CW Sidetone?

Lou KI5FTY

Hi - I have a new to me 6500 that I can't seem to figure out how to get cw sidetone from SmartSDR. I have connected my key (Iambic) to the front key jack and I have my audio set to "PC Audio". I have the sidetone turned on in the software and I am able to transmit CW fine but without a sidetone. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

VE7ATJ_Don

Hi Lou... are you expecting to get the CW sidetone from the PC speaker? If so, I don't believe that can happen. The audio for the sidetone comes from the headphone jack on the Flex.

Stan VA7NF

The ONLY place to hear your own keying and also computer keying is at the flex headphone jack - Ever since SmartSDR prerelease version 0.x.

There are good reasons for this; if your CW feedback comes at the same time as RF output then the latency will drive you crazy. The request from day one has been "Please supply zero latency monitor tone on all audio output including network sound card." I suggest a long cable from the flex audio output to your speaker/headset IF you want to hear (e.g. N1MM contest) computer keying.

Lou Laderman W0FK

I have been using an external keyer for many years, a Logikey K-5. That model, and the CMOS-4 they sell, have sidetone seakers in them. It's old school for sure, but with the keyer's speaker on I don't have to worry about hearing the sidetone when I'm running cw with SmartSDR on my PC. It's very easy to hook up and use, just turn off the iambic setting, and twist the knob to adjust keying speed.

73, Lou W0FK

Lou KI5FTY

Yes I was expecting it to come from the PC. I was hoping to have the the 6500 in a rack closer to my cable ingress. I guess I need to explore how to hookup a keyer to my PC and let the keyer generate the sidetone? That is going to make me carry a keyer and cables when I am remote...

Tim - W4TME

@Lou Scalpati This post was created as a discussion, but is actually a question where you desire an answer.  This topic should have been a Q&A topic, not a discussion.  For more information on how to create an Q&A, please see the Message Board post, Using New Q&A (Question & Answer) Feature. 

I have gone ahead and converted this discussion to a Q&A for you.

ka9ees

@Tim - W4TME

This forum is the weirdest I've ever seen. ;-) Must be a full time job for you.

73, Ed KA9EES

Lou KI5FTY

@Tim - W4TME Sorry I did not know there were so many rules here... I asked a question, discussion ensued and I thought I was a happy community participant. I was not looking for a cut and dry answer but a back and forth, is that allowed in the QA section or is there an extended QA section for that? ;-)