AIR FORCE MARS: Providing the Reins of Command--in Emergencies

Connie - AFE7DM / AFA7VP

Soundcard Tidbits
There are some soundcard problems we should be aware of. This is with the "official" 16 bit blaster sound card. Not all the frequencies that show on the waterfall are usable for all combinations of computer/soundcard.

A good place to get info on many sound card modes. Do a search on ZL1BPU. This guys web page will tell you anything you will ever want to know about the sound card modes. Links to everywhere.

ALL SOUND CARD PROGRAMS - Some people have reported that the sound cards themselves are not netted or locked to the same frequency on send/receive. It seems to vary with computers, sound cards and programs. If you answer a CQ and the party fails to answer back this could be a problem in the radio or the sound card. If the error is small it will not be noticed on RTTY but some of the other sound card modes are pretty fussy about tuning.

MULTIPSK SOUNDCARD CORRUPTION MULTIPSK - 3.0 Others may encounter this problem. The problem is selecting "software control" option for the mixer in multipsk. Use "user control" instead(The mixer panel). If you exit multipsk with "software control" selected, all sorts of things may /may not happen ever again. In my case the environment variables were changed even in the Autoexec.bat file without a rem: note either, it just wrote a new line. Another clue may be that my computer did not have "sndvol32.exe" anywhere to be found. The program works but the soundcard control may be hosed up. If you don't fool with "mixer software control" everything will be fine. The DOS programs worked because DOS has its own INI settings. Copy/Paste with Multipsk Program This program is more clunky for relaying received copy. There is apparently no way to paste from the clipboard to the TX buffer, at least I have not found it. To copy, press STOP at the bottom of the screen. Mark the copy, then right click and a menu will appear. Press COPY and then open notepad like before and PASTE to it. You will now have to SAVE AS to a file on your traffic floppy. Then to TX this file press FILE above the TX buffer, mark your file you saved and OPEN it, should go to the TX buffer.

COPY / PASTE PROCEDURE Many of the programs we use in digital have the windows pull-down menu (Edit) so you can mark and copy things from the receive window. Also in order to mark things in the RX window you have to somehow inhibit receiving, else the RX data will cancel your marking. One way to do this is go to the TX mode. The Stream program does not have the edit menu visible. It does have a RECEIVE pull-down menu where you can stop RX. Or you can type something in the TX buffer to put the program into transmit. Mark the data you want to relay/save. Press ALT-E and the menu will be activated but you will not see it. Press C and the data is copied. If you want to relay this info put the curser in the TX buffer and press right-click. A little menu will appear, press paste and the info will be transmitted. If you want to save/edit the info, put the program in background and open a copy of NOTEPAD. Pull down EDIT and Paste the copied info. There you can edit the material or save it to a file. It may be easier to save files for traffic to a floppy rather than loose it on the hard drive.

SOUND CARD CALIBRATION PROCEDURE It appears that most computer soundcard's do not have their clock frequency set very accurately as they come from the factory. If you are having difficulty copying the digital modes or are receiving reports that your transmit signals are not exactly right, your soundcard clock frequency may be slightly off. Don't shoot your computer, you can compensate for this by adjusting the soundcard parameters in your receiving program. Many of the receiving programs have a method of determining how far the soundcard clock frequency is off, but they are not always easy to use. Here’s a method that is fairly easy to use and will allow you to adjust your soundcard to WWV with an error of less than 1 ppm;

1. Download MMTTY (an excellent freeware RTTY program) from http://www.qsl.net/mmhamsoft
2. Install and open MMTTY by executing the .exe file you downloaded.
3. In MMTTY, go to Option --> Setup MMTTY --> Misc page, and click Adj button in the ‘Clock’ box.
4. Tune your radio to WWV at 2.5, 5 or 10 MHz.
5. Tune into the tick sound.
6. Continue listening to the sound for a while. You should listen for at least 3 minutes; but, listening longer will improve accuracy of the following steps. You will see one or more nearly vertical line that corresponds to the time "ticks" sent by WWV..
7. Click the upper point of the line.
8. Click the lower point of the line.
9. You have now calibrated the MMTTY software. (Please note that this did not change anything on the soundcard, only in the software.) Make a note of the frequency that is now displayed in the box.
10. Close MMTTY and open your receiving program.
11. In your receiving program locate the setup option that allows you to set the sample rate for the soundcard and enter the frequency found in step #9. For example, in MixW: got to Configure --> Soundcard setting --> Samplerate.

More recent developments in the Winlink and Winlink 2k catagory have produced systems and ARQ protocols that are similar to Pactor but make use of the computer sound card.   Specifically "RMS Express" is now providing a unique message system with provisions for immediate contact and/or relay with message centers by direct internet, direct radio contact or a combination of both providing means of  selecting which is best suited for the situation.  On the Winlink 2000 sites you will find a download path  to Winlink FTP for all of that is needed to get this Free software.   Download the turorial and  read it thouroughly..