Getting
Started - The Basics
For most digital soundcard stations there are 3 basic
things you need :
[Amateur Transceiver] + [Interface] +
[Computer with digital software]
+
+
The
transceiver
There are hundreds of ham radio transceivers - so there is no way that I could explain, in detail, how to interface all or most of the rigs
with a computer to facilitate digital operation. There are numerous commercial interfaces and dozens of magazine and internet articles about home brew interfaces
... so there
are many ways to accomplish the goal.
The transceiver can be for ANY amateur radio frequency band that allows digital
operation - which means most of them. The only exception is the 60mtr amateur band
which currently does NOT allow any digital ham
operation. The rest of the ham bands have RTTY and DATA segments (which
include digital soundcard modes).
The transceiver must be capable of transmitting
a voice mode since the digital information will be comprised of audio tones
of some sort. Most
soundcard digital operation uses Single Side band (SSB) and most of it is in the
UPPER sideband mode. However, soundcard digital operation can be done
with any voice mode - such as FM and AM modulated rigs. One
important thing to remember about your transceiver is that with digital
operation you should typically run the transmitter at 50% or less of the
maximum rated output for the rig. Running at 100% of the rated power on
digital operation would exceed the rated duty cycle/power specifications of
most rigs and could shorten the life of your transmitter or worse.
Typically, if
your rig is rated for 100 watts output - most digital operators would run it at 50 watts
output or less.
Most HF amateur radio transceivers made in the last 6-8 years
usually have one or more data connector plugs that are used for frequency
control of the transceiver and/or for plugging digital interfaces into.
Most older rigs have no such facility BUT can still easily be connected to a
digital interface through their audio input and keying lines on the
microphone plug and the their audio output or speaker connectors. So, new or old, just about any rig that has SSB, AM,
or FM could be used for soundcard digital operation. Though, in
reality, on the HF bands most current activity is on SSB - in particular on
upper sideband. FM digital soundcard activity on VHF/UHF is just now starting to
gain a little in popularity. Also, for many digital modes it is best to have a
rig that does not drift in frequency a lot - though with Olivia digital mode it is NOT as
critical.
The
interface
There are, as stated above, numerous commercial interfaces ranging from
about $40 on up to $300 and more. There are also lots of articles that have been
published on how to construct a home brew interface. Digital soundcard
interfaces are very simple devices and do NOT need to be complicated or
expensive. You can even
manually or semi manually interface the rig and the computer.
The
main things
that an interface needs to do for soundcard digital operation
are :
1. Take the audio output of the transceiver and connect it
into the audio input of the computer - so the digital software
on the computer can decode the audio tones from the digital signal that it
receives.
2. Take the
audio output from the computer and run it into the
audio input of the rig - so your transceiver can transmit the audio tones generated by the digital
software on the computer.
3. Provide a way to key the rig.
4. Provide a level of isolation to keep RF out of the computer that
could
cause problems which might crash or freeze the computer.
This can be accomplished with almost any rig
with one of the many available digital interfaces or a home brew interface.
It can also be done manually or semi-manually without buying or building
anything BUT this may NOT be very convenient.
I have had several QSO's on digital where the
other guy was taking the audio out of their transceiver speaker jack and
running it into their computer via the line in or microphone input (using just
an audio cable with mini stereo jacks on them) to receive and decode my
signal. They would use a desk microphone on their HF rig and just put
their microphone next to their computer speaker to pick up the tones
generated by their digital software. They would then key their
microphone on their HF rig, click on the TX button on the digital software
program they were using, and start typing their message to me. The audio
tones generated by their digital program went to their computer speaker and the
mike on their rig picked it up and transmitted it on the air. When they
turned it back to me for my turn to type, they would unkey their microphone,
click on the RX button on their software, and the received audio from my
signal went into their computer and was decoded by their digital software.
I would call this a manual or semi-manual
interface and it works BUT not really the ideal way to do it all the time.
It is a great way to test and play with digital modes though and see how you
like it BEFORE you spend any money or effort on a home brew or commercial
interface.
If a commercial interface works with ANY soundcard mode they will generally work
with ALL soundcard modes whether they list them or not. I personally
think there is little to gain by spending several hundred dollars or more on
a high end interface UNLESS you have special needs or interests and you
really understand what you are getting. I originally bought a BuxComm interface
in 2003 for $35 and used it until late 2008 with NO problems. I am now using
the SignalLink USB which cost about $100 (with proper cable for my rig).
I got it ONLY because it has it's own built-in low noise soundcard and was simple to set
up. I really like the SIgnalLink USB unit BUT for Olivia operation the
BuxComm worked just as well - the SignalLink USB was just a bit more
convenient with it's own soundcard and audio controls.
Most interfaces either come with a cable
(sometimes at additional cost) that will fit your rigs DATA plug OR
Microphone plug depending on which you have or plan to use. IF you have BOTH - it is always
better to use the DATA plug. That way you don't have to unplug the
microphone to do digital operation since they are usually independent of
each other.
When you order most interfaces you need to
know ahead of time what kind of DATA plug or
microphone plug your rig has and how many pins it has. Many rigs have 2 DATA plugs on them also. One is often
for controlling frequency and other rig control functions via computer software. The other is for hooking up a digital interface. Some
rigs may do this in a single plug (not sure of that) but many have 2 plugs. So, if
you are going to just get an interface - you need to make sure that you
identify the proper plug for the proper function.
