A fellow ham was having problems with the audio stream on data modes after he switched to a new Windows 11 laptop. It emerged eventually that a box marked "Enable audio enhancements" was checked and this was altering (mostly reducing) his audio level. He uses WSJT-X but I expect that the same thing would apply to MSHV and all the rest of digital radio software.
This was in Windows 11 but it may apply to earlier versions of Windows too.
In the end what we needed to do was untick the box, but finding it was a long operation.
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| Untick this box in the Advanced section of the Microphone Properties tab |
What are Audio Enhancements?
Audio enhancements depend on the hardware installed or connected to you PC. Therefore, on my basic gaming computers and laptop they were absent. I found this on a Windows help site :-
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Audio enhancement packages are designed to enhance your specific audio hardware performance and quality.
Available audio enhancements will vary depending on the manufacturer.
Sometimes these audio enhancements can cause problems with audio and sound. If you encounter an audio or sound problem, you can try disabling audio enhancements to see if it may solve the problem.
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So the basic answer is that these enhancements could be anything, and they could alter the audio between your rig and your WSJT-X software in any way you can think of, and probably in some ways you cannot imagine.
The solution is to find the rig's entry in the Microphone Properties tab and turn them off.
Solving this problem turned out to be tricky as I had no idea what I was looking for. My laptop does not have this box so I was at a loss. I took my IC-7300 and my laptop over and compared it with the other setup. His rig worked perfectly with my computer, my rig worked perfectly with his old computer, my rig showed the same problem as his with his new computer. The problem was variable and often very low level audio stream. Clearly the problem was in his laptop.
After a lot of pondering, we went through the Sound settings (you find them in Control Panel). Mysteriously, Windows calls the audio input section "Recording" (output is called "Playback"). Then you click the tab for you rig input, probably "Audio Codec" or "Audio Device". Microphone Properties appears and you click "Advanced".
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| Untick the "Enable audio enhancements" box |
If you are wondering why my example says "Headset Properties" at the top, I just used this illustration to show where the culprit lies. My PCs do not normally show this box and therefore I was totally unaware of its existence. However, I found that by linking my JBL headset, which has a microphone, to the computer via Bluetooth, I could make the box appear. That is why the audio stream is only tape recorder quality; for radio purposes I use DVD quality at 48000 Hz.
So if your existing PC does not have this box you can ignore all this completely. But if you buy a new machine or something is updated or added, you might find that it suddenly appears. And your audio stream level would suddenly take a huge dive.
In any case, I do not like pre-ticked boxes in any circumstances. Windows updates have a habit of including new pre-ticked boxes for features I never requested and don't want. This is just another one.
If a pre-ticked box suddenly signs me up to a credit agreement I never asked for I could probably live with the annoyance. But when pre-ticked boxes affect the audio stream for FT8, well that is just outrageous.
This should be made illegal and the perpetrators locked up.
Or something.
73 Jim
GM4FVM
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