[Elecraft] K3 Digital Voice Mode - our future?

[Walter Underwood]

FreeDV is open source. You can use the FreeDV API (http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=3469 <http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=3469>) or get a box that will implement it and can be updated with new protocols (http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?page_id=3902 <http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?page_id=3902>). Or you can download the FreeDV app. Or download the source, either one from here: http://freedv.org/tiki-index.php <http://freedv.org/tiki-index.php>

Dave Rowe (VK5DGR)  is actively improving both the HF and VHF variants of FreeDV, with very interesting articles on his blog. He’s working on a low bitrate version for nasty HF signal paths (FreeDV 700), and is working on a VHF digital voice mode with two levels of fidelity always transmitted. When you get more signal, you get more fidelity (http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=3931 <http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=3931>).

Here are some samples of the current 700 bitrate codec: http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=4291 <http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=4291>

And some A/B comparison QSOs with SSB and FreeDV: http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=4527 <http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=4527>

Dave is doing some very exciting stuff, I’m impressed. And it’s all free.

wunder
K6WRU
CM87wj
http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog)

> On Sep 17, 2015, at 8:41 PM, Don Wilhelm <w3fpr at embarqmail.com> wrote:
> 
> There are advantages to digital voice, but for Amateur Band use, I don't think we are "there yet".  When we see an 'open source' digital voice mode that is published and can be implemented by any amateur, then I may change my position, but that is not the situation today.  I do not believe that proprietary modes of any sort should be permitted on the ham bands.
> 
> One characteristic of digital streaming 'anything' is that if the signal 'loses sync', things go to pot, and you have to wait until it syncs up again.  With fading on an analog signal, you can usually fill in the gaps, but with digital, it is all or nothing.  When it is "all", it is great, but the gaps are annoying - plus the quality is determined by the bit rate in the encoding/decoding algorithms.
> 
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
> 
> On 9/17/2015 11:16 PM, Sandy wrote:
>> I could not agree more Don!   There isn't much advantage for amateur radio to digital voice operations.   Just another "kink in the wire"!
>> No advantage at all.  All the digital voice stuff I have heard sounds terrible at times.  Motorola's system (proprietary no doubt!) can sound
>> absolutely awful when signal conditions are bad.
>> 
> 
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