Sound Card Packet  with AGWPE

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Most recent AGWPE version is:  2013.415  15 Apr 2013

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Additional Sound Device Settings for AGWPE


Increasing Sound Card Sensitivity (Win7 and later)
Related Multimedia Properties
Displaying the Volume Control Icon
Turning Off Window's Sounds

Most of this page was written for Windows XP and earlier and has not yet been updated for more recent versions of Windows. You should be able to find comparable setting/menus in those more recent versions, if you need them.

This page has additional sound device/sound card properties that may be required for AGWPE to run successfully. (See the Sound Card Settings page on this site for basic sound card settings.) The properties available will depend on your version of Windows, your sound and your sound card 'mixer' progam.

1. Increasing Sound Card Sensitivity

George SV2AGW, the program author, posted this advice for increasing the sensitivity on receive for sound cards running on Windows 7 and more recent Windows versions:

  • Right click on task bar speaker icon and select "Recording Devices".
  • Select the Soundcard you use for Packet.  Press [Properties].
  • Select the "Advanced" Tab and open the Format List box.
  • Now select '2 channel 16 bit 44.100'.
  • Finished.
  • Do the same for transmitting: right click on task bar speaker icon and select "Playback Devices".
  • Now the windows driver will not make conversions. If the Quality was 11.025 and you have 1200b VHF modem then Windows will convert internally the 11.025 to 44.100. As you can understand, this will affect the quality of the sampling.

2. Related Multimedia Properties

Three additional Windows multi-media properties can affect AGWPE performance:

  • Speaker Type - affects TX audio; generally, Desktop Stereo Speakers should be selected
  • Hardware Acceleration - can affect both TX and RX audio; generally, the highest rate the computer can handle should be selected but if AGWPE is having packet decoding or connection problems, set it to a lower speed.
  • Sample Rate Conversion Quality -- affects both TX and RX audio; generally, the highest rate the computer can handle should be selected

These settings are usually made from the same general area in every version of windows.

a. Windows 95

There is little to set in the Multimedia Properties window. I'm not sure if the Recording Preferred quality or CD Quality setting makes a difference. Click on the Apply button (if not gray-ed out) and then the OK button to close the window.

b.  Windows 98/ME

Go to Start: Settings: Control Panel and select Multimedia (98)  or Sounds and Multimedia (ME). With the default Audio tab showing:

Click first on the  Advanced Properties button under the Playback: Preferred Device . On the resulting Speaker tab, select Desktop Stereo Speakers (or lap top mono, maybe). According to George SV2AGW, anything else will distort the TX sound.
 
Then click on the Performance tab next to the Speakers tab.  Hardware Acceleration should be set to Full, at least at first to see if your computer can handle it. If AGWPE is having packet decoding or connection problems, you can try setting it to a lower speed.
 
Below the Hardware acceleration settings is the  Sample Rate Conversion Quality setting. Set this to Best. Then click OK to close the Playback Advanced Properties
.


 
Back on the Audio tab, click on the Advanced Properties button under Recording: Preferred Device. On the Performance tab, once again set the Hardware Acceleration one stop before Full, at least at first to see if your computer can handle it. If AGWPE is having packet decoding or connection problems, set it to a lower speed. And set Sample Rate Conversion Quality to Best. Then click OK to close the Sound Recording Advanced Properties.

Back on the Multimedia Properties window, click on the Apply button (if not gray-ed out) and then the OK button.

On the Audio tab, click on the Advanced button for (Sound) Playback

Click OK to save the settings and leave the Sounds settings.

c. Windows XP

By default, most of the settings should already be as described below, but you should check them.

Go to Start: Settings: Control Panel and select Sound and Audio Devices. On the Audio tab, press the Advanced button under Sound Playback
 
On the resulting Speaker tab, select Desktop Stereo Speakers, even if this is a lap top.
 
Then click on the Performance tab next to the Speakers tab.
 
 Hardware Acceleration should be set to Full, at least at first to see if your computer can handle it. If AGWPE is having packet decoding or connection problems, you can try setting it to a lower speed.
 
Sample Rate Conversion Quality must be set to Best.
 
Then click OK to close the Playback Advanced Properties and return to the Sound and Audio Devices: Audio tab.click on the Apply button (if not gray-ed out) and then the OK button.

 

d. Windows 2000

The default hardware acceleration and sample rate conversion sliders are in the middle position. Follow the general instruction for XP above and move these to the right for best performance.
 

3. Displaying the Volume Control Icon

 If this icon is not currently in your Windows System Tray (bottom far right of your screen), you may want to add it. It lets you quickly access the Windows volume and audio source settings of the sound card, including some that can not be controlled by  AGWPE's SoundCard Volume Settings screen.

  • In Windows 98 it's: Start: Settings: Control Panel: Multimedia: Audio tab and  check  Show volume control on the taskbar.
  • In Windows ME it's: Start: Settings: Control Panel: Sounds and Multimedia: Sounds tab;  Sound Volume box and check "Show volume control on the taskbar".
  • In XP, it's Start: Control Panel: Sounds and Audio Devices: Volume tab and check  "Place volume icon in the taskbar".
  • I'm not sure how it's done in Windows 95, but it's probably very similar to Win 98.
     

4. Turning Off Window's Sounds

If you are using just one default sound card, you may have conflicts from either Windows or application programs over the use of the sound card. (A typical crash message is "an application caused an invalid page fault in module WINMM.DLL").

To avoid this, try turning off Windows' sounds.

  • In Windows 98 it's: Start: Settings: Control Panel: Sounds: Schemes field = No Sounds
  • In Windows ME it's: Start: Settings: Control Panel: Sounds: Sound Events: Scheme = No Sounds.
  • In XP, it's Start: Control Panel: Sounds and Audio Devices: Sounds tab: Sound Scheme field  = No Sounds.
  • I'm not sure how it's done in Windows 95, but it's probably very similar to Win 98.
     

Last Updated:
18Aug2015

 

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