• 100 WPM character transmission speed for contest exchanges and macro transmission versus RTTY at 60 WPM.
• Only 1/5 the bandwidth of RTTY - capable of displaying 25 signals simultaneously on a waterfall or spectrum display.
• Fast, easy, point-and-click tuning using the mouse or keyboard arrowkey tuning.
• Capable of colour thumbnail portrait transmission in less than 2 minutes.
• Faster sync recovery than RTTY, resulting in fewer errors.
• Requires much less power than RTTY for the same communications performance.
• Identical to PSK31 except for a wider bandwidth of 63 Hz.
• Improved polar path performance compared to PSK31.
• Works with any soundcard-equipped Windows computer and SSB transceiver.
• Lots of software for PSK63 is available now!

The following programs already support simple switching between PSK31 and PSK63:

If your favourite PSK31 or logging program does not yet support PSK63, but it uses PSKCORE.DLL, you can still use it on PSK63 by following these steps:

• Download the PSK63 version of PSKCORE.DLL.
• Create a folder named 63 and copy all of your program's files into that folder.
• Create a folder named 31 and copy all of your program's files into that folder also.
• Now unzip psk63core.zip from step 1 into the folder named 63, replacing PSKCORE.DLL with the new PSK63 version of PSKCORE.DLL.
• Highlight your program's .exe file in the 63 folder, hold down the left mouse button, drag a shortcut to the Windows Desktop, and release the mouse button. Rename this shortcut PSK63.
• Highlight your program's .exe file in the 31 folder, hold down the left mouse button, drag a shortcut to the Windows Desktop, and release the mouse button. Rename this shortcut PSK31.
• To run your program on PSK31, double-click on the shortcut named PSK31. If your program displays the PSKCORE.DLL version, it should indicate version 1.15.
• To run your program on PSK63, double-click on the shortcut named PSK63. If your program displays the PSKCORE.DLL version, it should indicate version 9.99.

You can switch back and forth between PSK31 and PSK63 just by quitting your program and double-clicking the desired shortcut. Your program will use whatever DLL is in the folder with that program's .exe file.

Used this way, PSKCORE.DLL for PSK63 compresses the waterfall by a factor of 2, and the reported frequencies may not be correct, but just click on a signal on the waterfall display to copy that station.

Notes:

When using PSK31, you cannot copy PSK63 signals, although they might be visible on the waterfall as «wider» PSK31 signals. Similarly, when using PSK63, you might see more narrow PSK31 signals on the waterfall, but you will not be able to copy them without switching to PSK31.

PSK63 is just like PSK31, except that it is twice as fast and twice as wide. Macros and Brag files will transmit at 100 WPM on PSK63, instead of 50 WPM on PSK31. The turnover and exchange times for contesting will be twice as fast as PSK31, and even faster than RTTY.

Weak signal performance of PSK63 will be similar to PSK31, except that twice the power needs to be run compared to PSk31 for the same signal-to-noise ratio. Instead of running 20 watts on PSK31, just increase the power to 40 watts when using PSK63 for the same weak signal performance, but be sure to operate your transceiver in its linear region. Most operators will find that it is not necessary to use more power for PSK63 operation unless conditions are very poor.

In all other respects, operating PSK63 is exactly like operating PSK31.

Tips:

PSK63 transmits your macros at 100 WPM, so the natural tendency is to try to type faster than normal, or hurriedly fill the typeahead window with as much text as possible. Please note that it is not necessary for you to keep up with the speed of PSK63 when you are typing! Just relax, enjoy the increased responsiveness of PSK63, and type at whatever speed is comfortable for you. The other operator will appreciate the increased speed with which your «brag file» or macros run.

Please «CHANNELIZE» if possible!

Since PSK63 is twice as wide as PSK31, it would reduce band congestion if everyone would operate on even 100Hz frequencies, such as 14072.8, 14072.9, etc. The suggested area for PSK63 operation on 20 meters is just above the PSK31 activity, or starting at 14072 and extending to the beginning of the RTTY activity area at 14080. To do this, just set your transceiver to UPPER sideband, and the dial frequency to 14072.0. Then operate at RX Freq of 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2400, or 2500 Hz, etc. Of course, you can just point and click on any PSK63 signal you see on the waterfall, regardless of the frequency, but congestion would be reduced if you select an even 100Hz frequency for calling CQ. Suggested frequencies for PSK63 operation on other bands start 2 KHz above PSK31 activity and extend upward for 2 KHz. There is some disagreement even as to where PSK31 activity should be, but, based on current PSK31 activity, PSK63 activity should start at 1840 KHz on 160m, 3582 KHz on 80m, 7042 KHz on 40m, 10142 KHz on 30m, 14072 KHz on 20m, 18097 KHz on 17m, 21072 KHz on 15m, 24917 KHz on 12m, 28072 KHz on 10m, and 50252 KHz on 6m.