Do you need a sound recorder for your new Flex 6x00?

Norm S

I have to admit, I've been having a blast with my 6700 (praise part) but there are a lot of features that just aren't available yet.  One of those is a digital voice recorder.  I really miss having the ability to record a CQ call and then play it back over the air.  This really saves your vocal cords and is great for contesting.   I also like being able to record a friend and play it back so he can hear exactly what his voice sounds like with his new microphone.

I started thinking about this the other day and decided to look around on the internet for some software that might help me make this a reality.  It didn't take long and I came across a product called Audacity.   This software doesn't require you to use the default Windows sound device.  It actually lets you pick which input and output sound devices you want from all of those available on your PC.  

For a microphone on my 6700, I personally use a Jabra wireless headset attached to my desktop via USB.  I have set the Jabra up to use DAX 1 TX and DAX 1 RX and I have to admit, it works pretty well.   If you don't have this type of microphone, just attach any microphone to your PC and point Audacity to use it as the input sound device and setup DAX 1 TX to be the output device.

Now all you have to do is use the PC microphone and Audacity to record and save each of your CQ DX or whatever type of calls you want to play out over the air.  Name each one and save them to your computer.

I happen to have my Jabra wireless headset set and Audacity both set to use DAX 1 TX and DAX 1 RX.  I use the VOX feature in SmartSDR to key the transmitter.  Now all you have to do is open the sound file you saved for calling CQ DX and hit the play button.  It will go to the 6x00 and the VOX will key up the transmitter.  When the recording comes to the end, VOX will drop and the 6x00 will go back to receive. 

I realize this isn't perfect, but it's been working pretty good for me so far.  If you don't like the free Audacity program I'm sure there are a bunch of other ones you could use instead.

 

I hope this helps someone!

 

Norm  - KL7RS

 

Jim Gilliam

The 6000 series seems to be an endless use of third party patches. I wish one could use the VAC instead of that **** DAX..it sucks!

Norm S

This is my first exposure to Flexradio and I'm not familiar with VAC.  You are correct, DAX can be a pain in the ****.  I'm constantly baby sitting it.  Its always dropping either TX or RX, it is only somewhat stable if when I first boot up, I stop then restart DAX before actually using it.  Volume control seems to be low and a host of other issues.   But like I said, its the only thing I've ever used and I'm not at all familiar with VAC.  I'm just hoping that over time things will get better.

Jim Gilliam

I bought the 6500 specifically for remoting. It seemed the ideal solution for a stand-alone unit that required only an Ethernet Interface. So far, to remote the radio, I have to have an accompanying computer that I remote with Teamviewer. As a remote with the inferior DAX and the third party software required to interface to it, I find, so far, the 6500 vastly inferior for remoting than the 3000 or 5000. Hopefully, this is will be resolved, I am just wondering If I will live long enough.

JIm

Bob G W1GLV

This is a development radio, you cannot expect everything at once. Have patience.