[Trlog] voice recorders

[Dave Hachadorian]

On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 07:57:59 -0700 "WK6F" <wk6f at pacbell.net> writes:
> What are the best (by any definition) DVP/DVK products out there for 
> use
> with TR?  Do internal boards have any advantage over the external 
> devices?

I've tried a couple of approaches:

1. The free software SBDVP, which drives a Soundblaster-compatible
ISA sound card.

advantages:
It's free, if you have a suitable sound card.

disadvantages:
It's a little tricky to set up.
Audio output from the sound card does not include live microphone
audio, so a merger of the two audio sources, (one high level, and
the other microphone level), is required.
Quality is ok, but there are some clicks in the audio on recorded
messages.
Not all of the two-radio functions work.


2. W9XT internal DVK card.
Advantages:
It works pretty well. I had some hum issues with my particular
unit, but solved them with an isolation transformer. I
understand that this is an unusual occurrence. Live microphone
audio is automatically switched into the voice recorder output,
whenever messages are not playing.

Disadvantages:
You need an available ISA slot and IRQ.
Not all of the two-radio functions work (although W9XT says he may
have a fix for this, with a mod to the card that tells TR when a
message is completed. I haven't tried it yet.)


Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Big Bear Lake, CA