Sound Issue With Remote Operation on Flex6300

K2ERA

Hi all,  new Flex radio owner here, just got a Flex 6300.  Its an amazing piece of equipment!

I work HF remote, my radio is at my parents house due to the fact I cant have an outdoor antenna at my apartment.  I have my Flex 6300 at my parents connected to a computer and I teamviewer in to that computer and control smartsdr.  I pipe audio back and forth using skype.  I simply set skype input and output sound as the DAX RX and TX which works well.

The problem I am having is an incredibly annoying popping sound which occurs when the smartsdr window is open/visible.  Its a very fast popopopopopopopop and it really ruins the experience and the sound quality.  Oddly if I minimize smartsdr and hide the window the problem goes away.

Before I got the flex I did this exact same setup with a yaesu radio and it never had this problem.  The problem seems related to smartsdr specifically.  

I recorded the problem on the computer running smartsdr directly from DAX RX 1.  I believe this rules out a problem with teamviewer and skype since the audio is not going through either when its being recorded, its coming straight from dax rx 1.

This is a sample of the problem:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s12Wh9GY1msn
(audio sharing site)
You will hear when the clip first starts it sounds fine, at this point smartsdr is minimized.  Then half way through the cllip I restore the smartsdr window and you will hear the popping start.  It can be heard best around 34 seconds.
Any ideas?  This problem is really ruining the experience for me at the moment so I would love to get this fixed.  Thanks All! 73.

George KF2T

DAX is not really great for shipping audio around a LAN. SSDR 1.4 will have different capabilities. The bandwidth and system load from DAX, added to the other loads on your system from SSDR (mainly video) can lead to this. Reducing the load helps (panadapter FPS, waterfall rate, audio sampling, etc). Or, you can wait a little bit for 1.4 and see how that turns out. Audio over LAN functions in the new version use a lot less bandwidth.

EA4GLI

I have the same issue K2ERA. My temporary solution was to use the headphone output at the front of the 6300 and feed it directly into the Mic input of the laptop, and then setup the remote software accordingly. I get perfect sound that way.

Looking forward to 1.4 fixing that issue.

EA4GLI

I would like to add that I am using an Asus N53SN Intel i7 8GB laptop and Realtek is the embeded soundcard that came with the PC.
The other laptop I have, also has the same sound chipset, Realtek, and I have no other PC to test it at the moment. Maybe it has something to do with the interaction of DAX and Realtek audio.

I tried different Realtek drivers and it didn´t solve the problem.

What sound card/chipset do you have in your PC? 

Jim Gilliam

Instead of using Skype, use RemAud. It is free and works much better than Skype. I am transporting DAX audio with RemAud with very good readable quality with no pops.

http://df3cb.com/remaud/

Jim, K6QE

DrTeeth

I have *exactly* the same issue using the 6300 right next to me. Thanks for posting your audio - sounds just like mine..

As it is no too loud and not *that* annoying, I have ignored it. But would rather it be fixed. I listen through my computer otherwise I'd miss the sound and messages from JTAlert.

W4WHL

I too have this exact issue with DAX, my audio sounds exactly the same.  My solution was to install an audio cable from the back of the flex into the computer. 

This issue should be resolved I hear in v1.4, but untill then (whenever that will be ) Use a direct connection to PC for RX audio.

W4WHL

K2ERA

Hi George, thanks for replying.  Chris (k6ozy) told me about remote lan audio in 1.4 and it sounds exciting and hopefully will help with my situation.  He said the 1.4 release is imminent so hopefully that will resolve my issue soon and then I will be one happy camper!

K2ERA

That completely removed the pops?  Interesting, I could definitely do that.  Next time I am at my parents house I will add that wire, great idea.  I will then have the option to use either DAX or headphone/mic.  I better remember to bring a 1/4 phono adapter though as IIRC the headphone jack is the big old school kind.

K2ERA

I actually purpose built a new rig for this purpose, I was using a laptop with my yaesu but it was **** and I didnt think it could handle smartsdr + all the other ham radio software.

Its an AMD FX-6300 CPU, Gigabyte 970A-UD3P, 8gb ram, win 7 pro.  My board uses a VIA chipset for the audio but I doubt our sound cards are causing the problem because in my setup I am not using the system sound card at all (I am going straight from dax to skype or in the recording dax to audacity using dax rx 1 as the recording device)

K2ERA

Awesome, thanks Jim, I have never seen this software before but it looks perfect for my current needs.  I will try it and see if it helps at all.  I dont think skype is causing the issue but when the issue happens skype is in fact also listening to the audio (i didnt try recording in audacity with skype off) so perhaps there is something to that.

