FAQ

Why doesn't Rivet have a .exe file ? How do I install and run it ?

Rivet is written in a programming language called Java which allows it to run on computers using a variety of operating systems which include MS Windows , Apple OS X and Linux. Instead of having a .exe file it has a .jar file. To run the program you must first install Oracle Java which is free can be downloaded from here. To install Rivet go to the Github download page and click on the link that says "rivet_bxx.jar" where xx is the build number. Save that file into a folder on your PC. Then to run it go to that folder and double click on that .jar file , within a few seconds Rivet should run. A common problem is that Rivet appears to a folder containing lots of files. The usual cause of this is that an unzip type program has decided that it "owns" .jar files rather than Oracle Java.

How do I know my radio is tuned correctly ? and why doesn't Rivet have a tuning aid ?

That is where Rivet is different ! In the past decoders require that you tune your radio precisely to the audio frequencies it expects the data to be at. Rivet takes advantage of a modern computers amazing processing power to look at an incoming signal and then it adapts itself to the signal so no tuning aid is needed. This means you can also decode data you recorded in .WAV sound files previously.

It is important to remember that Rivet adapts itself to a signal in different ways depending on the mode being monitored. With FSK200/500 , FSK200/1000 and GW 100 Baud FSK the program simply looks for the two frequencies separated by the correct bandwidth. With the MFSK modes things are more complex. So with XPA and XPA2 Rivet needs to see the modes start of message sequence to calibrate itself.

Why doesn't Rivet decode this mode ?

I probably just haven't got around to adding it ! Working on Rivet is a hobby of mine and sadly I never have as much time as I would like to work on it. If you know of a mode you would like Rivet to decode please contact me and tell me about it.

How could I help improve Rivet ?

I am looking for three kinds of people ..

If you are a Java programmer and are interested in helping please use Github to fork this project and feel free to add any modes or make any changes you want , it is a fully Open Source project. However I would be very grateful if you could send me your changes so I can include them in Rivet and everyone can take advantage of them.

I will admit that Rivets documentation needs a lot of work to improve it. If you want to help with that please get in touch.

Lastly I always need testers. If you want to help me with that please get in touch.

How do I contact the author ?

If you start Rivet and click on the "About" item in the "Help" menu you will see my email address.