Audio Tab - microHAM micro2R u2R User Manual

Understanding Sound Card operation in Amateur Radio programs
Each sound card has two sets of controls - PLAYBACK and RECORDING. For most cards these
settings are independent and can be controlled by the application software, the user (from Windows
VOLUME CONTROL application), or both. To understand the operation of these controls, it is
recommended that you conduct the following tests:
Connect headphones to the sound card output and connect a microphone to the sound card
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microphone jack.
Open the VOLUME CONTROL application (click Start | Run and type SNDVOL32 if you do not see
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a speaker icon in the System Tray area of the Task Bar).
If your system has more than one sound card installed click Options | Properties and select the
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sound card you are using. Then select "Playback" and enable ALL controls to be displayed.
Leave the PLAYBACK VOLUME CONTROL running and open second instance of VOLUME
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CONTROL. Arrange them on the desktop so both are visible at the same time (later you can run
your logging software and watch for interactions). In the second instance of VOLUME CONTROL,
click Options | Properties, choose the same sound card as you chose for the PLAYBACK VOLUME
CONTROL, select "Recording" and enable ALL controls.
Now you have both PLAYBACK VOLUME CONTROL and RECORDING VOLUME CONTROL on
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your desktop.
Confirm that you have a "Microphone" channel in the PLAYBACK window. If not, your sound card
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will not support "live mic" mode. You will need to upgrade your sound card to make use of those
functions.
Now UNMUTE all controls in the PLAYBACK window. If you speak to the microphone, you should
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hear your own voice in headphones. You can control level with the microphone slider or master
volume slider. This is because sound card has INTERNAL LOOPBACK from the microphone input
to the sound card output ENABLED. If you MUTE microphone control in the PLAYBACK window,
loopback will be disabled and you will hear nothing.
This function is used by software to mute the microphone during message (F1-Fn) PLAYBACK and
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avoid mixing noise from the microphone with message. During playback, the microphone is muted;
after the message is completed the microphone is unmuted allowing VOX operation.
NOTE: Manipulating the microphone controls (slider or select/mute box) in the RECORDING window
has NO effect because you are NOT recording. The recording controls are used only used
when the logging software is recording (Ctrl-Shift-Fn or Control-Fn) a message as a WAV
file. To record, the RECORDING mic control MUST be selected. The logging program
usually handles this function automatically.
micro2R allows customizing the audio configuration to meet the needs of a specific logging program and
operating style (VOX, foot switch, computer generated transmit/receive switching, etc.).
There are two distinct audio paths in micro2R and each path can be switched independently:
from the transceiver headphone output to the operator headphones
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from the sound card or microphone to the transceiver mic input.
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AUDIO TAB

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