Micro-PC and Virtual Audio Cable use for PSK31

[ea3geo]

Dear OM's,

I'm trying to setup the Micro-PC dongle to use it with MixW or HRD DM780's.

My initial thinking was to use Virtual Audio Cable from Eugene Muzychenko that should work fine.

And it does partially: fine Rx but no Tx and this is because something goes wrong on the setup and I don't know why.

Here's what I do:

I create 2 virtual cables in VAC
In the RRC setup I choose VAC1 as speaker and VAC2 as microphone

This causes the following error message related to VAC2:

RRC MICRO: EXCEPTION
Couldn't open sound device Virtual Cable 2
(and, well, a large message with a "GetVolumeControl failed" among other strange texts)


If I change the microphone to Microbit then it works fine but for sure I've got my Tx signal in the dongle microphone
and I don't want that. I don't want a physical cable doing a loop back to the computer soundcard. I rather would like
to have a VAC2 injecting that signal by software to the dongle.

On the other side, VAC1 works fine with superb reception results and no physical cables: for sure I could do also that
on the Tx side, couldn't I?

Has somebody tried and resolved this question?

Tks & 73 from Daniel, EA3GEO

[ea3geo]

Just an update:

The VAC control panel allows to check a "Volume Control" box.

I did it and now the error message has changed to "GetMuteControl() failed".

I'm trying to find out, around all these parameters, how to resolve this...

73!

[dj0qn]

Daniel,

Just a question: why are you doing this so complicated and not just use the USB audio that
the dongle generates? Since you don't need to listen to digital signals, you can use them for
software instead.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[ea3geo]

Hi,

Thanks Mitch for your answer.

Maybe I'm confused on the way I look at this.

I understand the RRC micro as a device that connects to the remote RRC and that "translates" the digital signal it gets from
there to an analog signal on the dongle. That signal is identified (to me) as "Microbit 1274A".

From the way I understand this, if I want that signal "injected" to MixW or DM780 then I've got two possibilities.

The first one would be making physical cables from the dongle to the computer soundcard (and this I don't like).

The second one would be creating these Virtual Audio Cables that "digitally repeat" what they hear on the dongle output and send to the treatment program you want (MixW/DM780). A second virtual cable would take the signal generated from DM780 and send it to the dongle input (mic) and from there through the internet to the remote site.

Maybe I'm confused on the way it really works but, but...

i. The Virtual Cable 1 (VAC1) it works fine for me (but not VAC2).
ii. If I try to use Microbit 1274A in both speaker and mic (this is the USB audio that the dongle generates) then I don't have any result. Just zero. No signal.

How you do that?
Have you this system working?

Tks for your help!

73 ES GD DX DE EA3GEO, Daniel

[dj0qn]

Hi Daniel,

In any of the digital mode software you can select a sound card to use for speaker
and audio input. Just select the USB sound card that the Microbit dongle generates.

You must adjust the Windows audio settings for this sound card and not only on the
PC Client software. This may be why this wasn't working for you before.

This is actually the easiest way to get digital modes working over RemoteRig, better
than the RRC. However, Microbit has not yet implemented a virtual COM port for FSK
as they have for the RRC, so this method needs to still use AFSK.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[ea3geo]

Hi Mitch,

Done! You were right! It was a so simple thing as adjusting the volume controls of the Windows audio.

Quite ridiculous, I must admit. I didn't understand how this worked and I choosed the complicated way!

Now I've got to play a bit more with levels since it seems that I need some more level in the speaker, but
I'll find out.

Thank you Mitch for your assistance.

73 ES GD DX DE EA3GEO, Daniel

[KB8CR]

I use DM780, and for input (RX audio) it only allows you to select Microbit Microphone, not Speaker. The Microbit SPEAKER is the one that is carrying the received audio from the radio isn't it?  Same thing with output (TX audio from DM780), it only offers Microbit Speaker, and the transmitted audio I would think needs to go to Microbit Microphone to get to the radio.

Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Charlie KB8BWE

[dj0qn]

Your RRC Micro Client settings should allow you to select "Microbit 1272A" on both the
Speaker and Microphone settings.

Under Windows Device Manager, you will find "Microbit 1274A" listed as a device. Just
select this for both the input and output under DM780.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[KB8CR]

Hi Mitch:

In DM780, it lists Microbit 1274A Microphone, Line, and Speaker separately. That is where I see the problem. On Input (to DM780) they do not offer the 1274A SPEAKER, only Mic or Line. And vice-versa on Output (it only offers 1274A SPEAKER, not mic).

Charlie

[dj0qn]

Hi Charlie,

That is strange, on my Win 7/64 PC I only have one combined device. Please provide more
details of your O/S and maybe a screen shot of your Device Manager with this showing.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[KB8CR]

Mitch:

The soundcard selections for DM780 are made IN DM780. It is there that I am limited in which one to chose.

[KB8CR]

I also use Windows 7/64

[dj0qn]

Charlie,

Please look under Device Manager to see which devices are listed there. It should be the
same as DM780 can select. Also, which version of the RRC Micro client are you using?

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[KB8CR]

I am using 1.6.6 . In device manager, it shows one entry for Microbit 1274A.

But these are the screenshots from DM780. It separates them into Microphone, Line, and Speaker. You can see the options it offers.

http://www.cincysouth.com/DM780-1.png

http://www.cincysouth.com/DM780-2.png

I cannot select the microphone for OUTPUT, only INPUT, and I cannot select the speaker for INPUT, only OUTPUT.
I need them the other way around to get the audio from RRC-Micro to the program.

Charlie KB8BWE

[KB8CR]

I think it would require an additional item in the driver, to select the Microbit speaker as a RECORDING device, maybe naming it Microbit 1274A PSK RX, and to select the Microbit Microphone as a PLAYBACK device, maybe naming it Microbit 1274A PSK TX.

I don't know how you have it working. For now, I guess I'll make up some short cables.

Charlie KB8BWE (soon to be KB8CR)