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Any solutions for WiFi audio dropouts?

Mark_WS7M
Mark_WS7M Member ✭✭✭
in SmartSDR for Mac

Hi all,

I've gone pretty much fully Mac using SmartSDR for Mac. I love to run it on my laptop, an I9 MBP with lots of RAM.

I have switched to Ubiquiti WiFi modules and I use shielded, high quality cables and all switches and routers are gigibit.

But even sitting less than 5 feet away from the WiFi AP SmartSDR mac will alternate between solid audio and a continuous stream of dropouts.

I've tried various buffer sizes but I have not played much if at all with any WiFi network params.

I have ensured I am on "free" channels and using 5ghz for WiFi. But it really has resulted in a less than optimal experience. So much so that I don't grab my laptop and play radio while sitting on the couch watching football.

Has anyone found a solution to achieve rock solid audio using Smart SDR Mac, Mac Book Pro?

Comments

  • Ted VE3TRQ
    Ted VE3TRQ Member ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021

    Hi Mark.

    Have you brought up the Mac Activity Monitor while playing radio on the MB? There are just too many background housekeeping processes running on the Mac for my taste. The worst of them is Spotlight, sifting through all your files and folders indexing them, and background browser tasks doing the bidding of remote websites don't help. I believe there may be other tasks at work, too.

    Go on a search-and-destroy mission. I run a MacMini with lots of memory for most things, and usually do not have issues.

    [Edit: I also seem to recall a thread about the Mac WiFi driver and hardware needing some config change, but since I don't usually use WiFi, did not pay much attention.]

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin

    On my Mac I turned off locations services and it really improved the audio issues.

    Mike

  • Mark_WS7M
    Mark_WS7M Member ✭✭✭

    I will try those and see if they help! Thanks for the input!

    I have both a MBP and a MacMini. Both are core I7/I9 machines with lots of RAM. I stayed with the core I devices over the Apple Silicon due to a need to at times run windows in a VM.

    The MacMini is hard wired and never has audio issues. Plus where that is located I have direct audio to the radio piped in anyway. It is mostly the MBP that I'd like to use wirelessly at times.

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