SOFTWARE
There are many programs for running PSK31 on the PC, and several of them are free. Some of them, such as the excellent Ham Radio Deluxe series, offer a staggering array of features and digital modes. If you want to experiment with some of the more exotic digital "sound card" modes like Olivia, Throb, Domino, or even good ole RTTY, you will probably find that you may want to gravitate toward one of the programs that offer many digital modes. Ham Radio Deluxe is a little intimidating, but has amazing features and a huge number of modes, and is absolutely free. That being said, for operating PSK31, I still much prefer the "simple elegance" of DigiPan 2.0.  Skip (KH6TY) did a GREAT job of bringing ham radio the first PSK31 program with the ability to automatically decode up to 26 PSK31 signals simultaneously and this easy to use, free program is still my favorite for PSK31.

FREQUENCIES
Of course, PSK31 operation is legal anywhere on the bands that narrow bandwidth digital modes are allowed, but you will typically find PSK31 operation to be highly concentrated on the "normal" accepted PSK31 Frequencies:

    COMMON PSK31 FREQUENCIES:

160 Meters	1838
80 Meters	3580
40 Meters	7070
30 Meters	10140
20 Meters	14070
17 Meters	18100
15 Meters	21070
12 Meters	24920
10 Meters	28120
6 Meters	50290

TUNING PROCEDURES
By convention, PSK31 operation is normally done in the UPPER sideband mode. The normal procedure is to simply set your SSB transceiver to one of the frequencies listed above and LEAVE IT THERE!  From that point, all "tuning around" is done with the mouse! If you have the "Multichannel" view enabled in DigiPan 2 ( View / Multichannel Window ) you can watch in awe as the software decodes and displays, on the right side of the screen (the Multichannel window) several PSK31 signals simultaneously. To transfer any signal to the "main" receive window on the left, click on any signal being decoded in the Multichannel window, or you can click on any signal trace in the waterfall display. All tuning is typically done by just mouse-clicking. The only time you would need to move your transceiver frequency would be when you want to operate or contact a station that is outside the (2 or 3 KHz bandpass) waterfall. With a signal that is near the upper or lower "edge" of the bandpass, you may find that both your Rx and Tx will perform better if you move the transceiver frequency a bit to bring the signal or band section of interest into the best performance area of your bandpass (see PSK Bandpass Response). Typically, you would just use your widest SSB filter, so that your waterfall display is as wide as possible, allowing for the widest decoding bandpass and waterfall "width" to be displayed. However, there may be times when switching in your narrow CW IF Filter can be helpful, such as when a very strong signal up or down the waterfall is pulling your receiver AGC and thus reducing the gain on a possibly weaker signal of interest. Some transceivers, unfortunately, do not allow for using the narrow CW filter when in the SSB or Digital mode that is needed for transmitting on PSK31. This may be something to think about when you are planning your next rig purchase! With my rig, the FT-817, I can switch in the narrow CW IF Filter, and use the IF-Shift control to literally "walk" this narrow bandpass up and down the waterfall to isolate signals of interest.

POWER
PSK31 has very narrow bandwidth and, compared to most modes, is VERY efficient. Because of this, it requires less power than most modes for effective communication. QRP (low power) enthusiasts find that with a watt or two they are not only able to make contacts, but often have long, solid copy ragchews with very low power. Keep in mind that today's transceivers are usually NOT rated for continuous output at full power, and PSK31 is a continuous output mode! This means if you have a 100W transceiver, running the full 100 Watts on PSK31 is roughly equivalent to locking your key down in CW at full power and leaving it transmitting a continuous 100W signal! This will definitely overheat most modern transceivers, which is only ONE reason to back that power down when running PSK31. There are TWO other reasons to keep the power down on PSK31: PSK31 is extremely efficient, and you simply don't NEED high power to operate PSK31. Most operators feel that anything over 30W is overkill. Also, running high power on PSK31 is being a "band hog" because most operators are not running above 30 Watts, and when you do so, you risk "swamping" the entire waterfall section of the band, pulling the receiver AGC of other stations with your overpowered signal, which can prevent other operators up and down the entire waterfall from copying desired weaker signals! If ever there is a time to apply the FCC rule of not running more power than necessary to accomplish the communications at hand, transmitting PSK31 is that time!

