Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
Need the latest SmartSDR, Power Genius, Tuner Genius and Antenna Genius Software?

SmartSDR v3.7.4 and the SmartSDR v3.7.4 Release Notes | SmartSDR v2.12.1 and the SmartSDR v2.12.1 Release Notes
SmartSDR v1.12.1 and the SmartSDR v1.12.1 Release Notes
Power Genius XL Utility v3.8.8 and the Power Genius XL Release Notes v3.8.8
Tuner Genius XL Utility v1.2.11 and the Tuner Genius XL Release Notes v1.2.11
Antenna Genius Utility v4.1.8
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

My experience using RM Noise with FlexRadio

Options
psundquist
psundquist Member ✭
edited January 4 in Third-Party Software
I wrote a detailed blog article on my experience using RM Noise with my Flex. It's not perfect and it has limitations, but WOW. http://www.bitofsnow.com/2023/10/20/ai-noise-suppression-is-an-amateur-radio-breakthrough/

Comments

  • Trucker
    Trucker Member ✭✭✭
    Options

    Interesting blog. I have been testing RM Noise for a couple of months now. As you stated, it works extremely well. The only Noise Reduction I have heard and used that I consider better , is the noise reduction in Thetis for the Anan radios.( and also available for the Hermes Lite radios) It is all client side processing and latency is extremely low compared to RM Noise. To me I would rather have a client side application doing the processing independent of having to use an off site server to process the audio. As more users use the server (s) ,latency will increase. For now, it is quite acceptable. Not only that, should the system go offline for any reason, then you are back to using the default system in your radio. It could be as problematic as when SmartLink started having issues. The Noise Reduction in Thetis using Dr Warren Pratt's WDSP library is proof that good, reliable noise reduction is possible without having to use AI and an internet server to provide good audio. The algorithms used in WDSP library are well known. ( proven back in the late 1980's) Flex Radio just has to decide to make the commitment to improve the DSP functions in SmartSDR. None of us should have to resort to using a 3rd party application, much less, AI off site processing, to have good quality audio.

    Should Flex Radio come out with server based AI audio processing, I will sell my radio. It's nice when it works, but when it goes down, it will make the complaints about SmartLink when it goes down,seem like nothing.

    James

    WD5GWY

  • psundquist
    psundquist Member ✭
    Options
    Thanks for sharing your experience with Thetis. I’ve read how noise reduction was improved with Thetis but didn’t know it was this good. I know that things will start changing now that folks understand what is possible. It’s an exciting time to see these advancements. These advancements can be packed up and put into radios which will start happening.
  • km8v
    km8v Member ✭✭
    Options

    I have also messed around with RM Noise and it is indeed pretty impressive.

    Thetis is open source, so perhaps the Flex devs can take note, and take a look at it...

  • Darryl
    Darryl Member ✭✭
    Options

    NR2, available in Thetis software working with Anan or Hermes lite-2 hardware has been around for a long time. Many Flex users have asked that the phenomenal noise reduction of NR2 be put into Flex. The requests have fallen on deaf ears. I don't understand Flex's reticence.

    I have a Flex-6300 and like it. The networking is great and it is a very solid radio, but the radio that is quiet and just fun to operate is the HL2 running Thetis with all the options and new features available as a result of the Thetis development team of volunteers.

    Very frustrating.

    I'm not an op that runs contests multi-multi. Noise reduction is a feature I would pay for. So is Pure Signal.

    Darryl

    N0DP

  • David Decoons, wo2x
    David Decoons, wo2x Member, Super Elmer Moderator
    Options

    The only thing I don’t like about NR2 is it does “color” the audio. If rag chewing for long periods, I’d rather reduce AGC-T and have better sounding RX audio (I hang with a group that runs 50 - 4000 on TX. And yes, where we operate there is plenty of room on that portion of the band.

    73

    Dave wo2x

  • Trucker
    Trucker Member ✭✭✭
    Options
    https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/comment/20608257#Comment_20608257

    Maybe it is my hearing, but, I don't notice any coloring of the audio using NR2 in Thetis. I also adjust the eq to make the audio sound better to me. I have always liked the receive audio in Kenwood radios. Especially, my Kenwood TS-890. It has a very crisp, natural sound to it. I also use the EQ in the 890. I have found that careful adjustment of the RF Gain and not being too aggressive with NR1 setting, yields the best results. My 6600M, while still very good, has a tendency to bury a weak signal when using the noise reduction and trying to reduce the background noise and hiss. If you lower the AGC-T to compensate for the noise, the weak signal gets covered up by the noise reduction. That is something that NR2 in Thetis doesn't do.

    James

    WD5GWY

  • John K3MA
    John K3MA Member ✭✭
    Options

    There is one concern that many people may not realize when it comes to taking something (coding) that is open source and implementing it into a closed system like SmartSDR. Depending upon the open source licensing doing so might require Flex to provide visibility into their closed source code. I am not an expert in this area so I mention this only as something that Flex has to consider when users ask for code such as NR2 to be implemented in SmartSDR.

    I know this exact issue is a problem with many Chinese companies that have taken open source code (or are suspected of doing so) and built it into their own products without disclosing or providing visibility to the open-source development community.

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.

Comment As ...

Categories