Initial evaluation of Release V.1.4.3

Ken - NM9P

Here are a few observations on the new release...

First...Thank You!
Thanks for the unexpected release and useful additions to the software.

1) Recording and playback of my transmitted signal.  Al I can say is Thanks!  I compared it to what I record and playback of my 6500's signal on my 1500 and it is PDC! -- Pretty Darn Close.  When I had the volume of the 1500 at the same level I could hardly tell the difference!  Indeed it is going to be very useful in setting up your transmit Audio.  BTW...It sounds the same whether you are transmitting with one Watt, 100 Watts, or with the TX through the Transverter jack on it's lowest setting.  as long as you have the power control on 1, you get a good recording!

2) DAC Monitor on Transmit.  I tried this when using DAX via my K9DUR Voice Keyer program and it works well.  NOTE:  Both DAX Monitor and regular TX SSB monitor are PRE-EQ and PRE Processor.  SO you will not ear exactly what you sound like.  To hear that, see #1, above...

But the combination of 1 & 2 revealed a feature that I did not expect, and did not see in the release notes.......

3)  DAX input on SSB is now PRE-EQ and PRE-Processor..... Which means that whatever is going in via the DAX channel when on SSB will be EQ'd and Processed just like your mike audio.  This is a feature I have asked for but I was surprised to see it.   Now I need to record all of my voice keyer & contest audio again.  I recorded a quick "CQ DX" with Audacity (via my regular mike and USB Mixer) and it sounds exactly like my live mike in my monitor receiver!  No more need to EQ and compress my contest recordings separately!  Thanks!

4) Binaural Receive Audio - I tried it on a few stations, SSB & CW.  On SSB it is line of like hitting the Simulated Stereo on some of my TV's.  A neat effect, It expands the sound stage a bit, but I was expecting to see some sort of left-right shifting of CW signals or something dramatic.  Some folks will love it, but it doesn't do a lot for me.  It tends to lean towards my right ear, but that is probably just my 56 year-old hearing loss showing up.  But it is s nice feature for those who will find it useful.

5) APF slider works for the entire range.  It doesn't ring and I can tell that the Q is changing as I adjust it.  Since a thunderstorm was running and I am on a dummy load for these tests, I couldn't test it out with real signals to see how effective it is now.  Initial listening to background noise shifts as it is adjusted look promising.

That is all I have had time to play with.  These are all very welcome additions.
Thanks.

Ken - NM9P

KY6LA_Howard

I missed #3.

Currently running on full,backup power and having a ball working DX usually obscured by local RFI. Double hop long path to EA and GW. my station was built to run on full DC emergency backup power but it's great to. Be forced to make sure everything works 100% when the power is out.

If you are correct on #3 then I really need to update my paper on Contest Voice Keyer because they look like they have solved the Processed Equalized Issue.

Will experiment and document it when the lights come on.

Al_NN4ZZ

Hi Ken,

RE:: your feedback on #4 from above

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4) Binaural Receive Audio - I tried it on a few stations, SSB & CW.  On SSB it is line of like hitting the Simulated Stereo on some of my TV's.  A neat effect, It expands the sound stage a bit, but I was expecting to see some sort of left-right shifting of CW signals or something dramatic.  Some folks will love it, but it doesn't do a lot for me.  It tends to lean towards my right ear, but that is probably just my 56 year-old hearing loss showing up.  But it is s nice feature for those who will find it useful.
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I've only tried it on CW and similar results here so far.  I can hear the difference but haven't seen an improvement on weak signals.   I'll keep playing with it on different bands and noise conditions.  If you find a specific set of conditions where it helps on CW, let me know. 

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

Tom Warren

   Al, I'm also a heavy cw user,  so after installing v1.4.3, which went very smoothly,  I immediately went to the DSP settings to check things out and found that with APF 'ON'  the slider, when moved from left to right, has the effect of softening the cw dits the more it's moved to the right. So far I can't tell much (but some) difference on weak sig rx improvement.....but I have only spent less than an hour on it so it will be interesting to read what others find.

   As already noted on this thread, I also confirm, when in the narrower filter settings (100 - 50 ), there is less ringing and probably why I'm noticing slight rx improvement.

     I'm still waiting for v1.5 in hopes for major weak signal improvements, compared to the F5000.    
     
  Tom W4TMW
 

Al_NN4ZZ

Hi Tom,
Agree with all you wrote.  Hoping for more control over the APF feature.   I've also been wondering about the viability of another idea for CW to improve weak signal reception.  Will post it to a separate thread.   

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

Ross - K9COX

My CPU usage is so low now that I think it's time to pull out the old 286.

Tom Warren

  Contrary to my comments about an hour ago, I'm happy to report that with more time poking around with the new version I'm well pleased with it's weak signal performance. First I went to 6M and pointed my ant. ( 6el LFA at 55") to some weak beacons and started adjusting the APF and AGC-T. My APF setting is in the higher range of the slider and AGC-T is still set-up as before to find that 'knee', then chance to audio to suit with '****' set to 'on'.

   According to the Flex 6300's 'S'-meter my noise floor was -140dBm and I was able to copy a number of beacons which didn't register on the S-meter but were registering on the waterfall. Now that's hearing !! 

   That was with the 400hz filter, I then narrowed it down to 100 then 50 hz and there was almost no additional perceptible ringing, the perception of background noise was greatly reduced and the signal strength remained the same....amazing !!  Then turn the APF on/off and notice the signal pop out of the noise.

   I can also report the same results when using my Elecraft XVTR copying some 2M beacons but the noise floor was higher due to a mast mounted preamp but the weak signal 'hearing' is much improved IMHO.

   I have not done any prolonged experimenting on the lower HF bands ( to me, 'lower' means 20,30,40M)  but expect to be there later today. 

Bottom line.....after further time with v1.4.3, so far I'm now very pleased with my F6300's weak signal performance.  

Now were talking!!!!

73 Tom W4TMW




 

Simon Lewis

Now we are talking ... any decent SDR should be able to see what my TS590 and Kuhne tvtrs + WSJT can see ie you should be able to 'see' below the audible range - now integrate JT65 and the packge is complete! - Can't wait to get my 6500 this week ... combined with the Kuhne TR series transverters this should be an awesome weak signal setup for moonbounce
 

Ken - NM9P

Hee hee!  That would be interesting to see!
I actually have one of those somewhere in my closet, unless I threw it out in the last move.

Ed - W2RF

Here's my experience of Binaural so far:

When Binaural is enabled, there is a constant phase shift of about 90 degrees. This appears to be due to the average phase difference between the I and Q signals. If it were a 180 degree shift, the sound would appear to come from directly behind. That's what the phase switch on some headphones does. Since it is 90 degrees, the sound appears to come from behind and to the right. So to compensate for this, when I switch on Binaural, I also set the L/R pan control to 25.

When there are multiple signals in the bandpass, they are all shifted in phase by slightly differing amounts. It's not dramatic, but enough to create a bit of a panorama which helps separate signals that are close together. A subtle but useful effect. Try listening to calling stations in a heavy pileup for example.

The narrower the filter, the less noticeable is the change introduced by Binaural receive. To get the best 3D experience out of Binaural try setting the Pitch to 700 and the filter width to 1khz. There is more phase shift on widely separated signals.

73 Ed W2RF