RE: [digitalradio] Digital Voice: Some thoughts after one week.

[Dave Corio]

Title: Message

Just my two cents worth, Andy. I'm even newer at it than you, but today was a real poor day to be trying DV. With a SSB contester parked on 14.236 all afternoon, I had no chance at all to copy OE3GBB, or anyone else. I caught enough of the signal to get his call, but that was it.     I'm trying to determine how to get the inbound audio from WinDRM out to either the speaker on the PC, or the headset I'm using. I seem to be able to transmit okay so far, but it's an "alligator setup" - all mouth and no ears!     -----Original Message----- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andrew O'Brien Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 2:14 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: [digitalradio] Digital Voice: Some thoughts after one week. I have been "QRV" on digital voice ,using WinDRM, and thought I would offer some rookie/newbie random thoughts. 1. This mode's performance may appear counter-intuitive for most digital mode operators. By that I mean, we associate digital modes like PSK31, Olivia, MT63, etc, with the ability to communicate under weak signal conditions. To be able to communicate when SSB analog voice signals are not reliable. It is the opposite with Digital Voice , as manifested in WinDRM. Perfectly copyable CW and traditional SSB voice signals do not translate in to enough signal to maintain the digital voice transmissions. e.g. my analog QSO today with Gerhard OE3GBB was about a 449 RST. That is; Readable with practically no difficulty, Fair signals . However, I had to focus my brain quite a bit to pick his voice out between the QRM. When we switched to DV, the audio was stunning in quality (better than FM on 2M) but I only copied about 40% of what he sent, the rest was just silence. So, I am not sure what "use" this communication method has if we need "good" signals rather than fair or weak signals. If one can copy a person fair to well with SSB analog, why do we need to switch to DV voice? 2. The software (WinDRM) is very well designed and fairly easy to figure out. The ability to have the software switch Mic/Line In settings in the sound mixer is very useful. The waterfall and other tuning display indicators are extremely well thought out. 3. There is something "odd" about copying HF signals with good audio fidelity. My old ham brain is so used to "Donald Duck" under water SSB audio that hearing a DV signal does not sound like "real radio". It IS real radio because it is sent/received via radio waves , but it feels like you are on Echolink , IRLP, or Skype!. 4. It is exiting to be on air with just the few that are active. If you expect to hear LOTS of DRM signals, you'll be disappointed. Activity is less than Hell or MT63! 5. WinDRM shows that DV can be done well without expensive outboard hardware devices (AOR). It works with a fairly low CPU PC. I think we are in the Betamax-VHS era for amateur radio digital voice, with several incompatible DV modes. Andy K3UK __._,_.___ Need a Digital mode QSO? Connect to  Telnet://cluster.dynalias.org Other areas of interest: The MixW Reflector : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup/ DigiPol: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digipol  (band plan policy discussion) SPONSORED LINKS Hobby photography Hobby toy Ham radio Ham radio antenna Ham radio sales Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe __,_._,___