K2ERA

Does your problem happen using the DAX audio for monitoring like in my case or are you getting your audio a different way?

K2ERA

Ok, there is enough people reporting this that at least I know its not a problem with my specific hardware, thanks much, I feel much better!!

So you are using the audio from the rear output instead of the headphones in the front?  Another user said he uses the headphone jack.  I guess the difference would be the rear audio out is amplified to 1 watt where I assume the headphone jack is amplified less.  I wonder which would give better audio for this situation, you wouldnt have happened to have tried both before settling on using the rear audio out?

Jim Gilliam

I have been using RemAud for over two years now over the Internet. This program was designed specifically for amateur audio over the Internet. Once I started using it, I have never gone back.

Jim

K2ERA

Is your popping not at as severe as mine?  Mine gets to the point where its quite annoying, and I dont get annoyed by audio issues easily.  

W4WHL

I used the rear because its easier.  Just a standard 3.5mm cable.  I never tried the headphone port.  But I also use a cheap isolation transformer to eliminate ground loops.  This is the isolation transformer I use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EAQTRI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 along with a standard 3.5mm audio cable.

W4WHL

K2ERA

****, no linux version.  I will have to see if I can get it to run under wine in linux.  I had considered setting up a sip server at some point as well.

K2ERA

I got it to install in linux under wine, I havent got audio out of it yet but i should be able to get it working.

I also installed it on a windows machine to test it and so far its working perfectly, no popping sound so fingers crossed it doesnt start.  

Now i just gotta get the audio in remaudio working under linux with wine!

Jim Gilliam

I also use it going the other way with Microphone audio from a client remote computer and a USB microphone and it works just as well.

JIm

EA4GLI

That is good to know, then is not an issue with the interaction of the sound card and it is solely on DAX. Can´t wait for 1.4 and later revisions to iron out these little details.

EA4GLI

I thought the site looked familiar. He has other software, I actually have used the FT2000RC to remote control a Yaesu FT2000. Great software!
 
Here you can find some of his other software http://df3cb.com/software/

K2ERA

I got remaudio working under wine and so far its working brilliantly.  So far the popping has not returned, even with smartsdr open.   I will have to test for the day and see if it comes back as IIRC it didnt always do this with skype, I believe it would do it on and off.

Jim Gilliam

I'll keep my fingers crossed! If it works it might be a better way to go staying completely at the digital level rather than gong from analog to digital on the speaker output and having to use an isolation transformer.

Jim

K2ERA

Ufortunately the popping came back with remaudio but I expected that as the issue seems more related to dax.  I am still going to use remaudio instead of skype but will pipe the audio from the radio to the sound card instead while waiting for 1.4 release.

Jim Gilliam

I am sorry to hear that. I am using a 6500 and have never heard any popping.

Jim

EA4GLI

That is interesting Jim, so it might just be a 6300 issue?
Any one with 6500-6700 that hears the popping sound through DAX?

It is definitely tie to the bandwidth utilized by DAX. The more sound I send through DAX the more of the popping sound. If I lower the AGC and limit the FPS sometimes I can reduce it.

I can also see how if I turn DAX off and then on again, it works ok for a few seconds and then I get the "popping" sound. Like a buffer that gets over loaded...

EA4GLI

Mine is severe enough to be annoying.

EA4GLI

I use the front to avoid inputting too much wattage on the line in/mic port of the laptop. I would hate to fry the audio port....

Bob N7ZO

Hi All,

I listened to the sound file linked by K2ERA and this sounds like the DAX stuttering problem discussed here:

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/dax-stuttering-since-1-3-8-ssdr-install

In my case, it was severe enough that I had to downgrade to 1.3.0, which is what I am currently running.

73, Bob, N7ZO

Jim Gilliam

Use the audio output on the mini-jack on the back. It is the right level for line-in on a computer.

Jim

DrTeeth

I am using DAX to feed my audio to my laptop. I use JT modes a lot and JTAlert uses very handy sound alerts which will not be heard if I plug into the rig as it uses the PC's sound card.

No noise if plugged into headphone socket. It is becoming more annoying as it seems that there is an issue and I would like a fix, hi hi. It starts immediately here, comes and goes; done it several times whilst writing this.

Also have a 6300 here.

73.