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Difference between revisions of "Making the Connection to the PC"

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In the case of connecting a receiver to the PC sound card, a clean connection is a must.  Many hams use dedicated terminal units or even sound card interfaces; and some (like the PK-232SC) have adjustable filters that can help reduce interference from adjacent stations. While that works well in the amateur service, those filters can actually cause an otherwise readable signal to be unintelligible. This is because those filters are often tuned to mark / space tone pairs common in the amateur radio service – but those tone pairs may not work for many non-ham digital modes. If you use such a device, first investigate whether these filters can be turned off or otherwise disabled.  
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We can use receiver control software that will allow you to do several useful tasks; use frequency lists, capture text and images, or even run a Software Defined Radio (SDR) to name a few. However the newer PCs lack serial ports, so we must use a USB-serial connection. This varies greatly by manufacturer, and it's unfortunately beyond the scope of this document to cover them all. However, you're not without resources; most every receiver has at least one associated mailing list somewhere - these are some of the best places to find information on the various requirements each receiver will present to the user. We have a list of such mailing list (though not necessarily complete) in the [[HF Receiver Mailing Lists]] article. For mailing lists devoted to certain SDRs, see the [[SDRs with HF Coverage]] article.
  
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You may also want to check out the [[Connecting scanners via USB]] article, as much of what is written there is also applicable (with a little work) to desktop receivers. Start from section 4 - Generic USB to RS232 Serial Converters. If you are using Win 8 or later, see section 5.3 - Windows 8 Issues and Solutions.
  
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The best way to go is to connect to the sound card via a cable or an interface that has no such filtering. This [[Connecting Radios to Soundcards|article]] from our wiki describes some Windows-related pitfalls and solutions. It's strongly encouraged to make the connection with shielded audio cable to restrict the possibility of stray noise pickup. However, you will need to experiment with the sound  card settings on the PC to see which works for you. There's no way to present a guide for each and every instance, as there is wide variation in models and quality, depending on the sound card installed on the PC.  
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Now that we have the USB-serial connection addressed, what about the audio? A USB/serial connection is not designed to handle audio transfer. This topic is covered in the [[Connecting Radios to Soundcards]] article. Click on the link to proceed to this topic.
  
  
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Connecting a PC sound card to your SDR depends on what the SDR has for outputs, and sometimes the software you are trying to use.
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==Receiver, Transceiver and SDR Applications==
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*Some SDRs have an output that can be used to feed your sound card (i.e. Cross Country SDR 4 Plus).
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* [[Amateur Radio Transceiver Control]]
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*Some software will require the use of some Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) that must be installed (MultiPSK).
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* [[Receiver Software Applications]]
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*With some you need to use software like [http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm Virtual Audio Cable (VAC)] to route the audio from the SDR to the PC.
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* [[SDR Software Applications]]
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*Some packages can directly interface with certain SDRs without additional interfaces. These are shown in green on the Utility Monitoring Central software page, the link for which can be found in the [[Appendix]].
 
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*Some SDRs and one desktop receiver (the Alinco R8T) have an IQ output that may also be used.  In the hobby level market, only Sorcerer is known to be able to accept an IQ output for data analysis and decoding.
 
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Up to this point, we've discussed audio connections - but what about software that include receiver control (and possibly logging) for desktop receivers? You will need a USB-serial connection, in most cases, in addition to the audio connection (RS232 devices are not designed to carry audio signals). This varies greatly by manufacturer, and it's unfortunately beyond the scope of this document to cover them all. However, you're not without resources; most every receiver has at least one associated Yahoo group - these are some of the best places to find information on the various requirements each receiver will present to the user. We have a list of such mailing list (though not necessarily complete) in the [[HF Receiver Mailing Lists]] article. For mailing lists devoted to certain SDRs, see the [[SDRs with HF Coverage]] article.
 
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You may also want to check out the [[Connecting scanners via USB]] article, as much of what is written there is also applicable (with a little work) to desktop receivers. Start from section 4 - Generic USB to RS232 Serial Converters. If you are using Win 8.x, see section 5.3 - Windows 8 Issues and Solutions.
 
  
  
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* Return to [[DXing Digital Utilities]]
 
* Return to [[DXing Digital Utilities]]
 
* Return to [[A Few Words on Receivers]]
 
* Return to [[A Few Words on Receivers]]
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* Go to [[Decoders]]
 
  
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[[Category:HF Topics]]
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[[Category:HF Equipment]]

Latest revision as of 20:12, 19 October 2020

We can use receiver control software that will allow you to do several useful tasks; use frequency lists, capture text and images, or even run a Software Defined Radio (SDR) to name a few. However the newer PCs lack serial ports, so we must use a USB-serial connection. This varies greatly by manufacturer, and it's unfortunately beyond the scope of this document to cover them all. However, you're not without resources; most every receiver has at least one associated mailing list somewhere - these are some of the best places to find information on the various requirements each receiver will present to the user. We have a list of such mailing list (though not necessarily complete) in the HF Receiver Mailing Lists article. For mailing lists devoted to certain SDRs, see the SDRs with HF Coverage article.

You may also want to check out the Connecting scanners via USB article, as much of what is written there is also applicable (with a little work) to desktop receivers. Start from section 4 - Generic USB to RS232 Serial Converters. If you are using Win 8 or later, see section 5.3 - Windows 8 Issues and Solutions.

Now that we have the USB-serial connection addressed, what about the audio? A USB/serial connection is not designed to handle audio transfer. This topic is covered in the Connecting Radios to Soundcards article. Click on the link to proceed to this topic.


Receiver, Transceiver and SDR Applications


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