Steve, Probably the most important thing you can do to reduce glitching in the FA-66 is to drop the buffer sizes to minimum (all of them) in the FA-66 Control Panel (found in the Windows Control Panel). Beyond that, it is a matter of CPU speed, FireWire card quality, and PowerSDR buffer size and process priority settings. The CPU and FireWire card you specified should be fine.
Eric Wachsmann FlexRadio Systems > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > radio.biz] On Behalf Of Steve Kallal > Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 12:34 PM > To: flexradio@flex-radio.biz > Subject: [Flexradio] FA-66 observations... > > Hi, > > I just got my SDR-1000 back from warranty service Tuesday and got an FA-66 > for a good price. I hooked up the FA-66. I had been using a Delta 44 card > earlier. I also have a Firebox collecting dust at the moment. > > I wonder what sort of PC is needed to run the FA-66, especially at 192 > kHz. > I am running a 2.6 GHz P4 (NOT dual core) with 1 GB of RAM, Windows XP > Pro, > and an Adaptec Firewire card. The FA-66 is the only firewire device at the > moment. I am not running any USB 2.0 devices right now, but just a few USB > 1.1 devices. The FA-66 will show 25 to 33% CPU load on PowerSDR at 192 > kHz. > I noticed some chopping in some situations such as when the Sub Rx is > turned > on. So I set the FA-66 down 96 kHz for now. At 96 kHz I have the audio > buffer set to 1024 and the DSP buffer set to 2048. At 192 kHz, I used the > values from the web site: audio buffer at 2048 and DSP buffer at 4096. I > have not changed the FA-66 settings from the defaults in the control > panel. > > Also the High Res CW setting is useless with the FA-66. It worked with the > Delta 44 card. But I don't really need the fast turn around. I am a high > speed CW want to be. Right now I use straight keys at 13 to 15 wpm > connected > to a COM port on my PC. Is High Res CW setting required for medium speed > CW? > Why is it chopping with the FA-66? I miss the QSK from my PRO 2, but semi > break-in a good trade off, considering I am moderately hearing impaired, > and > the DSP with narrow CW is outstanding. I can listen with cheap stereo > headphones plugged directly into the FA-66 and crank up the volume without > distortion. I couldn't get enough volume on my PRO 2 to drive the > headphones > without distortion. I am 45 db down without my hearing aids at age 49. And > the audiologist calls that moderate! The SDR-1000 is a God spend for me. > > Do I need a faster PC for 192 kHz use? It certainly seems so. I can live > with 96 kHz for now. Since the Firebox was problematic at that 96 kHz, the > FA-66 is still a step up. I have been itching to get a faster PC. I > usually > buy a new motherboard when upgrading. I have a well shielded PC case > bought > back in 2000. I have been toying with swapping out the Motherboard and or > getting a new box from Dell since they started offering Windows XP again, > Yeah!!! > > I am looking for comments from those who have successfully used 192 kHz on > a > single core P4 machine. I don't want to upgrade to a faster box just to > use > the FA-66 at 192 kHz. Also, the stuff I've read on Flex web site, seems to > indicate the latency is lowest at 192 kHz. That is counter-intuitive. > > Thanks in advance! > > Steve N6VL > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex- > radio.biz/attachments/20070512/a914a4ba/attachment.html > _______________________________________________ > FlexRadio mailing list > FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz > Archive Link: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ > FlexRadio Knowledge Base: http://kb.flex-radio.com/ > FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/ _______________________________________________ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archive Link: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ FlexRadio Knowledge Base: http://kb.flex-radio.com/ FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
