I monitor the audio going to my SignaLink. I hear occasional sounds going out to the external codec when they should be directed instead to my local speaker or Headphones. This is most frequently heard when a 'Connected to station' event happens, occasionally when 'Incoming connection request' event happens. The sound is coincident with the start of my digital transmission. It happens to my friend also. I hear some sounds on his RF occasionally, when I am not talking with him. We are both computer literate (Geeks) and know all about setting some devices for Default and others for Communications default. It seems that there is a race condition in the code someplace that tries to put out the sound at (nearly) the same time as it starts the digital signal. Check it out.
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OK, I think I have a bead on this now!
If you are doing a new install and open VarAC for the first time the announcements from the program may be sent to your sound card feeding the radio by default. You can't really tell because the VarAC program may not show up initially in the Windows sound settings menu as a device. But, if it does, redirecting the announcements to another output device does nothing immediately. You MUST close VarAC and open it again. THEN your changes will take affect. You get used to making changes in Windows and seeing those changes immediately. Not so in this case. I can absolutely reproduce this behavior reliably on my Intel and ARM Win11 machines. Once you get it set it sticks so you shouldn't have to mess with it anymore. I wouldn't call this a bug but I've not seen this behavior in a program before. In any case users can get their programs configured properly, it just may take a few extra steps.
I haven't figured out why the program is listed as 'VarAC' sometimes and 'Announcements & Sounds' other times. I was testing this across a few versions of VarAC so maybe it's a change between versions.
All good!
I checked on Windows 10 and when VaraC loads on my machine a new application with title that includes VaraC appears. Does the “Apperance and Sound” only appear after an announcement comes in VaraC?
So, something hinky is definitely going on but I'm not sure where the issue lies. In the pictures above you don't see an entry for a device called 'Appearance and Sounds'. The picture below shows such an item.
This appeared when I opened the 'Appearances and Sound' menu. It seems to be hit or miss if the announcements go through the Windows sound system or the Signalink. And manually setting them in this Windows sound menu doesn't yield consistent results. Haven't figured out the combination that makes this work consistently.
The good news is my VarAC installations are working at the moment. Don't know what triggers the wrong behavior. I'll see if I can confirm that and report back!
I am seeing the same issue. I am running VarAC v10.4.3. In my Win11 Dell Laptop I have my Signalink set as the communications device and all Windows system sounds are sent to the PC sound device. My Vara HF settings are selecting the Signalink device. ALL VarAC sounds are going out through the Signalink. Just by going into the Appearance and Sounds setting menu in VarAC and deselecting and reselecting each announcement will send it to the Signalink output and the radio.
I don't think there are any other settings to make. I hope I haven't missed anything. Would be happy to troubleshoot further with others.
Other than that VarAC is a great program! Really a clever use for VARA! Thanks, Irad!
Please see: https://www.idahoares.info/comms_sound_card_setup.php
Be sure that you have not moved your USB cable to your radio or digital audio interface to a different port on your PC or USB hub, as that will cause Windows to assign a different COM port(s) and assume that the audio codec from the radio or digital audio interface is now your default PC microphone and speakers.
Do a Windows-R and then type mmsys.cpl in the Open: prompt and click OK. This will launch the legacy Windows sound control panel, and then you can ensure that your radio or digital audio interface is NOT marked with any green checkmarks. Green checkmarks should only be on your PC Mic and Speakers, to make them the default Windows sound source and sink.
Check the Playback and Recording tabs on the Windows sound control panel to get everything set up. On the Communications tab, check 'Do nothing' to prevent Windows from tinkering with your volume controls if it 'detects communications activity'.
It's helpful to go into the properties for your radio or digital audio interface on the Windows sound control panel, and rename the input/output to an easily recognized name that will be easy to distinguish when selecting the audio codec in various digital programs, like WSJT-X, VARA HF, and VarAC. Remember that those names will only show up if your radio or digital audio interface is connected to your PC and the radio and/or digital audio interface must be turned on. WSJT-X in particular, has a bad habit of returning your audio selection to the Windows default in its preference panel, if it doesn't find your radio or digital audio interface when you open the WSJT-X preferences panel with the radio or digital audio interface off or disconnected.
Also, make sure that for your radio or digital audio interface device properties in the Windows sound control panel that all compression and other sound enhancements are turned off, as they will interfere with your digital encoding/decoding. Likewise, use the USB/digital mode on your radio, instead of just plain USB. That should turn off any compression or Tx/Rx equalization that you may have set up for SSB audio modes on your radio.
not a bug. change yoru default windows audio device to your speakers.
closing this report.
This happens when the audio codec for SignalLink is set as the default speaker in Windows. Any sound output from applications or Windows will trigger the VOX on SignalLink and it will be broadcast.
Suggestions for preventing this from happening going forward:
digital applications signal transmission chain: go into the audio configuration of Vara HF/Vara 2M, WSJTX, FLDIGI, etc. and select the Output device to pick the CODEC of your SignalLink.
Digital, logging, helper applications audio alerts: go into the audio configuration and for any alert or voice announcements select the specific device of the “speaker” that you want to output. example apps would be : VARAC, Fldigi, Gridtracker, and your logging app.
Always check what Windows has selected as the default speaker before operating. Before you operate verify that Windows did not select the SignalLink as the “default speaker”. If it did change the output to the speaker you want Windows to output on.
I hope this helps and let me know if you have any issues.
Jason
K3JSJ
Just curious, are you're using VOX to trigger the transmit? I've seen something similar