Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

LA2NI
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Location: Tromsø,Norway

Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

Postby LA2NI » Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:35 pm

I have tried to find out if it is possible to make a recording of a CQ
announcement in Thetis and then transmit it to save our voice during a
contest. I do not find anything in the Thetis manual and I can not
remember if it has been discussed on the forums.

The local group station, LA3T is going to participate in CQWWDX Contest
this weekend and it would be very convenient. And for the first time in
my life I am going to use VOX as it works extremely well in Thetis!

73, Kjell, LA2NI
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Oct 20, 2020 12:31 am

Hi Kjell,

It is possible to do this entirely within Thetis, but not recommended.

To do this entirely within Thetis, first you must make a recording in some other third party software of the CQ announcement you want. Save this recording in 32-bit float WAV format.

Next you must open the "Wave" menu item in Thetis and use the "Add" button to add this file to the "Playlist". Then you must assert PTT (any method will do, MOX, PTT switch, spacebar, etc.) and push the "Play" button in the Wave File Controls window.

Obviously all of the above is a very complex, non-ergonomic, series of actions.

The proper answer IMHO is to install the N1MM logger software. Use this for logging during the contest, of course. As part of that you will set up a CAT connection between N1MM and Thetis using a virtual serial cable. Now N1MM has the ability to key the radio. Next, set up the voice keyer features of N1MM. Record your voice key announcements in N1MM. Assign them to N1MM function keys as appropriate. Set up VAC and a virtual audio cable between Thetis and N1MM.

With that set up, you can hit a function key in N1MM and it will automatically key the radio and transmit the voice message. With the right kind of voice messages set up in N1MM you can literally process a pile up without ever actually speaking into the microphone.

Fine details...

Make sure to set up the Focusmaster feature in Thetis so that keyboard and mouse focus will automatically return to N1MM after touching the Thetis UI.

Depending on how you plan to set up your PTT and microphone, you may need to select a "Allow xxx to override/bypass" option in the Thetis VAC settings for any voice traffic you wish to transmit outside of the N1MM voice keyer.

N1MM properly interfaced to Thetis is nearly the ultimate contest set up, short of a full SO2R capability (which neither Thetis nor PowerSDR can do, although it can sort of fake it).

73,

Scott
Joe-W4WT
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Re: Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

Postby Joe-W4WT » Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:23 am

Actually, you can easily record this in Thetis; no other software required and it seems pretty easy to me. Turn the power down to zero, open the wave controls, press MOX, press Record in the wave controls panel, speak into your microphone whatever you want to record, press Record on the wave control panel again to turn record off, then, as Scott said, press Add in wave controls, select the file you just recorded, and press play. It should play. If not, check your Wave options. You should have Receiver Input I/Q and Transmitter Output I/Q selected. I run sample rate at 96000 so I have that selected and I enable Dither. Every time you press play, the file will play if it is selected.

Joe W4WT
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Oct 20, 2020 2:47 pm

Thanks for the help, Joe. I did not know you can record mic audio. This is not a facility that I ever use, so my knowledge base is a bit thin.

I still think that using N1MM is a better approach. Contesting with integrated voice (or CW) keying is exactly what it was built for. Used properly it is an exceedingly efficient tool.
LA2NI
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:42 pm
Location: Tromsø,Norway

Re: Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

Postby LA2NI » Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:25 pm

Hi Scott, Joe.

Thank you both for the answers! I am going to test both possibilities but for me it seems as using N1NM is the most convenient solution.
Another problem easily solved by connecting this forum!

73, Kjell, LA2NI
Joe-W4WT
Posts: 167
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 5:27 pm
Location: Cumming, GA

Re: Recording of CQ announcement in Thetis.

Postby Joe-W4WT » Tue Oct 20, 2020 11:15 pm

Hi Scott,

Agree, for contesting you might as well go with N1MM and let it handle it. I use the function available in Thetis to EQ my Microphones by recording audio files and playing them back.

Joe W4WT

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