w9mdb wrote:I started having problems too. Latency mon sees no problems. 2048 buffer size didn't change things. But dropping the Primary sample rate to 96000 did solve it. Recording the transmission could see half a dozen dropouts running FT8 on WSJT-X.
de Mike W9MDB
Mike,
I saw where you posted in the other thread that your LatencyMon results are OK. I'm going to assume that you read through my entire VAC tutorial as well? I.e., that all your settings are correct, that you are 48KHz "clean", etc.
If so, then the only thing I can suggest is that, based on the improvement in your situation when changing the primary sample rate to 96KHz, your computer simply isn't powerful enough. Of course, now you are probably going to tell me that you have some sort of i7, crypto smashing, bit coin mining, kind of machine
There are three basic sources of dropout (RX or TX, it's the same):
1. Non-optimal buffer settings (primary, VAC, latency, DSP). These will cause under and overflow type errors thereby resulting in dropouts.
2. Sound driver related issues (PortAudio), which can lead to PortAudio related buffer under and overflow type errors. Other than selecting sound drivers and checking your machine with LatencyMon, you have no direct control over this.
3. DSP processing related issues that caused by untimely PowerSDR thread execution. Again, this is the sort of thing you check for with LatencyMon, and you have no direct control over it other than to lower CPU load, things that affect CPU thread execution latency, and creating a faster, more powerful computer.
There used to be a fourth issue, which is the Ethernet packet out of order problem, but that has been fixed for a few versions now.
It's worth noting that because of the somewhat less than optimal architecture of PowerSDR DSP processing, it can be more challenging to run than even more complex sound related software such as Pro Tools or other DAWs. Much, if not all, of this has been fixed in Thetis. Unfortunately the Protocol 2 firmware necessary for Thetis is not ready for prime time yet.
This issue is one of the reasons I decided to
build a faster PC.73,
Scott