Radio and WSJT-X

HAMORA can reach your radio in two ways. Pick one:

• HAMORA Bridge is the easiest: a small HAMORA program for the computer next to your radio. It finds your radio for you, with no commands to type. It’s still being tested, so its installers aren’t published yet. See HAMORA Bridge.
• rigctld over Wi-Fi works today, with free software. It takes about 15 minutes the first time, and the steps below walk you through it.

What you need

• A computer near your radio: Windows, a Mac, Linux or a Raspberry Pi. It stays on while you operate.
• The USB cable between your radio and that computer. Most modern radios have a USB socket for this.
• Your phone on the same Wi-Fi network as the computer.

Step 1. Install Hamlib on the computer

Hamlib is free. Open the guide for your computer:

brew install hamlib

sudo apt install libhamlib-utils

sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER

Step 2. Find your radio’s model number

Hamlib knows each radio by a number. Find yours here, then check the radio’s menu for its USB or CI-V speed (baud rate): the table shows the usual one.

Another radio? Run rigctl -l on the computer: it lists every radio Hamlib knows, with its number.

Step 3. Find the port your radio uses

Turn the radio on and plug in its USB cable.

ls /dev/cu.*

ls /dev/serial/by-id/

Step 4. Start rigctld

Put your model number after -m, your port after -r and your speed after -s. The examples are for an IC-7300.

cd "C:\Program Files\hamlib-w64-4.7.2\bin"

rigctld.exe -m 3073 -r COM3 -s 115200

rigctld -m 3073 -r /dev/cu.usbserial-1420 -s 115200

rigctld -m 3073 -r /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Silicon_Labs_CP2102_… -s 115200

rigctld shows nothing while it works: that’s normal. Keep the window open while you operate. Closing it stops rigctld.

Step 5. Find the computer’s IP address

Step 6. Connect HAMORA

1. If you haven’t yet, add your radio in More→Equipment, so each QSO records which radio you used.
2. Open More→Radio and choose Wi-Fi / LAN.
3. Pick your radio.
4. Enter the computer’s IP address as rigctld host, and leave Port at 4532.
5. Tap Test connection. When it shows your frequency, tap Save and connect.

That’s it. While you log a new QSO, the frequency, band and mode now follow your radio. Change a field yourself and it stops following; Use current radio values brings it back. Saved QSOs are never changed, and saving never depends on the connection.

What HAMORA reads

• Frequency, mode and VFO (which of the radio’s two tuning memories is in use), every second.
• Meters such as signal strength, power and SWR, but only the ones your radio reports. SWR shows “—” when you aren’t transmitting.
• Data modes such as USB-D are shown as the radio reports them and never set a QSO’s mode, because the radio can’t tell FT8 from RTTY.

Connecting by USB or Bluetooth straight from the phone is planned for later.

When WSJT-X logs an FT8 or FT4 contact, HAMORA can save it in your logbook too. HAMORA only listens: it never sends anything to WSJT-X.

Install WSJT-X

WSJT-X is free. Download it from the official WSJT-X download page (opens in a new tab):

• Windows: the file ending in win64.exe. Windows may warn about an “unknown publisher”; the WSJT-X page says this is expected.
• Mac: the .pkg for Apple Silicon (M1 and later) or for Intel.
• Raspberry Pi or Linux: the .deb file, ARM64 for a 64-bit Raspberry Pi, Intel/AMD for a PC.

Set up WSJT-X with your radio first, following its own guide. Then connect it to HAMORA:

Send WSJT-X to your phone

1. In HAMORA, open More→Digital modes and choose Direct UDP. It shows two values: the UDP Server (your phone’s address) and the UDP Server port number (2237).
2. In WSJT-X, open File → Settings (on a Mac: WSJT-X → Preferences) and the Reporting tab.
3. Type those two values into UDP Server and UDP Server port number, and press OK. “Accept UDP requests” can stay off.
4. Keep your phone and the WSJT-X computer on the same Wi-Fi network.

Your phone’s address can change after it reconnects to Wi-Fi. If WSJT-X stops reaching HAMORA, check the address again. HAMORA Bridge avoids this: WSJT-X then sends to the Bridge, whose address stays the same, and every paired phone follows along.

Through HAMORA Bridge

In WSJT-X, set UDP Server to 127.0.0.1 (meaning “this computer”) when WSJT-X runs on the Bridge computer, or to the Bridge computer’s IP address, port 2237. Then choose More→Digital modes → HAMORA Bridge in HAMORA.

What you see

• The Digital tab lists the stations WSJT-X decodes, newest first, with badges from your own log: worked before, and a new DXCC entity (country), band or mode.
• Decodes are kept in memory only, and are never turned into QSOs.
• Your radio’s frequency and WSJT-X’s are shown side by side. If they differ by more than 1 kHz, HAMORA says so.

How QSOs are logged

• A QSO is logged only after you confirm WSJT-X’s own Log QSO window.
• Auto-log completed QSOs is on at first. Turn it off to check each one and tap Save to Logbook yourself.
• If WSJT-X’s callsign differs from your HAMORA station’s, the QSO waits for you to save it anyway.
• A QSO already in your logbook is never saved twice.

HAMORA wasn’t open when you logged in WSJT-X? Import WSJT-X’s log file, wsjtx_log.adi, in More→Import ADIF. In WSJT-X, File → Open log directory shows where it is. QSOs already in your logbook are skipped.

The Radio and Digital screens show one line in plain words, Ready, Needs setup, Needs attention or Checking…, with the next step to take. On Home, the radio card mentions a problem only when a radio you set up needs attention.

Still stuck? See Support.

• HAMORA only asks rigctld to read: what the radio can do, the frequency, mode, VFO and meters. It never changes the frequency or mode, never transmits and never changes the power.
• HAMORA never sends anything to WSJT-X.