Chris, Jim, and all,
in addition to various circuitry that performs audio processing at
varying levels of versatility, quality, and cost, we should not forget
the possibility to do it in software. Almost every ham these days has a
computer in the shack, and usually the computer is up and running during
all operating. The exception might be mobile stations, emergency
operation when power is scarce, and so on, but most normal operation is
done with a computer present. So, audio processing software is an
attractive option.
One such program is "Voice Shaper", by VE3NEA. Let's see how it fares
against this wishlist:
To me it seems like a box with...
Well, it's not a box. Being software, it's invisible, intangible, and
you can't kick it, but it has a nice window on your PC screen!
Input gain dial
Yes, it's present, along with a level indicator.
Output driven dial settable AGC/limiter with fast attack 1 second hold
and slow decay.
> 0-10db soft-knee compressor with dialable level and threshold.
Instead of such an AGC/limiter followed by a compressor, this software
has a soft noise gate, compressor and clipper. Not the same thing, but
quite usable.
The thresholds and levels are freely adjustable.
Clipping level is adjustable from none to at least 30dB and probably
more (but that would be useless). Compression is adjustable from none to
15:1. But the knee seems to be hard.
The noise gate is implemented as a fixed 1:3 expander with variable
threshold.
It also provides an equalizer, and highpass/lowpass filters. And it
displays in realtime what's happening with the input and output signal.
It allows you to record your voice and listen to the effects of your
adjustments in the PC's speakers, and even superimpose noise and QRM to
hear the improvement in intelligibility, but I doubt the validity of
that test, due to levels...
Motivated by the related posts over the last few days, this morning I
downloaded this program and tested it on the air. I'm getting quite
enthusiastic reports! Clearly better than those I get using the internal
voice processor of my old radio.
And the cost: Zero, thanks to VE3NEA, if you already have the PC wired
up to the radio for digimodes, and have a microphone connected to the PC.
Manfred
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