Nuts and Volts - June 2017

audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voice meeter/ index.htm.

Installing and Using Voicemeeter

Begin by downloading and installing the Voicemeeter program. According to the website, it supports MME, DX, KS, WDM, and ASIO interfaces (XP, VISTA, WIN7, WIN8, WIN10, 32/64 bits). It has been tested here with XP, Vista, and WIN7, and works well.

Figure 3 shows a screenshot of the Voicemeeter mixer front panel.

Please note that Voicemeeter is a normal Windows program that happens to include a virtual audio cable. When it is installed, it will create a new input audio device and a new output audio device in your computer’s system device list called VoiceMeeter VAIO. This is the virtual audio cable.

To use the virtual cable, it must be selected as the default device in both the playback and recording devices in Sounds and Audio Devices. This option is usually found from the Windows Control Panel. It is important to remember that the virtual audio cable will be available only when the Voicemeeter mixer program is running.

Voicemeeter works by using the virtual audio cable to pipe the audio from the input (virtual cable) to the output (virtual cable) where it can be used by other applications or hardware. Figure 4 shows how the pieces fit together. Since all system sounds and Internet sounds are flowing into the virtual cable, they can be piped to software decoding applications and to the speakers for monitoring.

Figure 3 shows my setup. Hardware Inputs 1 and 2 are not used. The virtual input has controls for mixing, volume, and two outputs: A and B.

When enabled, these outputs are piped to the main out (A) and virtual out (B) of Hardware Out.

Use A1 or A2 to select your soundcard to monitor the sound.

In the decoding software, all that is necessary is to select the VoiceMeeter VAIO virtual cable as the input. It will be available since it looks just like a real system device. Now, you are all set to go without having to use an external cable.

Connecting to a Web Based Shortwave Radio Station

We want to check that Voicemeeter is working properly before we attempt to decode signals. Make sure the virtual cable is set as the default device in Sounds and Devices in the Control Panel as noted above. Now, start Voicemeeter and check that the virtual input is being piped to A and B. Select the audio soundcard you are using in A1. That’s it.

Next, go to one of the websites mentioned at the start of the article. Select a station you would like to hear. You should now hear the sound on your computer speakers. Look at the level meters in Voicemeeter. They should be moving up and down with the sound.

Getting to Know Your Remote Receiver

Spend some time getting acquainted with your web receiver’s operation. There will generally be means to adjust the audio bandwidth, select the receive frequency, and select the mode such as CW, SSB, or AM. Also handy is a spectrum plot showing active stations.

Commands may take a few seconds to execute, so don’t be in a hurry to rapidly change things. Try to plan which frequencies you will look at and set the appropriate bandwidth for the mode.

Sometimes the sound will stop for some reason and can’t be restarted. This is probably because WebSocket has stopped working. WebSocket is a computer communications protocol implemented in web browsers and servers. The easiest way to restart your audio is to close your receiver window, wait a few seconds, and try it again.

The Web radio will also work nicely with your laptop when it is connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi. Taking your laptop with you on vacation is also another way to enjoy this hobby when away from home.

Grid Squares

A geographic coordinate system used by amateur radio operators and others around the world is the Maidenhead Locator System (MLS). It is also commonly referred to as grid locators or grid squares.

The MLS compresses latitude and longitude into a string of characters to allow position information to be transmitted with limited precision. This is very useful when determining distances and angles of radio transmissions. Almost all Web based radio stations use grid squares.