by AA6A Sep 19, 2007 18:10 from http://www.eham.net/reviews/review/62637
This Program Rocks!!! It's been in development for over a year and the effort shines through with a harvest of bountiful features. If you've ever used PSK31 Deluxe, DM780 replaces it. It will seem familiar, but don't worry, once you try DM780 you'll probably never go back to PSK31 Deluxe. And, if you are a Ham Radio Deluxe user, and you've not explored the digimodes, you're really in for a treat! DM780 goes well beyond PSK31 Deluxe. The first thing I noticed was the integration of Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) for radio control is far superior. The best way is to let HRD handle rig control, so everything works smoothly for, PTT control, tuning, filters, mode switching, logbook, and more. If you don't care to do so, DM780 can be configured to use a COM port for PTT control of your rig but you'll be forgoing rig control and feature rich integration with HRD. You also can use DM780 without any PTT rig control, for example, if you are using a TigerTronics SignalLink USB or other such device. The DM780 User Interface is Gorgeous! It offers so many custom configurations that you can have things your way! Colors, positioning of panes, macros, size of waterfall, colors of the waterfall, number of channels decoded at one time, and your favorite frequencies and Modes of choice are all configurable. There are plenty of Toolbars in each of the panes and the Program Options and Logbook Options dialogs are chock full of things you can adjust, or leave as defaults. There's even an automatic backup feature for your logbook file - so DM780's got you covered! And, you can opt to synchronize your logbook with the HRD log or keep a separate DM780 log. Soundcard controls and adjustments are also very easy to use, and support for PCs with multi sound cards installed or external sound card devices like the SignalLink USB or other devices are also supported. Basically all you do to get started, is configure the Radio Pane in DM780 to recognize your radio. This assumes you are using the preferred method of letting HRD handle your rig control. In HRD you simply enable the IP Listener program in the HRD Tools drop down menu and from then on HRD and DM780 can talk to each other. There's even a Getting Started tutorial which appears when you first run the program, and it, along with a Troubleshooting FAQ and PDF User Guide, is easily displayed at any time thereafter from the program's pulldown Help menu. Using the program via the Waterfall, is a joy to behold. You simply Click and Go. The main QSO view provides up to three (3) RX Channels; each in its own resizable RX Pane. The TX pane (also resizable) has Toolbars for macros you can use, edit and easily define via the Macro Editor, as well as another Toolbar for TX related features. There is also a new Video ID feature which enables your callsign, mode, or both, to actually appear on the waterfall! And, the Video ID can also be used for other information via a special Ident tag in the Macro Editor. There are multiple sets of Tags which you can Define and Rename, as well as Four (4) special Toolbar Input memories for other variable on the fly text entries. And, of course you can set default values for the typical signal reports and "OM" for stations whose names you don't yet know. When in the Waterfall of the main QSO View with all three channels enabled, you can simply press and hold the Shift or Control Keys while you move your cursor to reposition the [A] and [B] Markers, of the second and third channels, respectively. Visual indication on the Waterfall is further facilitated by very legible bandwidth lines. DM780 supports a bunch of digital modes, and several, like BPSK, QPSK, RTTY, MFSK, Olivia, DominoEX, Throb, ThrobEX, and MT63 have sub variants with further adjustments and parameter controls. CW and MCW are also supported. And, according to the program's author: Simon Brown (HB9DRV), KENWOOD and ELECRAFT rig owners will soon be able to enjoy CW via "KY" CAT Command support. Then there is the SuperBrowser. If PSK is your thing, the SuperBrowser offers up to 60 channels of text. And, you can engage in QSO's right from the SuperBrowser if you wish, or quickly flip to the Main QSO View. TX is available in traditional form or with an Auto Mode which curtails TX as soon as the text is sent. There's even support for several Smiley Face characters: Colon Left Paren; Colon Right Paren, Colon Dash D; and Colon At Sign. There are a variety of Signal processing and decoding tools, as well as Auto Frequency Control (AFC), Squelch, and a handy Center Frequency in Filter tool. Info Popups in the RX Text Panes, Waterfall, and SuperBrowser RX Text ribbons show if you've worked stations before, and the Add Logbook Entry pane is easily populated with information from the RX text windows via Rt Clicking, or by doing callsign lookups from CD data discs, a subscription to QRZ.com premium services or from the web. And, depending on your preference, your log entries can show the actual frequency of the QSO or the VFO Carrier Frequency. The program offers you the ability to have several browser windows open within the program at any time, so it's a breeze to see a station's full QRZ.com detail page, or a variety of other web content as you may wish. There's a whole lot more in DM780 to enjoy, but this has already grown to be a long review! ;) DM780 is very highly recommended!! I've been using it for more than a year and you can have it now. The most current build is 1605 and was just released today!
