Aether v26.8.2 Win11 -- No CW Sidetone in Headset

Russ Ravella

I successfully installed Aether 26.8.2 on my WIN11 machine. Everything seems to work perfectly with my 8600 except for the CW Sidetone in my PC connected headset. I CAN hear receive audio and the voice monitor from the headset mic in the headset head phones just fine. And the sidetone appears in the radio-connected powered speakers but not in the headset.

I've checked every windows and Aether setting I can find. Is anyone else having this problem ?

Thanks, Russ KR6W

W2ECK

Russ

I used just the Midi feature built into Aether for a few weeks, before buying the Halikey. So yes, I did have to do the midi mapping inside the Aether feature. But I believe you can just go straight to Netkeyer and it will do the mapping. The below is from the Netkeyer documentation.

73 Paul w2eck

Setup Page

1. SmartLink (Optional): Click "Enable SmartLink" to connect to remote radios via FlexRadio SmartLink
2. Select Radio:
   • Click "Refresh" to discover FlexRadio devices
   • Select a radio and GUI client station from the dropdown, OR
   • Select "No radio (sidetone only)" for practice mode
3. Select Input Device Type: Choose between:
   • Serial Port (HaliKey v1) - uses CTS (left) and DSR (right) pins
   • MIDI (HaliKey MIDI, CTR2) - uses configurable MIDI note mappings
4. Choose Input Device:
   • For Serial: Select the serial port connected to your keyer/paddle
   • For MIDI: Select the MIDI device, then optionally click "Configure MIDI Notes..." to customize mappings
5. Connect: Click "Connect" to begin operating

Trucker

Russ,a new update just dropped a short time ago. Maybe that will fix your problem.

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Thanks Trucker, I'll check it out !

Russ Ravella

Dang, although it looks like there's some good stuff in there, it didn't address this issue. I'm wondering if other folks are seeing the same thing ?

Thanks, Russ KR6W

Erik Carling EI4KF

You cannot have CW sidetone to a computer connected headset. It is deliberately disabled because of the inherent latency.

Fix 1: Connect Your Headset Directly to the Radio. The cleanest, zero-latency solution is to bypass your PC's audio stack entirely.

Fix 2: Use CWX or Macros for Keyboard Sending. If you are sending CW using your computer keyboard (Macros, SDC, or AetherSDR's built-in CWX panel), you can hear the sidetone over your PC headset.

Fix 3: Use an External Keyer with a built-in speaker if you absolutely must keep your headset plugged into your PC.

Fix 4: use a Y connector cable to connect headphones to both computer and radio and set radio volume above zero when needing sidetone reception.

W2ECK

Ii have an 8600 and running Aether v26.8.3. I have a Gaming headset plugged into a Win 11 PC.

Getting a great side tone in my headset.

Doing this with a Halikey Midi USB. My paddles are plugged into Halikey which is plugged Win11PC USB port.

Originally used the Midi Mapping feature in Aether - but didn't like the tone or responsiveness of audio.

Now using Netkeyer- FlexRadio CW Keyer software and the audio is great and zero latency.

73 Paul w2eck

Russ Ravella

Hi Erick and Paul,

Thanks for the responses.

Erick, the whole idea is to utilize the PC based, client side processing Aether brings to the party which isn't available through the radio. And the latency issue is avoided by using the client side sidetone generated by Aether directly back to the headset. But thanks for the suggestions !

Paul, I have a Halikey MIDI USB but haven't tried it because of posts saying it didn't map to Aether correctly for CW purposes. Before you went to the Netkeyer, did you have to do some fancy mapping plumbing with the MIDI mapping feature you mentioned to get it to work and if so, could you please share what you did ?

Thanks Russ KR6W

Russ Ravella

Paul,

Yeah, I downloaded Netkeyer and easily got it to work as a result of your comment - thanks !

Problem there is, even with the routing being entirely within Win and apps there's still some annoying latency. Far less than looping through the radio of course but still enough to matter.

I asked Mark (HaliKey's developer) about it and got a typically super quick, informative reply a few minutes ago. He says their measurements show about 20-25ms typically and with dits about 60ms long at 20wpm, that's nearly half a character so not insignificant, unfortunately. And he's got it down near theoretical minimum.

But still, it works. So again, thanks for your very helpful response !

73 Russ KR6W

W2ECK

Russ

Glad it helped. Agree on latency - not ideal but workable

73 Paul w2eck

N5NHJ

MorCoNI is another option.