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Planning the next filters

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Grant Youngman-2

Re: Planning the next filters

I have — or rather, had — a U7. It’s a nice interface, worked well, save for one thing. I left it hooked up for a few hours one afternoon, and while I was off doing something else it apparently failed and tried to draw enough current that it fried a USB port and other goodies on my Mac. No clue why, but I relegated it to the “lessons learned” pile. Had to have the MacBook Pro logic board swapped out, which is no small thing.

> On Mar 9, 2018, at 2:26 PM, Jim Brown <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Bits is not the issue with interfaces for digital modes -- encode/decode uses the 48 kHz 16 bit stream, and K1JT says that's plenty good enough. What matters is the quality of the A/D and the analog electronics, and that's where the Signalink falls down. Higher bit rates and depths DO matter when using an interface for a spectrum display. N8LP has long recommended the ASUS Xonar U5 and U7 for use with his LP-Pan, although I've heard of hardware failures with the U7.
>
>

Grant NQ5T
K3 #2091, KX3 #8342

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Bill Frantz

Re: Planning the next filters

In reply to this post by Jim Brown-10

Since SignaLinks seem to be a continuing topic, one thing I
noticed with mine is that the manufacturer seems to have been
upgrading the design. When I first heard (probably from Jim)
that there were problems with the SignaLink, I found a web site
with directions for fixing some of them. So I warmed up my
soldering iron and opened my SignaLink. When I looked carefully,
every single one of the issues on the web site had been
addressed in my unit.

I got a Tascam 24 bit device, which I used for several years,
but it wouldn't work on my Linux BeagleBone, because of the lack
of drivers. It worked well on my Mac. Now I'm using the KIO3B
upgrade to my K3 and am quite happy with it. The SignaLink has
moved to my portable KX3 station, where I'm looking for a
smaller, lighter solution.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 3/8/18 at 10:40 PM, [hidden email] (Jim Brown) wrote:

>On 3/8/2018 10:18 PM, Bill Frantz wrote:
>>This problem occurred with a SignaLink.
>
>That's not a very good interface. It helps to have an clip
>light or other digital level indicator on the interface for the
>received signal. My Tascam US100 has a green signal presence
>light and a red one for clip, which makes it easy to stay out
>of trouble.
>
>73, Jim K9YC

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Don Wilhelm

Re: Planning the next filters

There seems to be an ongoing concern about audio levels for digital
modes. This is not confined to the SignaLink, but applies to any and
all soundcards used for digital modes.

There are at least two audio level controls - the Line In gain, and the
soundcard output level (set in the computer for most soundcards, but
with the front panel knob on the SignaLink). There is also a 3rd
control in the software application often marked "POWER". Those should
all initially be set midrange, and then changed a bit from there to
produce 4 bars on the ALC meter with the 5th bar flashing. That should
keep you out of the clipping level. If any controls are at a very high
or low range, that is when you will run into clipping problems or
insufficient audio drive.

For more detail and explanation of 'why', see the article on my website
www.w3fpr.com. Scroll down to the last article in the left column and
click on the link.

Data mode operation does not require an exotic soundcard, most any will
work. The important parameter for soundcard data modes is the noise
floor available for the soundcard. Soundcards for Panadapter use need
to have a sampling rate equal to (or exceeding) the bandwidth to be
displayed, but that is not an important parameter for digital modes. In
other words, a 16 bit 32k (or greater) soundcard will work well for data
modes. The more expensive soundcards will likely have a lower noise
level, but that is not guaranteed.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 3/9/2018 6:58 PM, Bill Frantz wrote:

> Since SignaLinks seem to be a continuing topic, one thing I noticed with
> mine is that the manufacturer seems to have been upgrading the design.
> When I first heard (probably from Jim) that there were problems with the
> SignaLink, I found a web site with directions for fixing some of them.
> So I warmed up my soldering iron and opened my SignaLink. When I looked
> carefully, every single one of the issues on the web site had been
> addressed in my unit.
>
> I got a Tascam 24 bit device, which I used for several years, but it
> wouldn't work on my Linux BeagleBone, because of the lack of drivers. It
> worked well on my Mac. Now I'm using the KIO3B upgrade to my K3 and am
> quite happy with it. The SignaLink has moved to my portable KX3 station,
> where I'm looking for a smaller, lighter solution.
>

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Neil Zampella

Re: Planning the next filters

To add something to what Don said:

I've been using my KX3 with a USB soundcard (SoundBlaster SBx) for
digital modes, and WSJT-X modes especially for about two years now.
Before that I was using an IC-718 with the same soundcard. You don't
need to spend over $100 for a specialty piece of equipment that
basically does the same thing two shielded stereo cables, a KXUSB cable
and a cheap USB soundcard does. You can do it for anywhere from $20 to
60 bucks, the only criteria, at least for the WSJT-X modes, is that the
soundcard must provide 16bit 48kHz audio.

That said, on MACs its been found that keeping the soundcard set to
44100 Hz keeps the computer from having problems with WSJT-X, no one's
quite sure why.

K3s owners have it a bit easier, with the built in USB for CAT and
audio. K3 owners (without the USB KIO3B option) can use the same
setup as my KX3.

73,

Neil, KN3ILZ

On 3/10/2018 11:20 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> There seems to be an ongoing concern about audio levels for digital
> modes. This is not confined to the SignaLink, but applies to any and
> all soundcards used for digital modes.
>
> There are at least two audio level controls - the Line In gain, and
> the soundcard output level (set in the computer for most soundcards,
> but with the front panel knob on the SignaLink). There is also a 3rd
> control in the software application often marked "POWER". Those
> should all initially be set midrange, and then changed a bit from
> there to produce 4 bars on the ALC meter with the 5th bar flashing.
> That should keep you out of the clipping level. If any controls are
> at a very high or low range, that is when you will run into clipping
> problems or insufficient audio drive.
>
> For more detail and explanation of 'why', see the article on my
> website www.w3fpr.com. Scroll down to the last article in the left
> column and click on the link.
>
> Data mode operation does not require an exotic soundcard, most any
> will work. The important parameter for soundcard data modes is the
> noise floor available for the soundcard. Soundcards for Panadapter
> use need to have a sampling rate equal to (or exceeding) the bandwidth
> to be displayed, but that is not an important parameter for digital
> modes. In other words, a 16 bit 32k (or greater) soundcard will work
> well for data modes. The more expensive soundcards will likely have a
> lower noise level, but that is not guaranteed.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 3/9/2018 6:58 PM, Bill Frantz wrote:
>> Since SignaLinks seem to be a continuing topic, one thing I noticed
>> with mine is that the manufacturer seems to have been upgrading the
>> design. When I first heard (probably from Jim) that there were
>> problems with the SignaLink, I found a web site with directions for
>> fixing some of them. So I warmed up my soldering iron and opened my
>> SignaLink. When I looked carefully, every single one of the issues on
>> the web site had been addressed in my unit.
>>
>> I got a Tascam 24 bit device, which I used for several years, but it
>> wouldn't work on my Linux BeagleBone, because of the lack of drivers.
>> It worked well on my Mac. Now I'm using the KIO3B upgrade to my K3
>> and am quite happy with it. The SignaLink has moved to my portable
>> KX3 station, where I'm looking for a smaller, lighter solution.
>>
>