Default CW Sidetone Volume

KD0RC

The default Sidetone volume in SmartSDR is 80. Depending on your audio setup, this can be EXCRUCIATINGLY loud. I would like to see a default of 20 so that if the value gets set back to default, you might have to turn it up, but not likely to have to turn it down (or at least not much).

Flex Radio takes our input seriously, so please upvote this idea to give it a chance - Thanks!

Mike-VA3MW

We are aware of that and we do mention that in the release notes. Thanks.

Eric-KE5DTO

Out of curiosity, which platform are you using where sidetone @80 is extremely loud? Is this SmartSDR for Windows, Maestro, or something else? Which audio output are you using?

KD0RC

Hi Eric,

Windows 10, SmartSDR for Windows, powered speakers (turned all the way up) plugged into the back of the radio. I also keep the master volume in SmartSDR all the way up. Same thing for my headset (Yamaha CM-500) plugged into the phones jack on the back of the radio.

I put the master vol and speakers on full volume because various things like noise reduction or lowering the AGC-T can cut the audio. Sometimes, I can pull out a real weak station by dropping the AGC-T down and compensating with more audio gain. This often gives me better S/N in the audio.

By the way, this is not new with 3.10.10. The sidetone default has been like this (I think) since I got my radio with SmartSDR 3.1. I only mentioned it now because with the new release, I had to reset my CW parameters.

Eric-KE5DTO

Understood. We added remote sidetone so that you can hear what's going out the radio when you are remote and using something like N1MM to key the radio. We noticed that there was quite a bit of difference in the sidetone levels depending on where you were keying. We have done some work to align all of those levels, but it was too late for v3.10.10. Look for that to be fixed in an update in the near future.

KD0RC

Very cool, thanks Eric!

Mike-VA3MW

The great news is that we have it now!

I loaded 3.10.10 on my 8600. I then run N1MM on a remote PC near the radio and human part (aka.. me) uses my Maestro via SmartLink.

I called CQ and BOOM—- there it was! Very loud on the speakers. But, it worked. I had to slide my MON down to about 10%.

thanks!!