ardopcf is a fork by Peter LaRue KG4JJA of ardopc by John Wiseman G8BPQ, which is a multi-platform port of ARDOP_Win (Windows only) by Rick Muething KN6KB. ARDOP_Win is distributed as a part of Winlink Express. John's ARDOPC web page provides documentation about use of ardopc and links to the binaries he produces.
See releases to download ardopcf binaries for Linux and Windows. Each of these is a single executable file that is ready to run without explicit installation. The filenames used for releases are intended to distinguish what platform they are for. After download, they may be renamed to simply ardopcf as used in the examples below.
These are all implementations of ARDOP, the Amateur Radio Digital Open Protocol, developed by Rick Muething KN6KB. The protocol is defined in the ARDOP Specification. Though it may also be used for other purposes, ARDOP was designed to be used by licensed amateur radio operators with Winlink, a network of amateur radio stations that provide worldwide email over radio where internet connections are not available.
The ardopcf fork of ardopc includes bug fixes and features that should help ardopcf to more reliably communicate with other stations. It also includes some additional user interface features. Some of these features may useful to typical users. However, many of the new features are primarily useful to the author and others interested in further development and debugging. For a description of the list of differences between ardopcf and ardopc, see the changelog.
ardopcf should be considered perpetual beta software. Limited real world use and testing show that it seems to work as intended. However, no rigorous and comprehensive testing is currently being done. Therefore, public releases are still likely to contain bugs that need to be fixed. Source code in the develop branch will often contain additional unfinished features that need further work before they are ready for public release.
If you find a problem with ardopcf, please create an Issue at the GitHub repository and/or describe the problem in a message in the users subgroup of ardop.groups.io. The users group is also a good place to ask questions about this software or provide other feedback. If you are having trouble compiling or running ardopcf, don't hesitate to ask for help from the users group. Since that group is not specific to the ardopcf implementation of ardop, be sure to mention that you are talking about ardopcf.
ardopcf is released under the MIT open source license. See LICENSE for details. Use, study, and experimentation with this software is not only permitted, it is strongly encouraged. Such activity should be central to both amateur radio and open source software development. However, the authors ask that if this source code is used to develop software that deviates from the ARDOP Specification, or that is incompatible with existing implementations, that the ardop name not be used for such software. Software claiming to be usable implementations of ardop should all be interoperable. Otherwise, users may be confused and attempts to communicate with this software may fail.
To get a full listing of the available arguments, use ardopcf -h.
On a Raspberry Pi or other Linux computer using a usb interface to the radio such as a digirig:
ardopcf --logdir ~/ardop_logs -p /dev/ttyUSB0 8515 plughw:1,0
plughw:1,0
--logdir ~/ardop_logs means put the log files into the specified subdirectory of my home directory. New debug log and session log files are added to this directory every day that ardopcf is run. A relative path may also be specified.
-p /dev/ttyUSB0 means use this USB tty device representing the control connection of my digirig to activate the PTT of my radio.
8515 is the TCP port that Winlink or another host program can use to connect to ardopcf. This is the default, but must still be explicitly specified when the audio devices are specified.
The first plughw:1,0 is the audio capture device to use, while the second is the audio playback device. Both of these represent the USB PnP Sound Devices of my digirig. Running ardopcf with no arguments can be used to get a list of the available audio devices. This shows hw:1,0 under both Capture and Playback. Using plughw:1,0 instead of hw:1,0 provides the flexibility for ardopcf to use the required 12kHz audio sample rate that is not directly supported by the hardware.
On a Windows PC using a usb interface to the radio such as a digirig:
ardopcf --logdir C:\Users\Peter\Documents\ardop_logs -p COM5 8515 2 2
--logdir C:\Users\Peter\Documents\ardop_logs means put the log files into the specified subdirectory of my Documents directory, where Peter is my user name on this computer. New debug log and session log files are added to this directory every day that ardopcf is run. A relative path may also be specified.
-p COM5 means use this virtual COM port associated with the control connection of my digirig to activate the PTT of my radio.
8515 is the TCP port that Winlink or another host program can use to connect to ardopcf. This is the default, but must still be explicitly specified when the audio devices are specified.
