Problem Statement:
WSJT-X can send and receive UDP information regarding decodes, logging contacts and TX Control.
Normally if you want to integrate with multiple applications you would set the UDP IP Address to Multicast but not all applications support that. The default is all applications running on the same PC and use the loopback address of 127.0.0.1 for communications.
But this means that only a single application can bind to UDP port and others will fail.
I like using GridTracker2 with WSJT-X for many reasons but for this problem it helps solve the issue as it has the ability to receive the WSJT-X information and rebroadcast it to another UDP port.
But I want to be able to easily run multiple applications at the same time. In my case I’m running WRL CAT Control and OpenHamClock at the same time as WSJT-X and GridTracker2. I may also run N1MM+ for contest logging if WRL doesn’t support that contest.
So I wanted to create a way that WSJT-X plus GridTracker2 could send this UDP traffic to multiple applications. I did this by creating a Windows PowerShell script that can bind/listen to a UDP port and then it forwards that traffic out to multiple other UDP ports.
Then you take each of your other applications and set them for those individual ports to make them all work at the same time. Details are in the attached document link but here is a simple example of my configuration
WSJT-X (Port 2237 in/out) >>> (Port 2237 in/out) GridTracker2 (Port 2238 out) >>>
(Port 2238 in) UdpSplitterForwarder (Ports 2239, 2240,2241 out) >>>
(Port 2239 in) WRL CAT Control
(Port 2240 in) OpenHamClock
(Port 2241 in) N1MM+
The only limitation that I have found with the current PowerShell script is it is a one-way forward/split of the traffic. For example if you wanted to send commands back to WSJT-X it will not work. Of the applications that I use the only one that needs two way communications is GridTracker2. This so I can click on a callsign in the roster to activate a transmission.
Fortunately, since I’m using the native link between WSJT-X and GridTracker2 BEFORE it goes to the UDP Splitter/Forwarder script this still works perfectly.
So with this summary and using the detailed information below you can use all of these applications and have all the benefits of GridTracker2, logged contacts show up in World Radio League and See decoded messages and logged contacts in OpenHamClock. And, if using N1MM+ can get this info into it also.
I use the native Task Scheduler in Window to automatically run the script every time i log into my PC. I also give an example of how to configure a desktop shortcut to run the script in case you don’t want to use Task Scheduler or if you close the script and want to restart it.
Of course there is one other limitation. This script is for Windows only. Sorry Linux and Mac users.
Link to my Dropbox repository with the full document of how to configure everything
I hope this helps some of you out with similar issues as I had.
Joe - KK7PZE