[Trlog] Getting back on the air

[Fred Jensen]

FWIW:  I got SBDVP running with TR 6.72 and a very old SB CT4180 ("Vibra
16") card on my 486SX/33 DOS 6.2 logging computer.  I think I paid 9
bucks for the card (it was in the "we'll pay you to take this box, but
you have to take everything" box)  The Ctrl-Fx record function doesn't
work, but I've pretty well determined that's why the card was so cheap. 
I make .wav files on the Windoze machine and move them to the over on a
floppy.  There are a few anomalies:

1.  A friend sent me configuration software (the CT website is NOT very
helpful for older stuff).  It configures the card so SBDVP can find it. 
Unfortunately, SBDVP and the configurator won't run together, so I have
to boot up with the configurator in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, then
take it out of them and reboot.

2.  #1 is a one-time thing unless you shut the power off.  Then the card
apparently loses it's mind and you have to do #1 all over.

3.  The .DVP file format is 8-bit mono at 12048 samples/sec ... pretty
low tech.  Some quantization noise appears in the file that sounds like
bacon frying.  It recedes into the background as long as I record using
the entire dynamic range, but it is still noticeable.

4.  Getting the levels set right for my TS-850 (and getting rid of some
hum) took some work.  The root problem is there is no way to control the
line-out level in DOS.  SBDVP sets it when it initializes and that's
it.  I ended up with an isolation xfmr (Radio Shack) and a 50K 13-turn
trimpot feeding the connector on the back of the radio.  PTT is keyed by
SBDVP out one of the parallel ports.

5.  I wound the cable to the radio thru a ferrite cylinder a few times
and the RF feedback went away.

6.  Don't forget to put your file names in SBDVPCFG.DAT, or it won't
load them into extended memory.  You'll want some extended memory (I
have 4MB which is plenty) for the files.

I tried it all out in the Jan NAQP SSB after carefully planning and
recording all the messages.  The only one I ended up using was the CQ. 
I could question the whole effort since I'm not fond of phone contests
in the first place, but I learned a few things and ended up with some
really cool sound editing software on the Windoze machine.  YMMV

SBDVP does work very well and is a neat little piece of software.

73,

Fred K6DGW
Auburn CA CM98

Pete Smith wrote:
> 
> At 09:08 AM 1/27/04 -0700, David O Hachadorian wrote:
> 
> >On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 08:38:11 -0700 "Markhasin, Vitaly"
> ><Vitaly.Markhasin at UE-1.com> writes:
> >
> > > In DOS or Win95 use SBDVP.
> >
> >Only with a SoundBlaster-compatible ISA sound card, right?
> >
> >
> 
> That seems to be the case, though I have had people tell me they managed to
> make a PCI version work.  I have never had any luck with that, though,
> using a SoundBlaster16 PCI.  The problem may be that the later cards use
> what is called a legacy device emulation, and I'm not confident that SBDVP
> sees it properly.  It initializes apparently fine but won't record or playback.
> 
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the World HF Contest Station Database
> Updated 9 Jan 04
> www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm
> 
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