What is causing this cracking sound through my speakers ?

KG5PTE · September 2023

This just started a few nights ago but I am noticing a crackling sound coming through my PC speakers or with the external speakers.

Here is a video I made: https://youtu.be/nIwRNzIKUYk?si=WvlQwObBGYOKsVS0

Trucker · September 2023

Sounds like local interference. I get similar noise and spikes in the panadapter when something in our neighborhood powers on and off. In my case the WNB set to max setting, knocks it out. That may or may not work for you.

James

WD5GWY

Paul Christy · January 29

It's not local interference. I have the exact same problem. It's some sort of digital interruption. It occurs when using PC audio but I don't hear it on the DAX stream. Did you ever get an answer to this?

Mike-VA3MW · January 29

That sounds like an issue on the PC audio stack. What does it sound like from the back of the radio without PC Audio?

Paul Christy · February 2

Hi Mike. Thanks for your response. I just submitted a ticket on it before I checked back here. I don't have the problem when running SmartSDR locally. Only on the remote computer. I haven't checked it from the audio jack on the front of the 6700.

John KB4DU · February 7

This sounds like a network latency issue.

Paul Christy · October 22

I hope you solved your problem. If so, please let me know how you did it. I think if you ran a Maestro over the same connections, it would work fine. Problem is in Windows settings or SmartSDR. Not much incentive for them to fix that... There is a workaround. Listen to audio on DAX channel through Audacity. Quite the Kludge. Haven't been doing it for long but it's working pretty well for me so far. Guessing I'll find some downsides to this in the future.

Paul

N0GN

Mike-VA3MW · October 22

This is an old thread. A few years ago it was more of an issue within the radio solution.

Today, is just about totally fixed which means if you are having this issue, it is likely in the ‘transport layer’ meaning the network between the radio and the user.

We have learned that all network switches are not made equal. it is worse with inexpensive switches and we even see it with inexpensive Gigabit network switches as they can’t handle the streaming traffic very well and so they drop packets. Those UDP packets are where the audio is embedded and that is why you hear the clicks.

3 years ago, it was very noticeable. Today, even remote operating, I very, if ever, ever hear it.

Paul Christy · October 22

Thanks Mike.

Waterfall SSDR Audio.png

SSDR Audio wav.txt

I replaced the network switch with

NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Essentials Switch (GS308)

for in February. Can you suggest a specific switch I should try? Still makes me wonder though, if it works over DAX, why can't I make it work without DAX?

Uploaded the waterfall and .WAV file renamed as .TXT so I could get it to upload. Not sure it'll work.

I'm running SSDR remotely over SmartLink on new Carbon X1 laptop with business internet connections on both ends. Still have crackling in the audio stream presumably due to signal dropouts lasting on the order of milliseconds.

When I listen to the DAX channel on Audacity there's much less of a problem. Still have some black lines on the waterfall but there is substantial improvement in overall audio.

I've tried numerous suggestions from throughout the community and from the help desk for years and using Audacity is the only thing that has worked so far. I don't really like having to use 3rd party app for this. Also concerned in the future I could limit options for SO2R and other advanced techniques. One downside I've noticed so far is that using the PC microphone, the record feature on the slice doesn't work. And I can't control audio volume from the RX panel.

Paul Christy · October 22

Also, it works with Maestro over the same network connections

WX7Y · October 22

If it works with the Maestro than I would think it maybe the Computers internet device is the cause, If your running wireless on it then try the wired Ethernet port or visa versa and make sure your BIOS and the Network drivers are all up to date.

Maybe you have already tried this but if not give that a go, Just because the Computer may be new it still could have issues with Drivers or BIOS.

Paul Christy · October 23

Computer is on the same WiFi as the Maestro. I've messed with a lot of the NIC settings but no change. Just plugged in to the network with wire. No change but thanks for suggesting that.

Mike-VA3MW · October 23

Can you try a different network switch?

John KB4DU · October 24

Or a direct wired connection between computer and radio just to see what happens.

KG5PTE · October 24

In a mobile capacity using my Iphone or iPad Turning OFF The Water fall completely. Greatly improved latency on 5G connectivity while mobile. A lot of this cracking and interment audio loss seems to be cell tower jumping and cell issues while mobile. But here at the home QTH I found that turning down my frames per second helps. And if I could turn off the water fall that would be helpful too. This may be an old thread but it is still a current problem.

John KB4DU · October 25

This is almost always a network performance issue. Getting a network to function is pretty easy, getting it to function well can be challenging.

Paul Christy · October 27

TL;DR - It is basically the network but a Major Mystery remains. Cross posting to the other active threads. Sorry.

I'm glad to see so much interest in this ongoing problem. The thing that has always baffled me and still baffles me, and the question to which I, and SQ2GXO have never gotten a satisfactory answer, is why are there no crackles when listening to the DAX stream or on a Maestro over the exact same networks? SQ2GXO went so far as to purchase a Mac and it worked on the same network. That's dedication but really shouldn't be necessary.

Incidentally, VA3MW noticed I cut off my exchange in the CQ WW DX SSB Friday night. That was not due to the network problem. It was because in N1MM I program F3 and F4 to turn MOX on and off in lieu of PTT/footswitch. Sometimes, I'm a little quick to hit the F4...

Anyways, I've tried many different things, none of which seemed to immediately result in significant improvement. However, when I fired it up from my offsite location (see my QRZ page), in the last hours of the contest last night, the crackling was gone! It remains so this morning. So I thought I would summarize all of the changes that occurred in the last week, and notes from earlier years, leading up to this moment.

Switched ISPs from Verizon Business 5G + WeBoost to Windstream DSL. We're in a rural location. I have both.

Hardwired Ethernet at offsite location instead of WiFi.

New network switch at the station TP-Link TL-SG1024DE.

New network patch cables at the station DbillionDa Cat8.

Windows 11 Advanced System Settings offsite location: Visual effects all turned off except Smooth edges of screen fonts, and Adjust for best performance of: Background services (instead of Programs).

I've always used fairly low bandwidth SSDR display settings: AVG 90%, FPS 15, RATE 60.

Direct wired connection from computer to radio has always worked fine.

In the past, messing with numerous NIC settings did not result in improvement.

I've had up to 4 monitors hooked up to the new 2025 Carbon X1 laptop, but the problem exists even when using the laptop undocked.

Previously changed MTU to 1500 with some improvement but back to 1467 now.

SSDR Network Diagnostics have generally been Excellent to Good but this morning they are impeccable with 0.00% dropped packets (31/1,205,400).

Thanks everyone for your input.

Paul

N0GN

Keywords ****, cracking, crackle, crackling, stuttering, pop, popping

What is causing this cracking sound through my speakers ?

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