Station Software · Digital Modes

The software that keeps the traffic moving.

Seven programs run on the station PC around the clock — listening across every HF band, sharing a receiver on the web, carrying radio email over HF, digipeating APRS on 2m, hosting a bulletin board, and gating packets to the internet when the link is up.

EasySpotter · EasySDR · VarAC · Winlink · APRX · Synchronet · VARA HF Headless · unattended 24/7 Passes traffic with or without the internet

The Suite

Seven programs, always on watch

Each one goes to work the moment a band opens — no operator required.

EasySpotter

Built at W2JKTFree DownloadAll HF Bands

Decodes FT8, FT4, JS8 and WSPR on many bands at once from one receiver — an RX-888 MKII hears all of HF, 160m through 10m, in a single capture
Live spot-rate graph for every band over 1, 6 or 24 hours, with each band's peak and current spots per hour
Stats at a glance: a 7-day band-by-hour activity map with daylight, today's openings, countries heard and the farthest station
Opt-in spot reporting to PSK Reporter, and WSPR to WSPRnet, with duplicates filtered across receivers
Watches the known keyboard-mode frequencies — decodes PSK31, PSK63, RTTY, CW and Olivia, and saves weather-fax charts and SSTV pictures
USB, LSB, AM and FM listening with a waterfall, to your speakers or a virtual audio input for WSJT-X, fldigi or any decoder
Runs on Linux with SDRplay RSP receivers and the RX-888 MKII; receivers can start at boot with no one logged in

About EasySpotter and downloads → Hear it on the station receiver → See it on PSKReporter →

EasySDR

Built at W2JKTFree Download

Turns the receivers on your own computer into a web SDR anyone can tune from a browser — waterfall, USB, LSB, CW, AM and FM, with nothing for listeners to install
Shares SDRplay RSP receivers, the RX-888 MKII and RTL-SDR dongles, or the receivers already running in EasySpotter
One settings window for everything: station details, which receivers and frequency ranges to share, how many listeners, session times and blocked addresses
Lists your station on the W2JKT station directory with its location, grid square, antenna and coverage
A secure https address with its own certificate, set up and renewed automatically
Can't forward a port? W2JKT can host your station's page and carry your listeners to you with a relay key
Runs on Ubuntu and Debian PCs as a locked-down background service; your receivers stay under your own account

Find a station or download EasySDR → Tune W2JKT's EasySDR →

VarAC

20m Band

Real-time keyboard-to-keyboard chat over HF
Store-and-forward messaging through the beacon system
File and image transfer
Automatic station discovery and CQ calling
VMail relay for asynchronous message delivery
Built-in logging with PSKReporter integration
Runs on the VARA HF modem for reliable data transfer

varac-hamradio.com →

Winlink Express

6m Band

Full email over radio when the internet is down
Works with VARA, ARDOP, and Pactor modems
ICS/FEMA form support for emergency traffic
Peer-to-peer and relay station (RMS) connectivity
Weather bulletin and forecast retrieval
Position reporting
Automatic routing across the global relay network

winlink.org →

aprx.service — w2jkt-station

user@w2jkt-station:~$ systemctl status aprx
● aprx.service - APRS Digipeater and iGate
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/aprx.service)
   Active: active (running)
     Docs: man:aprx(8)
 Main PID: 1234 (aprx)
    Tasks: 4
   Memory: 2.1M

APRS Digipeater ready
Interface: 2m (144.390 MHz)
iGate: Connected to APRS-IS
Packets digipeated: 1847
iGate packets: 3521
user@w2jkt-station:~$ _

APRX

2m Band

Linux APRS digipeater and iGate daemon
Lightweight, headless operation on the station computer
Multi-interface — can serve several radios and bands at once
APRS-IS internet gateway connectivity
Automatic packet digipeating for local coverage
Position reporting and telemetry forwarding
Continuous unattended 24/7 operation

APRX project page →

💬

SYNCHRONET

Bulletin Board System

Synchronet BBS

70cm Band

Full-featured bulletin board system for Linux, Windows, and BSD
Message areas with FidoNet-style networking, including DOVE-Net
File libraries with X/Y/Zmodem transfers
Runs classic door games and plug-in programs
Multiple ways in: Telnet, SSH, RLogin, and a built-in web interface
JavaScript scripting for customizing menus, modules, and web pages
Free and open source

synchro.net →

📡

VARA HF

High-Speed Data Modem

VARA High Speed Modem

HF Backbone

High-speed HF data modem protocol
Adaptive data rates up to 8490 bps on HF
The backbone modem behind VarAC and Winlink
Automatic link-quality optimization
Low-latency, error-corrected data transfer
Available in HF and FM variants
Widely adopted standard in amateur digital comms

VARA modem →

See the hardware it runs on Live station status