On my Yaesu FT-100D, for instance, I have a 6
pin data connector that is used to connect to the SignalLink USB
interface via the cable that came with it (I specified my rig when I ordered it). I also have an 8 pin Data connector that I
use a CAT cable with (I bought separately) to do rig/frequency control. One end of the
CAT cable goes to the 8 pin Data connector on the Yaesu while the other end
terminates in a serial port plug and connects to the serial port on my
computer. The rig
control can be accomplished with various software programs and I can change
freq, mode, band, and a few other things on the FT-100D without having to
physically touch the rig. Most of the digital programs that run Olivia
also can utilize both the CAT and the interface functionality at the same
time so I seldom actually touch the rig any more.
So, when you decide to start using digital
soundcard modes and you decide you want to buy or build an interface you
need to read the manual for your rig and be familiar with what it has to offer in the
way of data connectors and what they are used for. I would greatly suggest
searching to see if there is a Yahoo Group specifically for your rig if you
can't clearly understand the information in your manual - since some of the
manuals are vague and not very detailed. A Yahoo Group specifically
for your rig can be a valuable resource and you can see what others have
tried and used that work well for them. The Yaesu FT-100 Yahoo group helped
me a lot when I first started thinking about digital operation.
The
computer
So what kind of computer should you use?
As far as operating systems are concerned - just about any version of
Windows from Windows 98 to present should be able to run one or more of the
digital programs that include Olivia. Windows XP runs all the
current Windows digital programs that support Olivia mode and is an overall
best choice IF your computer will run it and you like it. Linux and
Macintosh (OSX) have one or more programs with Olivia that are available
too.
As far as the speed of the computer CPU - You
can run most of the current programs with Olivia in it with perhaps a 600mhz
processor or higher. Maybe even a slower one. However, I would
highly recommend that you get a 1ghz processor or higher if at all possible.
Olivia does a LOT more processing than modes like PSK and RTTY - and it is more
CPU intensive. If you start doing too many other things at the same
time while you are operating on Olivia mode you could have problems. The digital
program that you are using may NOT be able to process the encoding and/or
the decoding of the data fast enough if the CPU is slow OR too much
multitasking is going on. This could result in poor erratic copy OR
errors and omissions in the encoded signal you are transmitting.
Also, you need either a serial port and/or a USB port on your
computer if you plan on using
most normal interfaces. If you plan on also using a CAT cable for rig
control then you need 2 unused
ports - either serial and/or USB. If you have ONLY USB ports and NO
serial ports (or vice-versa) you may need to get serial to USB adapters. And if you pay
more than $8.00 - $10.00 for a serial to USB adapter you are probably paying too
much!
The
Software
So you have gotten the
computer, the interface, and the rig hooked up. What now? Well,
it's time to install and set up the software. I will give an overview and general idea
on how that is done in WIndows XP. I won't give a detailed explanation of
how to do this because the programs themselves already have their own help
files and instructions.
The first thing you need
to do is enable your software so it can key your transceiver. If you
are using an interface that uses VOX to do that or you are doing it manually
then you can skip this part. However, if you have one of the many
interfaces that use a serial port or USB port to key the rig than you need
to let your software know what serial port or USB port it is using.
In Windows XP you need to
navigate to the Control Panel and double click on the System icon to bring
up the System Properties dialog box. Then go to the Hardware tab and
click on the Device Manager button towards the top to bring up the Device
Manager dialog as shown below :

Note, on the picture above, that I clicked on
the little plus sign to the left of "Ports" and it opened up and displayed
the serial ports and printer port on the computer. After it opened
that category the plus sign changed to a minus. If you had a USB to
serial adaptor it should show up here also.
IF you do NOT see your
serial port(s) listed then you may need to make sure that they are ENABLED
in the BIOS setup program of your computer. Consult your motherboard
manual or other documentation to see how to access the BIOS setup program.
On most computers you bring up the BIOS setup program by clicking on the
Delete or F2 key repeatedly (but slowly) immediately after you turn the
computer on until the setup screen appears.
In the BIOS setup program
you need to find the appropriate tab or screen that has the serial port
setting(s) and make sure all the ports that you need are enabled. You
should be VERY careful when you access the BIOS setup program AND NOT change
anything unless you are sure that you know what you are doing. If you
are NOT sure - get someone to help you that knows what they are doing.
The next thing is, of
course, to install one of the software programs that support Olivia onto your system.
After doing so, you will want to go into the
configuration or settings dialog in your digital program and select or enter the COM
port that you will be using to key your transceiver. If you are using
an external soundcard or other solution that uses it's own VOX system then
you would skip this part. Next you would want to make sure your
digital program is set up to use the proper soundcard. If you only have ONE sound
card on your system then most of the digital programs will choose it by
default.
If you have more than one
sound card, though, you need to select the appropriate one. In some
digital programs that may not be possible or may not work. It might,
in that case, be necessary to set the DEFAULT Windows system sound card to the one
that you plan to use for digital operation so it will work properly. You would
go to the Windows Control Panel and double click on the Sound and Audio
Devices icon to bring up the property box for it and (as I did on my system
as shown below) set the Default device in the drop down boxes for both the
Sound playback and Sound recording for the sound card that your digital program
needs. The USB Audio CODEC selection I made below is the sound card
inside the SIgnalLink USB interface I now use.

Those are the basic things that need to be
done to get your rig, interface, and computer working together to do digital
soundcard mode operation. You will also want to enter your personal information
into whatever program you are using. The basics, such as your callsign,
name, QTH, and more are usually used by the programs macros. The
macros can be used to
eliminate a lot of typing for mundane information. You may also want
to create your own macros and/or edit the existing macros that came with the
program to suit your style and needs. And most programs have many
other things you can personalize such as fonts, colors, etc. to
suit your personal taste.
++++ END ++++
++++ Be sure to read the next section on
Getting Started On Olivia ++++