[Elecraft] USB Sound Card for digital modes.

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

There is no problem with any well designed USB soundcard. 
You will need to open the Windows 7 mixer (right click the 
speaker icon) and set the correct properties for that 
soundcard "recording mixer."  It may also be necessary to 
open the "recording devices" and set he properties for the 
device you use.  

Vista and Windows 7 operate the same way ... they no longer 
allow an application to have "master" control over a sound 
device.  

Don't be fooled other advice to use an amateur specific 
device.  All of the low cost devices use variations of the 
same chip (TI PCM29xx) and all use the generic USB Sound 
driver (USB Audio CODEC) built into the operating system. 
 
There are plenty of reasons to use a dedicated USB sound 
device for amateur operations.  Some designed specifically 
for amateur use have good operational enhancements and a very 
few take special care with low noise inputs but the drivers 
are all "bog standard" with Windows. 

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV 
 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of 
> Kenneth A. Christiansen
> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 10:05 AM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Elecraft] USB Sound Card for digital modes.
> 
> 
> Hi from Ken
> 
> I put Windows7 on my computer and for the most part everything is 
> working well but now I got around to using PSK31 and have a 
> problem. The 
> waterfall will show a signal for just a couple of seconds but 
> then the 
> signal goes away. I thought I had it fixed by turning off the noise 
> reduction feature in Windows7 but now as I try to use it I 
> notice that 
> the signal input drops off just as though there is an auto 
> gain feature 
> that holds the audio too low for the digital programs to work 
> properly. 
> I can increase the gain in either the computer or the K3 but 
> after about 
> 2 seconds the gain drops off.
> 
> My question is what USB sound card works best and if I change 
> to a USB 
> sound card will it work the way the old Windows sound cards worked or 
> will I still be up against the new AGC action.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any advice I get.
> 
> 73
> Ken W0CZ
> w0cz at i29.net
> 
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