Packet Engine Pro Help

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Sound Card Use
     . Sound Card Interface
     . HF Operations
     . 9600 Operations
     . Receive Problems
     . Transmit Problems

 

Help Date: 21 June 2004

 

 

Trouble Shooting Sound Card Receiving Problems

No Signals
Signals but no decode
Other Receiving Problems

For problems and solutions that are not unique to sound card operations, see the Problems? page.

If packets are being decoded successfully, you will see packet text in the Monitor window. In addition, the green pixel in the PE Pro modem icon (in the Windows System Tray at the bottom right of your screen) will flash, as will the green "LED" light in the very lower left of the PE Pro main window .

If there is a decoding problem, first determine if PE Pro is hearing any packet audio from the sound card by using the Sound Card Tuning Aid.  Are you seeing the DCD (Data Carrier Detect) light flash and waves in the Sine Wave oscilloscope -- yes or no?
 

A.  No, I am not seeing any DCD or oscilloscope activity.

If you are not seeing any activity, look for the problem at one of five places along the RX audio path:

a. Radioport settings

Check the following in the Properties settings for the sound card:

  • Make sure you have selected the correct sound card device
  • Make sure you have selected the correct packet baud rate

b. Volume Control settings

Use the Volume Control screen to recheck your setting:

  • If you happen to have more than one sound card (i.e. mixer device), make sure you are working with Recording settings for the correct sound card.

  • Make sure you are working with the Volume Control Recording settings, not the "Playback" settings.

  • Make sure you have selected the input jack -- LINE IN or MIC -- where your RX interface cable is attached.

  • Make sure the vertical volume sliders for the selected input jack is not at or near the bottom (about 1/3 up is fine). If you see Balance sliders, make sure they are centered.

  • If there are still no signals, try selecting the other input source -- Microphone or Line In. You may have the plug in the wrong jack. If this was the problem, move the plug back to the correct jack and reset the input source.

c. Radio/antenna

Verify that packets are being received at the radio. Disconnect the sound card interface temporarily and see if you can hear packets from the radio's speaker and/or see the radio's 'S' bars or the 'Busy" indicator light up.

  • If you don't see or hear packet activity:
    • is the squelch too high? Since PE Pro prefers no squelch for transmitting, it's best to leave the squelch off (even though PE Pro will still receive with the squelch on, providing it is not set too high).
    • is tone squelch (CTCSS and DTSS) turned off?
    • if dual VFOs, is the correct VFO/band selected?
    • is the antenna connected?
    • is the radio tuned to the right frequency?
    • can you hear packets by using a different antenna (more gain)? or by moving the antenna to another location (higher, away from possible EMI interference)?
    • can you hear packets using a different radio with a different antenna? with a different radio but the same antenna?
       
  • If you can't hear packets from the radio's speaker (internal or external):
    • Is the speaker volume knob set too low? (Low speaker volume would only affect sound card receiving if your interface's RX cable connects to the radio's external speaker or microphone jack, not a data jack.)
    • If your interface's RX audio connects to the radio's external speaker jack, is that radio jack known to work with speakers? If not, use a meter to test the jack.

d. RX audio cable

See the RX audio cable Help page for wiring schematics and other hints:

Test the cable by unplugging it from the sound card jack and plugging it into a speaker (it the speaker also has a plug, use clips leads or an in-line coupler to join the two plugs). If you hear RX audio in the speaker, the RX cable is OK.  If you can't hear anything:

  • Use a multi-meter to test the RX cable:
    • test for continuity and short circuits. Check your solder connections if you find a problem.
    • Is the RX audio line wired to the tip of the stereo plug? The ring of the stereo plug should be unwired, unless you are interfacing to two radios. The sleeve should be wired to the sound card ground.
  • Is the RX line securely soldered to the correct pin in the radio plug?
  • If the RX cable has an in-line isolation transformer, make sure it is a 1:1 transformer, unless you are using the radio's external speaker for RX audio. If you are using the external speaker, then you should be using a 1000:8 transformer and the 1000 Ohm primary coil of the transformer should be wired to the sound card side, not the radio side.

If the cable appears to be electrically sound, consider these possibilities:

  • Is the RX cable plugged in completely at the sound card jack? Make sure you haven't used the wrong sound card jack or haven't confused the RX cable with the TX or PTT cable. (Hint: put labels on the ends of all cables.)
  • If you are using two sound cards, is the RX cable plugged into the right one?
  • Are you using a stereo jack at the sound card plug? You should use a stereo plug for most sound cards.
  • Are you using the MIC jack on the sound card instead of the LINE In jack? Then you  probably should have an attenuation circuit in the RX cable. See the RX audio cable Help page for such a circuit.
     

e.  Sound card or driver

  • The first question to ask is does the sound card work with other Windows' sound generating programs? If not, in the Windows Control Panel under Sounds/Multimedia, make sure the sound card is installed and there are no conflicts with other devices.
     
  • Driver: Make sure you have the latest driver for your version of Windows. You can usually download the latest version from the sound card manufacturer.
     
  • Card: If the problem appears to be your sound card, consider replacing it or adding another. New cards are fairly inexpensive or you may find a  "used" sound card at a hamfest/computer show or in a discarded computer. PCMCIA and USB sound cards are also available. A second sound card dedicated only to ham programs may actually be very useful. Your first card then be used for Windows and other programs without conflict.
     
