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Comments to Omni VII GUI Version 1.06

From the Omni VII Yahoo Group

Regarding version 1.0.6 of the GUI.

One reason it was released was due to the fact that a couple of customers could no longer RIP. This is in addition to the report of Mike Weaver who could connect to the rig, but the "START RIP'N" button would never start ripping. I did find that after I allowed one of my Vista computers to get the latest Windows Update, it also showed the problem that Mike mentioned with 1.0.5 of the GUI. I tracked it down to the PC Volume control interface used in One Plug doesn't function the same way with the latest Vista update. Since One Plug can't connect to the volume controls of the sound card now, 1.0.5 and previous versions would then disable RIPing.

The logic "was":

  • If One Plug can connect to the PC Sound Card AND the PC Volume Controls, allow RIPing, otherwise disable RIPing.

1.0.6 has a change where its logic is now:

  • If One Plug can connect to the PC Sound Card then allow RIPing, otherwise disable RIPing.
  • If One Plug can connect to the PC Volume controls, then enable the PC Volume control item in One Plug, otherwise inform the user that he/she has to use the Windows Volume Control (Mixer in Vista) to control his PCs volume. But it has no effect on whether you can RIP or not.

I tested this theory on another Vista computer that did not have connection to the internet, and sure enough, I couldn't get RIP to work and it was because of the Volume Control Interface. Installed 1.0.6 and it was then working just fine. (of course, not using One Plug to control the volume anymore, using the Mixer level)

1.0.6 also has transmit audio algorithm improvements.

There is a new checkbox that needs a little clarification. It is mentioned in the new users guide, but I know how many people read the manuals.

Lock TRIP to RIG Timing.
This feature (enabled) does two things.

  1. It forces the rig to still send back to the computer the RIP data, which the timing of is very important.
  2. It forces the PC One Plug program to send out TRIP data based on the RIP incoming rate.

1+2 adds up to very reliable timing of TRIP data transfers.

In this case (enabled) - when RIP data is received, new transmit data is sent to the rig. This keeps the microphone audio data in synch with the radios receive/transmit timings, keeps the rig as the master clock of operations for transmit and receive. Logically, one should not need RIP data coming back when you are in transmit unless you have HearTX enabled so that you can hear the rig processed transmit audio through the Monitor function, to hear what your transmit audio will sound like if the receiver is perfect.

However, testing on many computers shows that the transmitted audio can get choppy if left to the timing of the computer itself to send the transmit packets to the rig. With this feature disabled it tells the radio to not send RIP data back anymore while in transmit, and then One Plug will gauge how much data to send and when. On some systems this will also work well.

My personal input as a user, keep it Enabled unless you find that:

  1. Disabled mode works fine to meet your needs, in which you don't have rolling scratches in the transmit audio, or patches of gurgles. AND
  2. You find that you HAVE to disable it because your network isn't handling the duplex data well.

Most setups that I have seen have transmit audio working well with the following settings:

Compressed RIP ENABLED/CHECKED
Compressed TRIP DISABLED/UNCHECKED
Double TRIP DISABLED/UNCHECKED
Lock…. ENABLED/CHECKED

(I myself can't tell the difference when using Compressed RIP versus UnCompressed RIP, if you do, then pick the setting you want)

For those that have lower bandwidth capable connections, then what I find when I switch from Uncompressed TRIP to Compressed TRIP, I have to lower the setting for RIGGAINA, and put PCMICGAIN well above 100%.

My process to adjust the two gains is:

  1. Set RIGGAINA to 50%
  2. Set PCMICGAIN to 100%
  3. Transmit into a dummy load, and adjust PCMICGAIN up or down until the background noise goes away.
  4. Then adjust RIGGAINA to get proper ALC.

I have found at times that I can't get audio without background noise unless I also start out with PCMICGAIN lower then adjust PCMICGAIN to remove it.

Two changes are still on the books and will be done when I can take the time to do them right without breaking something else. PTT IN CW AS MOX (requires changing the state machines regarding receive and transmit timing, very touchy area that I don't want to break the QSK, the …. anything)

The problem concerning the 85Hz shift in FSK mode. Again, requires adjusting an area of code that is very touchy and I don't want to break something else yet.

All for now,

Enjoy,
73, de KI4JPL
John Henry


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