[Xastir] Xastir Digest, Vol 68, Issue 14

[Curt, WE7U]

On Wed, 20 Jul 2011, Dale Seaburg wrote:

> Thanks Alex for the correct terminology.  Linux is not my primary platform, 
> so I'll use that as my excuse for the term-fumble.
>
> Update on my soundmodem dilemma.  I said I got the USB soundcard working in 
> receive mode.  That was correct.  I decided to try to see if a reboot would 
> take care of the internal soundcard issues of not decoding.  Nada!  But, 
> worse, when I tried to setup the USB soundcard again, it wouldn't work 
> either.  Double-phooey!  I'm not impressed with this whole setup.  Too many 
> inconsistent, non-repeatable issues to deal with.  I just don't have enough 
> basic knowledge coupled with inexperience with ax25, soundmodem and used 
> PC's.  Not sure who to blame: intermittent PC h/w, lack of knowledge, new 
> parts and wrong drivers.  ARGH!  Way too many unknowns to deal with in a 
> logical manner.  Plus I feel I'm in a time-crunch to get what I want working 
> correctly and consistently.  When in a real emergency, the last thing we all 
> want is intermittent gear!
>
> Maybe when I can get a working solution (not optimal, but working) I can 
> spend some time working through the soundmodem issues.

If you're running a modern Linux that has sound support built-in and trying to use the default sound card for soundmodem, you definitely have the deck stacked against you.

If you can yank out or at least temporarily stop some of the built-in sound capability, you can perhaps eliminate some variables.  Some of the newer window managers seem to do a lot of sound stuff though.

Another complication:  Multiple mixer apps, that may or may not support all of the options of your default soundcard, or may not support them properly.  Sometimes just disabling digital and enabling audio channels, plus setting the levels properly, is all that you need to start decoding packets.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.        http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
APRS Wiki:  http://info.aprs.net/