PE Pro and Sound Cards

When a sound card won't work with PE Pro, it's not the fault of PE Pro. PE Pro uses Windows to do the actual hardware reading and writing in conjunction with the sound card's Windows device driver. In fact, it's the driver that has the hardware specific code in it, not Windows or PE Pro. With a well-written driver linking the sound card to Windows, a Windows program like PE Pro can operate under different versions of Windows and work with a wide range of sound cards without any sound card-specific program code.

So when PE Pro won't work with a particular sound card, it's probably because there's a problem in the quality of the card (noise, distortion or frequency response) or there's a problem with its driver.

 

B.  Yes, I see DCD or oscilloscope activity.

If you are receiving signals but PE Pro is not decoding them, then it is probably caused by one of these problems:

f. Signal quality

For sound card use, generally you need at least an S3 signal for 1200 baud packet and nearly an S9 signal for 9600 baud packet. If you encounter problems with received signal quality, see the general Problems? Help page. The tips there apply to both sound card and TNC/modem use.
 

g. Interference

Signal interference from EMI, RFI, and ground loops can distort received packet signals and make them un-decodeable.

  • EMI, electro-magnetic interference, can come from any nearby AC-powered source, such as your monitor. Turn off the monitor temporarily and then turn it on to see if your packet program recorded any signal when it was off. You may be able to reduce EMI by re-locating either the device or your interface cables; or by using shielding on the device; or by using ferrite cores (split or toroids) on the interface cables.
     
  • RFI, radio frequency interference, can be reduced by limiting the length of your interface cable; using interface cables with shielding; and/or by using ferrite cores (split or toroids) on them.
     
  • Ground loops can result when DC current flows between your computer and your radio. Normally, DC current should not flow between the devices, but it will if there is a voltage potential difference between the devices. Unfortunately, a sound card interface can become that direct connection. To break the ground loop, you should use isolation transformers on your RX and TX audio cables, plus a phototransistor, or opto-coupler, in the PTT line (a simple transistor in the PTT line does not does provide isolation). You must isolate all three connecting cables. Note that manufactured interfaces may or may not provide isolation on all three cables (For example, the West Mountain NOMIC does not provide isolation for a RX cable). You'll need to verify if they do by visual inspection or by contacting the manufacturer. Below are screen shots from the Tuning Aid's Sine Wave scope showing a ground loop:

 

 

h. Sound Card or Driver

i.  "Recording" Volume Settings

PE Pro is very tolerant of RX audio volume levels, but your volume settings may still be too loud or too soft.

  • Too soft/muted: try raising the receive volume sliders until you see more deflection (peaks and valleys) in the Tuning Aid's Sine Wave. (If the sliders don't change the wave, try turning up the volume at the radio.)

  • Too loud: If the sine pattern has very thick and tall waves (nearly fill the scope top to bottom), try lowering the volume settings. (If the sliders don't change the wave, try turning down the volume at the radio.)

  • MIC input: If you are using Microphone input, note that most sound cards are expecting an input voltage (e.g. max 200 mV) much less than radio's maximum output (e.g. 500 mV). For this reason, you should probably use a voltage attenuation circuit in your RX cable. The ideal attenuation will depend on the sound card's input and radio's output specifications. You can try to use the volume sliders to find an ideal spot, but the setting is likely to be very delicate without the attenuation circuit.

    In addition, check that your are not using the Microphone Boost or the 20dB option on our sound card, if available. This option is not found in the PE Pro Volume settings, but it may be found as a button in the Windows' Recording Volume Setting window under the Microphone slider (you may need to use the Option: Advanced menu option to have it display). This option will increase the MIC input by 100 times, which could distort your packet even more.
     

j.  PE Pro Settings

  • Baud Rate: Make sure you have selected the correct packet baud rate in the Properties window.
     
  • Equalization: You can try adjusting the Equalization slider on the Tuning Aid window to compensate for any error in the sound clock's timing. The default slider setting is 4 (an arbitrary number). Since PE Pro doesn't know if your clock is slow or fast, trial and error is the only way to determine if any changes up or down will make a difference. Note that changes will only take effect after you restart PE Pro.
     
  • Sampling rate: For computers with slow processors, you can try lowering PE Pro's audio sampling rate. In the PE Pro folder, open the port?.ini file that corresponds to your sound card port, remembering that the .ini file has a number one less than the port. So radioport 1 settings are found in the port0.ini. Open the .ini file with a text editor such as Notepad and look for this line: QUALITY=2. Change it to QUALITY=1. Save the .ini and restart PE Pro.

 

Other Problems with Receiving

  • Seeing two copies of every packet: May occur if the second sound card radioport is active in PE Pro even though it is not being used. To correct this, in the sound card's properties window select Single Port instead of Dual Port.

  • Packets from one port are showing up on the other port: Packets "leaking" to the the other port will only occur if you have a sound card interface with one radio on port 1 (left channel) and another radio on port 2 (right channel), i.e. both radios are using the same input stereo plug. The reason for the leaking is not clear. The best known solution is to reduce the RX input volume control settings on the radioport that is leaking to the minimum needed to decode packets.
     
  • Sound card suddenly stops working: This probably a power management issue; your computer is going into power saving mode and is turning off the sound card.

For other problems relating to packet exchanges and connections, i.e. problems not  unique to sound card use, see the Problems? page.

If your problem is not resolved by these Help pages, then try these other solutions:

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Copyright 2004 SV2AGW George Rossopoulos . All rights reserved.