TRANSMIT DRIVE LEVEL
Closely related to the power output issue, is the matter of correctly setting your transmit drive level for PSK31 operation. The simple, easy way to do this is to watch the ALC metering function of your SSB transmitter, and make sure that when operating PSK31 your transmitter NEVER enters the ALC portion of transmit drive level. An easy way to set it is to increase the transmit drive level until your rig DOES enter the ALC region, then back it down to where it drops OUT of the ALC region ... then, back it down another 10 or 20%, just to make SURE. Consider this point to be your maximum power output condition. Be aware that if you change frequency, even moving within the waterfall, your transmit drive may change significantly! Overdriving the Tx level is the most common mistake of new PSK31 operators, and you are likely to be chastised by your fellow amateurs if you overdrive your Tx. When you overdrive, your signal not only splatters outside the "31Hz" PSK31 bandwidth, it can splatter up and down the entire PSK31 waterfall and beyond, causing QRM to dozens of stations operating in that portion of the spectrum! PLEASE, watch that ALC, and help us all to enjoy the benefits of narrow-bandwidth PSK31!

TRANSMIT/RECEIVE OFFSET OR SHIFT
When running Windows ME, 2000, or XP (but never on Win98 or Vista) you may experience an "offset" condition, where your transmit frequency will not match the receive frequency, due to the way those particular Windows systems and some specific computer hardware interacts with the drivers. This can cause you to have to re-tune (mouse-click) each time the other station comes back in a QSO, and you may find your signals slowly "walking" up or down the band as your QSO progresses! You may not experience this problem at all, but if you do, fortunately, it is very easy to fix. To eliminate any shift, DigiPan 2.0 and virtually all other soundcard communications software can be calibrated to your specific soundcard. The easy way to do this is to use the "Check Sample Rate" (CheckSR.exe) utility provided FREE with the downloadable Mix-W program. To use this ONE-TIME process to calibrate DigiPan 2.0, just follow these steps:

1.	Run the CheckSR.exe program for 20-30 minutes for the best accuracy, then click STOP.
2.	Put the "difference PPM, INPUT" number into DigiPan Configure/Sample Rate Corrections/Rx.
3.	Put the "difference PPM, OUTPUT" number into DigiPan Configure/Sample Rate Corrections/Tx.

You can use these same numbers to calibrate any communications software program to your specific soundcard for optimum performance. You will only need to do this ONCE for each software program.

A WORD ABOUT UPPER-CASE TEXT
Please do not leave your keyboard "caps lock" on and transmit PSK31 text in ALL UPPER CASE. All PSK31 operators should use lower case letters wherever possible. There are TWO good reasons for this. The first reason is that "all caps" text is harder to read, but there is a more important reason: PSK31 is a varicode mode. PSK31 characters contain a variable number of bits. Lower-case PSK31 characters have fewer bits in them than their upper-case equivalents, so lower-case text transmits faster and decodes better! Using upper case for abbreviations or where appropriate for emphasis such as "QRM", "PSK31", or TO STRESS A POINT is fine, but please don't use "all caps" all the time ... old time RTTY ops may need re-training here!

A WORD ABOUT SIGNAL REPORTS
Ham Radio operators have traditionally given signal reports such as "RST599", where "R" is "Readability" on a scale of 1-to-5, "S" is "Signal Strength" on a scale of 1-to-9, and "T" is "Tone" or transmission quality of a CW signal on a scale of 1-to-9. There is currently a small number of stations urging that we change PSK31 signal reporting to "RSQ": Readability, Signal Strength, and Quality. I think that makes sense ... but I think it is just plain silly to send "RSQ 599". I think hams are smart enough to realize that last number in the signal report means QUALITY rather than TONE when referring to a PSK31 signal report ... the concept is good, but the choice of letters is bad ... I would recommend that we continue to use the traditional ham radio "RST" signal report, simply modifying the "T" from it's CW-oriented "tone" to an appropriate PSK31 signal report using:

    RST:   Readability, Signal strength, and Transmission quality !!!

This allows us to use the traditional "RST" that is probably already printed on our QSL cards, but alter its meaning for appropriate use in reporting PSK31 signals.

ADDITIONAL PSK31 RESOURCES ON THE WEB
Here is a list of links to additional PSK31 related resources that you may find useful:

Dirt Cheap PSK  Hook up this cheap, simple Interface in minutes, and get on PSK31 right now !!

PSK Bandpass Response  Explains the importance of transceiver bandpass in operating PSK31.

PSK31: The New RTTY  Original article by PSK31 inventor G3PLX explains how PSK31 works.

Receiving PSK31 - A Video Tutorial  Video by K7AGE will have you receiving PSK31 in minutes.

Soundcard Interfacing  Provides pinout connections by transceiver make and model.

PSK31 Interface Handbook  Schematics for building your own digital interfaces for PSK31.

Small Wonder Labs  Complete PSK31 transceiver kits starting at $55 shipped.

Nue-PSK Portable Digital Modem  Modem for PSK31 in the field, without a computer.

AC6V's Digital Modes & Software Listings  Links for software downloads and resources.