under Linux, please contact me for instructions. OPERATION --------- The best way to become familiar with MAP65 is to play with some recorded data files. The program's wide bandwidth capability means that its data files are large -- about 46 MB per minute. Compressed versions of one such file are available at http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/061111_0746.zip (for Windows, 25.3 MB compressed) and http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/061111_0746.tf2.bz2 (for Linux, 20.7 MB compressed). I suggest downloading and decompressing one of these files to produce a file named 061111_0746.tf2. Start MAP65, select File -> Open, navigate to where you have put the file 061111_0746.tf2, and open it. Depending on the speed of your computer and on what you have been doing with it recently, within about 20-30 seconds the following should appear in MAP65's "Messages" window: Freq DF Pol UTC ---------------------------------------- 101 -217 0 0746 RRR 103 -178 135 0746 RO 36 152 0746 DK5EW W3SZ FN20 141 58 0746 DK5EW W3SZ FN20 110 -9 56 0746 LX/PA3FPQ W0HP 155 0 0746 73 111 -350 90 0746 RRR 114 31 135 0746 73 116 -115 167 0746 DL8EBW UA9HK MO99 118 -26 90 0746 RO 123 -309 159 0746 RK3WWF SV8CS KM07 126 289 174 0746 WA8RJF K6MYC DM07 OOO 127 340 90 0746 RRR 128 222 67 0746 CQ AA1YN FN43 131 313 90 0746 RO 140 -68 90 0746 RO 155 454 54 0746 CQ N0AKC EN44 MAP65 decodes EME transmissions from 16 different stations in this one minute interval. W3SZ is detected and decoded twice: Roger's tropospheric signal at DF=36 Hz and his EME signal at DF=141 Hz overlap in frequency as well as time, but MAP65 decodes them correctly anyway. MAP65 does a "quick decode" at the selected QSO frequency before processing the rest of the received data in each minute. At program startup the QSO frequency defaults to 125, and apparently nobody was transmitting an EME signal at 144.125 at 0746 UTC on November 11, 2007. Consequently, in the main text window of MAP65 you should see a single line indicating that no JT65 signal was found at the selected QSO frequency at 0746: 125 0746 Quick decodes can be done at other frequencies by clicking on the desired frequyency in the Waterfall window and then on "Decode", or simply double-clicking on the desired frequency. Either action resets the QSO frequency and then invokes the quick decoder. You can also adjust the QSO frequency in 1 kHz steps with keyboard shortcuts Shift-F11 and Shift-12. Hit F1 to see a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. Double-click on the upper waterfall at each of the frequencies 101, 103, 110, 111, 114, 116, 118, 123, 126, 128, 131, 140, and 155. Your main text window should now look like this: Freq DF Pol UTC DT dB ------------------------------------------------------------ 101 -217 0 0746 2.3 -18 RRR 0 0 103 -178 135 0746 2.1 -12 RO 0 0 103 36 152 0746 -0.7 -5 DK5EW W3SZ FN20 1 0 103 141 58 0746 2.0 -21 DK5EW W3SZ FN20 1 0 110 -9 56 0746 2.1 -18 LX/PA3FPQ W0HP 1 0 110 155 0 0746 1.9 -11 73 0 0 111 -350 90 0746 2.3 -12 RRR 0 0 114 31 135 0746 2.1 -14 73 0 0 118 -26 90 0746 2.5 -13 RO 0 0 123 -309 159 0746 2.1 -17 RK3WWF SV8CS KM07 1 0 126 289 174 0746 1.6 -14 WA8RJF K6MYC DM07 OOO 1 0 128 222 67 0746 2.0 -21 CQ AA1YN FN43 1 112 131 313 90 0746 2.1 -13 RO 0 0 140 -68 90 0746 2.3 -14 RO 0 0 155 454 54 0746 2.6 -23 CQ N0AKC EN44 1 99 If you are an experienced user of WSJT and JT65, you probably now know enough to be able to use MAP65. Enter your callsign, locator, and other station parameters on the Setup -> Options screen, just as you would do in WSJT, and give it a try! You will need to start Linrad 02.34 on another computer and enable its network multicasting "option 8" so as to send timf2 data to MAP65. SOME OTHER THINGS IT WILL BE HELPFUL TO KNOW -------------------------------------------- 1. Remember that MAP65 does its decoding in two steps: a quick decode at the selected QSO frequency, and then a full wideband decode. 2. Both types of decode cover all linear polarization angles, automatically matching the received signal's polarization. 3. The wideband decoder covers all frequencies, automatically, as well. The present version (v0.7, r474) has the frequency range hard-wired at 100 to 160 (i.e., 144.100 to 144.160). This setting will become a user parameter. 4. An enhanced AFC algorithm tracks each detected JT65 signal automatically. 5. A new "zap" algorithm, always activated, minimizes the effect of most birdies. 6. The waterfalls do not (yet) scroll in real time. Rather, they are updated at the end of each minute when decoding takes place. Real-time scrolling may be added in the future. 7. The first decodes after program startup are likely to be slow because the computer's virtual memory will have many "page faults" while bringing MAP65's 670 MB of storage space into active memory. Subsequent decodes will be faster. 8. The MAP65 decode does not presently do message averaging. This feature (at the QSO frequency only) may be added later. 9. The file ALL65.TXT contains a record of all decoded messages. 10. Shorthand decodes are presently polarization-matched only to the nearest 45 degrees, and their reported signal levels are often incorrect. In a few days I will make available a test program that can be used instead of Linrad to multicast test data to MAP65. This may be helpful to some in early stages of testing. Please report your experiences with MAP65! I look forward to hearing from you. -- 73, Joe, K1JT