[Writelog] RE: fullcallsign.wav voice-keying

[Steve Baron - KB3MM]

> would be to use highly sophisticated speech recognition
type stuff to

speech recognition of what ?

> eliminate the recording of i-n-d-i-v-i-d-u-a-l callsigns, but far surpass
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Hilding" <eric at hilding.com>
To: <writelog at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 17:00
Subject: RE: [Writelog] RE: fullcallsign.wav voice-keying


>
> Let me clear up some apparent confusion about how this can work (although
> as previously stated, it is NOT for everyone).  It is NOT the monster
> tasks some are eluding to.
>
> As discussed with another WriteLog user on the phone yesterday, the future
> would be to use highly sophisticated speech recognition type stuff to
> eliminate the recording of i-n-d-i-v-i-d-u-a-l callsigns, but far surpass
> the use of i-n-d-i-v-i-d-u-a-l letters & numbers in terms of reducing the
> "robotic" sound.
>
> Most people do not make over 3,000 QSOs in the SS (SSB) contest.  The ARRL
> Scores Database isn't up yet for the 2003 SS (SSB) contest, so let's look
> at the realities of the 2002 results.
>
> 1. Total logs:  1,693
> 2. Top Scoring operator # of QSOs:  2,658
>
> My original "ballpark" of fullcallsign.wav files to be recorded for the
> first go-around was 3,000.  "Interesting"...and far from 20,000 :-)
>
> We know that many SSB SS operators never submit their scores, and are
> Annual "Casual" contesters.  That's okay, and why my idea would take the
> following approach (simplified)
>
> 1. Put all 2003, 2002 & 2001 SSB SS callsigns from the ARRL Scores
> Database (i.e., Annual "Serious" contesters) into a database.
>
> 2. Combine/pool Cabrillo logs for these same 3 years from amongst a group
> of *serious* contesters and strip out the callsigns to add to the callsign
> database (this will pick up a tremendous number of "casusal" op callsigns
> which don't show on the ARRL submission records.  I already have the db
> set up.
>
> 3. Purge all duplicate calls to produce an initial list of callsigns to
> "pre-record".  If enough logs have been pooled, the initial pre-recording
> of FULLCALLSIGNS should get about 70% used in the SSB SS on the first
> pass.
>
> 4. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT:  The logging software needs to do the following
> DURING the contest:  Any callsign  entered into the QSO window for which a
> pre-recorded fullcallsign.wav file does NOT exist simply gets appended
> (written) to a .txt file.  The reason for this is efficiency in
> identifying doing the next batch of pre-recorded callsigns WHICH WILL
> IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF THIS WHOLE THING YEAR AFTER YEAR!!!  This is
> what I plan to do, and if many of these individual "hit" lists are
> shared/pooled with others, then everyone benefits.  If a fullcallsign.wav
> file does NOT exist, then individual alpha/numeric .wav files can be
> played.  Only a couple of lines of programming code are necessary to make
> this all happen.
>
> 5. An alternative to the individual alpha/numeric "robotic" files could be
> to have BOLD RED TEXT show right above the callsign that reads "GO
> LIVE"...which means the fullcallsign.wav file doesn't exist so "GO LIVE".
> Either that, or via a .config setting, have the callsign display in a
> different color.  There are various options, but obviously, a slight
> delay in operator response.
>
> 6. My estimate to pre-record 3,000 fullcallsign.wav files is about two
> hours and somewhere between 8 to 10 hours to edit for use.  But for most
> it will take longer.  I happen to be a Professional Voice-Over artist and
> have a 72 track hi-end digital studio.  For those without similar
> equipment, I've previously suggested just going to an inexpensive
> voice-over studio or small pro recording studio...the cost amortized over
> 10 years of future contesting use may be worth it to some.  I did a Syphon
> Filter voice-over project for Sony several years ago.  They booked me for
> four hours.  We got the entire job done in two hours.
> "Focused Concentration" can do wonders in this stuff...just like in
> contests :-)
>
> 7. One of the keys to making pre-recorded fullcallsign.wav files work is
> to frequently monitor the "energy" & "delivery" of what you are doing when
> recording in order to keep the best match possible of total final output.
>
> 8. My recommendation is to record at 44.1Khz 16bit Stereo as a minimum
> (for future digital stuff use...known or unknown at present), and simply
> to resample the files to 22K MONO for current SSB SS use.  The sample
> fullcallsign.wav demo files I've used are only about 50KB each, but those
> were short callsigns.  So conservatively guesstimating here, at even 100KB
> for each fullcallsign.wav file, and 100KB for each fullserialnumber.wav
> file (do I really need to explain how this works too???)... we are looking
> at no more than 200KB per QSO.  If you make 3,000 QSOs in the SSB SS
> contest, the maximum hard drive space for the files would be about 600MB.
> But keep in mind that only 200KB or less will be used during any ONE QSO,
> so we are NOT talking monster overhead here.
>
> 9. The ideal is to have ONE "hot-key"/Macro to be able to toggle back &
> forth between Automation and "Live".  Automation could be for slow periods
> or if one's voice starts to go...any combination of uses desired.  Using
> primarily Automation (a/k/a FULL VOICE KEYING), my estimate is that
> operator fatigure during the contest can be reduced by at least 30%.
>
> 10. This is NOT for everyone.
>
> 73...
>
> Rick, K6VVA
>
> _______________________________________________
> WriteLog mailing list
> WriteLog at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/writelog
> WriteLog on the web:  http://www.writelog.com/
>