Welcome to the group, Les, and welcome to digital radio in general!
I'm sure there will be several good ideas in response to your questions,
but I'll just give you my own opinion.
Try the on-board audio before you spend any money on a separate
card. You may find it works well enough that an additional card isn't
necessary. I used the on-board chipset on my PC for quite a while and
had excellent luck with it. I added a separate sound card for other
reasons, but it really didn't make any difference in operating that I
could notice. I added the Soundblaster Audigy, which is an inexpensive
card. Perhaps a more expensive card would do better, but with what I
have, if I can hear them, I can generally work them!
Good luck and have fun!
73
Dave
KB3MOW
Leslie Elliott wrote:
Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post. I am 70
years old, and although I have a fairly good knowledge of electronics
due to having worked as a electronics tech and field engineer for many
years, I am somewhat computer illiterate, since it was BC (before
computers LOL) when I was working in the field. I recently bought a
nice Yaesu FT-920 and am currently building a Fox Delta FD-SC1
<http://www.foxdelta.com/products/soundcard.htm> interface kit to
connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special computer, which has only
on board sound. It is a 1.2 Ghz running Windows XP Home Edition SP2.
I want to get a better sound card, but don't really know what are the
important things to look for. I have read on another forum (HRD,
which I use for rig control) that an external SC is better because it
gets the SC out and away from possible hum and noise pickup from the
computer itself. This seems to make sense to me.
My main question is "how important is 8 bit DAC vs 16 bit or 24 bit"?
How much does this affect decoding of digital modes? And how
important is the speed it runs at, 48 Khz vs 96 Khz? I have been
looking at several sound cards, both internal and external USB ones.
One of the less expensive external ones I see on Ebay is the Creative
Sound Blaster USB MP3+. It uses USB 1.1 and is 16 bit @ 48 Khz with a
front/rear/center sub channel S/N ratio of 102 db and headphone/side
S/n of 96 db. (I don't know which S/N ratio is applicable to digital
decoding??) The next step up from this would be the Sound Blaster
Live External USB which is a 24 bit and 100 db S/N, but since it is
also using USB 1.1 this is not actually what it does due to the
limitations of USB 1.1. This one sells for a bit more than the MP3+.
Then you get into the Audigy SC's, , the 2 NX external @ 24 bit/96 Khz
and 102 db S/N (USB 2.0) looks nice but is quite a bit higher priced.
And if I went with an internal card, an Audigy SE @ 24 bit/96 Khz
100db S/N is really inexpensive used.
There are a couple of non Sound Blaster cards that I am also wondering
about. One is an external Phillips PSC 805 Aurillium USB 2.0 24 bit
DAC but I have read somewhere that it actually operates @ 16
bits/48Khz. S/N of 104 db which is good, but these are a little
higher priced than others. And I remember reading somewhere that
Turtle Beach SC's are good for digital modes, think it was the Santa
Cruz model. These are a little higher priced than some of the
Creative cards, and while I am willing to save up for a SC that really
does a good job, I am not a rich person, so price is somewhat important.
I imagine a lot of the features that drive up the cost of high end
Sound Cards are those aimed at Hi Fi enthusiasts, such as surround
sound, Dolby, etc. I am not interested in this aspect, just Digital
Mode decoding ability. So I'd appreciate any input as to which SC I
should be looking for. Also, is anyone else using a FT-920 and using
HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) for rig control? I am going to customize the
interface I am building to meet my specific needs, and was originally
thinking that I could use the PTT from HRD via the serial cable, but
someone suggested that when running other Digital software and HRD
concurrently, I would not be able to do this, since the serial cable
would be tied up with HRD PTT. The Interface has a Opto Isolator on
it, so I can use this for PTT if necessary.
Tnks for any and all help and comments, es 73 de KCØPTO
Les
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