DAX on Transmit

DonS

I am experiencing a serious problem on transmit. I doubt it is RF since prior to installing 1.0.24 I was using 1.05 with a US Interface without any issues. I have the power cranked down to less than a watt into a dummy load and I get "thumping in the speaker and when I monitor the signal on my 3k it looks absolutely terrible on PSK mode or AFSK mode. Any thoughts? Right now I am completely uninstalling SmartSDR 1.0.24 SmartSDR 1.0.22 then attempt a re-install to see if the issue cleans itself up. I am also looking for info on how to tune the digital mode through DAX. The video really wasn't too useful in that respect.

George KF2T

Can you clean it up using the DAX control panel TX slider?

DonS

George Did I miss something in the video because I do not recall the video talking about DAX slider on the transmit panel or what it provides. Likewise the video only adjusted the TX Gain in the DAX and did nothing with the RF Power in the transmit panel. I found by turning down the volume all the way on the external speakers the wave form looks much better. I don't think that would be RF. Finally I notice when I turn off transmit in the control panel for the slice the volume increases - this only occurs with DAX active. Do you experience that? Don

George KF2T

Hi Don, You're right - the slider on the TX panel is inoperative in DAX mode. There is another slider, in the DAX control panel, on the right-hand side, for TX Gain. You might need to mess with that some to bring the levels into range. What are you seeing on the TX panel level meter? Are the peaks above zero? You're transmitting using the DIGU or DIGL mode, also? Those remove the compressor and equalizer from the path; if you're in USB/LSB, that might be affecting things. As for the second part - are you hearing your transmitted tones in your speakers? Could be a result of being in a "voice" setting (MON doesn't work in DIGU/DIGL), or it's RF, or you have the "listen to this device" checkbox ticked in the Windows setup for your DAX TX device. I'm not sure what undesired consequences that might bring. A couple of things to check! And no, I don't notice any change in audio levels when switching DAX or TX on or off. That's an odd one. Might (maybe) be related to the "listen to this device" setting. Good luck! We're all trying to learn how to use all these new features.

Greg

This evening I managed a QSO on USB from my wireless computer in the house using DAX. Had to set the level for TX using the sliders in the DAX control panel from the windows task bar. Also had to tell the mic to be listened to through DAX audio TX2. Once I did that the audio was piped from the mic to the DAX TX audio. My friend said the audio sound pretty good. I was not able to make any TX EQ adjustments. I had the SSDR window maximized but was not able to see the EQ controls. Nothing showed below the VOX control. All that said I was pretty happy with the first DAX QSO. BTW....I ran the all in one computer in the shack with DDUTIL so it could handle the stationmaster control for the antennas and amplifier. I am considering connecting the Stationmasters CAT input through a Lantronics serial-ethernet device so that running the other computer would not be necessary. 73 Greg

DonS

Hi George I was referring to the TX on the the slice itself. When in digi mode with DAX enabled and I disable TX for the slice the volume increases and when I turn on the TX enable for the slice the volume decreases. Must be a new feature Did you use the RF Power setting at all? I found the RF Power setting must be set to something other than zero. I also recall with PSDR and PSK in general it was recommended to set the RF power to max and adjust the audio as needed for the power out but not to exceed 0db. So I set RF power to max and then adjust the TX slider on the DAX panel to usually no more than10 watts out in PSK mode - basically what I do when I use the f3k with VAC. The peaks on the meter are well below the 0db with this setup. I am in the digi mode but I need to check to see if the mon was on. My problem on xmt goes away when I turn the speaker volume all the way down and just use headphones which implies something is getting into the speaker - I am using the Bose II speakers. Don

DonS

Nice....it appears the options are almost limitless.

George KF2T

Good morning, Don. Love the "new features" - so many things to juggle all at once. Software developers are amazing people. I use the RF power control to set output, and leave the gain slider alone. With DAX, it's on it's own window, and I'm lazy. Set once to peak at 0 on the level meter, and QRP/QRO as needed with the RF Power slider. I'm using the Bose speakers, too. One of my antenna permutations led to some RF in the shack. Those speakers are pretty good little demodulators. Good luck!!

