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wsjtx

Weak-signal digital modes — FT8, FT4, JT65, JT9, WSPR, Q65

What it does

Decodes and transmits the weak-signal modes that dominate modern HF digital operating, principally FT8 and FT4, plus WSPR for propagation beaconing and Q65 for weak-signal VHF and EME work.

Why you would want it

FT8 is the most-used mode on HF, and this is the reference implementation. It makes contacts possible on bands and at power levels where nothing else gets through. This is the catalog's recommended default of the FT8 family (maintainer ruling, 2026-08-30): every guide and third-party document assumes it, and it is packaged on every target. The forks stay carried — wsjtx-improved for marginal-decode tuning, jtdx and mshv for their own followings — and js8call is a different mode, not an alternative.

Before it will work

Accurate system clock (within about a second), CAT rig control, and audio routed both ways between radio and computer. All three, and the first FT8 contact, are walked through in docs/guides/digital-modes.md; the audio path in docs/guides/audio-routing.md.

How it installs

  • git (cmake) — https://github.com/WSJTX/wsjtx at v3.0.2
  • build dependencies: gfortran, libboost-dev, libboost-log-dev, libboost-filesystem-dev, qttools5-dev, qttools5-dev-tools, qtmultimedia5-dev, libqt5serialport5-dev, libfftw3-dev, libreadline-dev, libusb-1.0-0-dev, libudev-dev, libhamlib-dev

Binaries this produces:

  • wsjtx

This displaces the distribution's own wsjtx (D-022: coexist, disclose, never remove silently).

Known problems

Under Wayland on Raspberry Pi the window renders without borders or decorations; switch to X11. That report is inherited from AHRL's operational notes and has not been reproduced here — no Pi has run this build yet. The repository package is purged first because the source build uses the same prefix.

Toolkit risk

  • qt5: in progress, checked 2026-08-25 — qttools5, qtmultimedia5, libqt5serialport5. Qt6 port under way upstream.

Keeping it current

  • probe: github release (WSJTX/wsjtx)
  • strategy: rebuild

Where to get help with the software itself

WSJT-X groups.io list

Source: catalog/packages/wsjtx.yaml