The first 2 is the audio capture device to use, while the second is the audio playback device. Both of these represent the USB PnP Sound Devices of my digirig. Running ardopcf with no arguments can be used to get a list of the available audo devices.
John's ardopc code that was forked to form ardopcf includes support for Teensy microcontrollers. I have no experience with this hardware. So, I can only guess whether my changes will help or hinder its use. I welcome feedback from any Teensy users, especially if they identify changes that are required to the source code for it to continue to be useful with this hardware. If I never receive any feedback from Teensy users, I may assume that nobody is trying to use this software on that hardware.
I mostly use Linux, both on a laptop and on Raspberry Pi computers. I also occasionally use a Windows laptop. So, I provide binaries for these systems, and do at least minimal testing of each binary. I would like to know whether the ardopcf source code is also usable for Apple Mac computers. So, I welcome feedback from any Mac users interested in building and using ardopcf.
I am also interested to hear from anyone interested in building and using ardopcf on any other platform or operating systems.
I am interested in supporting further development of systems to use Winlink for sending and receiving email over long range (HF) radio links using small energy efficient computers such as the Raspberry Pi Zero connected to low power portable radios. This arrangement should allow licensed amateur radio operators to reliably send and receive email where neither phone nor internet service is available, amd using only limited electrical power. This is important to me because I spend extended periods of time in places with no phone or internet service, and with limited electrical power available from small solar systems. Winlink allows me to keep in contact with other licensed amateur radio operators as well as selected friends and family that are not radio operators when I am in such locations.
A variety of Winlink clients exist. Of particular interest to users of small Linux based computers such as the Raspberry Pi are Pat Winlink and WoAD. Both of these support the TCP Host Interface connection to ardopc, and thus also work with ardopcf. Pat Winlink will run on most any computer, including various models of Raspberry Pi, and it provides an HTTP interface usable through a web browser on any connected device. WoAD runs on an Andoid phone or tablet. It can access a radio by using a WiFi connection to a Raspberry Pi or other computer that is running ardopcf.
By using ardopcf along with either Pat Winlink and WoAD, an entire portable system can consist of the radio and antenna, a Raspberry Pi Zero, an audio interface such as a digirig with suitable cables to connect to the radio and the Pi, a small battery to power it all, and a cell phone or tablet (with no cellular or internet connection) to function as a screen and keyboard. Some radios have a built-in digital interface so that a digirig or other audio interface device is not required. The WiFi network required for the phone or tablet to connect to the Raspberry Pi can be generated either by the Pi or by the phone or tablet.
While ardopcf is particularly well suited to use with small Linux based computers, binaries for additional platforms are also provided. Hopefully this will encourage more people to use ARDOP rather than exclusively using alternative protocols that are not Open Source, and thus do not allow amateur radio operators to view, modify, experiment with, and extend the software. I understand that ardop does not provide the same performance as the commercial VARA HF software. However, even if you use VARA, I encourage you to also sometimes use ardopcf or any other ardop implementation. This not only develops and practices your ability to communicate with stations that are unable to run VARA, but it also encourages Winlink gateway operators to continue to support ardop. Until a better open source multi-platform radio interface is available and widely adopted by Winlink host programs and gateway operators, I think it is important for ardop to continue to be supported.
I'm continuing to study DSP and other topics related to writing software for digital radio communication. Hopefully this will allow me to participate in the future development of open source tools that improve the speed and reliability of such communication. I believe that open source tools can and should provide performance at least as good as any commercial alternative. I want to help make that happen.
While it may be more difficult for home built amateur radio hardware to compete with modern commercial hardware than it was in the past, I believe that today's amateur radio operators can and should be working to advance the state of the art of radio communication through software development. With the free resources available online, it has never been easier for anyone to acquire the software development skills necessary to do so. Also, unlike development of new hardware which may require specialized tools and materials, software development is possible using the computer that you probably already own.
If you don't want to write software, you can still support open source projects by using the software and providing feedback to the developers, especially if you find bugs that the developers might not be aware of. Your unique hardware or operating conditions might allow you to identify software bugs that the developers would never be aware of without your help.
Peter LaRue KG4JJA