DonS

HI George I switched back to the Navigator interface still using 1.0.24 SmartSDR and no issues with network disconnect. So I doubt it was rf. I still have the issue when in digi mode (either digu or digl) when I disable tx from the slice the volume picks up and when I enable the tx in the slice the volume drops. Merry Christmas Don

DonS

I ran a test using Navigator interface and the other with DAX: Note the wave forms running about 4 watts into a dummy load This was done using Navigator interface: DAX interface:

Sergey R5AU

Don, are you using any Virtual Machine for WIN ?

Sergey R5AU

Don, I tested my F6700 with DAX and: 1. MAC OS MAVERICK + Parallels +WIN7 64 - the same picture as on you screen shot with DAX interface or more worse, transmitted signal unreadable 2. DELL Notebook with WIN7 32 - no any issue, good signal, IMD -20-30db 3. MAC OS MAVERICK + VMware Fusion + WIN7 74 - good signal BTW with p.p.2 and 3 some operators mentioned - necessary to resychronised reception of you signal, i guess signal phase changing from time to time. Necessary to analysis it additionally.

DonS

Sergey I am using an iMAC (16gb) OS X latest release, Parallels v9, Win 7 Pro. Assigned 4gb of memory to the vm. Don

DonS

Sergey I set up the PC that I use with the F3K and F1500 for use with the Flex 6700. A big difference and I wonder if it is because of the vm? I will experiment some more but the psk signal using DAX looked as good as the one above using the navigator. Don

Sergey R5AU

Don, i tried many variants with resources allocation for Parallels etc - no way, every time the same bad signal. For the moment I have no idea abt Parallels. VMware really help at the moment. I'll try some additional Win tuning( may be information from DirectX will help ?)

DonS

Sergey, please let me know what you find out. Perhaps going to VMWare might make a difference. Maybe FRS might be able to help. Don

Sergey R5AU

Don, for the moment we can note it only as SW with Beta status, even FRS noticed what they not supporting non Win OS. In any way i will inform you abt any resuls with this.

Sergey R5AU

Don, i did many tests, in my case = iMAC 27 2,93gHz 16Gb - OS Maverick - VMware Fusion(split 4 core and 8Gb RAM) - Win7 64: was sense "retina support" in display properties of the VMware result you can see on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KSU3FE1LkI&feature=youtu.be&hd=1 lets try it. BTW i have no issue with Network disconnect mentioned into the other topic

DonS

Sergey That is great. So DAX works well with VMware but not so well with Parallels. I guess I will have to get a copy of VMware and give it a go. thanks Don

Sergey R5AU

Well, pls do not see precisely on video quality, i guess screen-o-matic on Win with VMware :-) need some tune too. During weekend i will test more deeply Parallels with Help Desk, i guess we will find out some ideas

DonS

Are you using VMware Fusion Pro or just the regular version of VMware Fusion?

DonS

Will VMware convert a parallels vm?

Sergey R5AU

You know i am use a regular version of the VMware Fusion 6.0.2 On Parallels installed dedicated version of the Win7 64, but i tried convert from VMware - do not saw any difference after on Parallels

DonS

When you converted to Parallels you did not see any difference - do you mean it worked ok when converted to parallels or did not work well when converted to parallels?

Sergey R5AU

Don, completely no differents , even with ports or any devices

DonS

Great, DAX works equally as well in either vm.

DonS

After installing VMware and creating a vm, I ran the beta SmartSDR and SmartCAT and DAX and I found the result were only marginally better than running the Parallels vm. I experienced some unstable conditions like the rx audio in DAX would stop as would occur in Parallels. At least the waveform looked much better in VMware when running PSK.

Sergey R5AU

Well Don, I'm case solution in VMware is: VM properties: 1. Processor&Memory->Advanced Options-> Enable Hypervisor+Enable code profiling 2. Display -> Use full resolution for Retina -> disabled In my case this is very close to native Win or external SB and so much better then on Parallels. I set Trouble Ticket in VMware help desk, lets see.