Hey, let's start by me admitting that I'm a newbie and I know nothing! I'm just thinking out aloud here, nothing else.
My new-fangled SDR radio (IC-7610) has 4 USB sockets and you can do allsorts of things with them. So I'm sat here thinking - "why can't modern radios use USB sockets/plugs for their microphones"??
The reason I asked myself that question is that when you connect to your radio remotely using RS-BA1 software, you end up using your laptop's crummy built-in microphone which sounds pretty rubbish (yes, I know you could plug a computer headset in).
But wouldn't it be nice if you could plug that beautiful £200 SM-50 into one of the laptop's USB ports (or even the supplied fist-mic)?
Maybe there's a reason why it's not possible, I don't know. But it sounds like a good idea to me to adopt a common connector on all radios. It might mean adding a little interface-board inside the radios, but boy, it would be amazing to be able to swap microphones from radio to radio to PC, etc.
I'm probably talking rubbish :-D
You don't talk rubbish Tom. I think your idea would be great. But I guess it is a technological challenge to implement this. A computer doesn't use PTT connection were a transceiver does. However, digimode does it all via a USB cable. So I guess it should be possible. I was just thinking you could use a USB mic on your IC-7610 if you connect it to your computer so you can stream it to the internal soundcard of the IC-7610. To PTT you can use the TX button in HRD or something. I don't know if that really works? Would be a nice experiment... 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteI was just reading your article again. What you want to do is connect your hamradio mike to the computer. I think that is not much of a problem. Buy a cheap USB mike, remove the electronics from it that connect the mike to the USB cable and remove the small microphone (most time a electret element). Instead solder a plug on to it which connects to your mike. I think this will work. Just experiment! 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteI think I'll leave it to the radio manufacturers to do the experimenting Bas, LOL. I'd probably end up burning the house down :-)))
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