First, this sounds like a suggestion for N3FJP himself, to see if he
can offer a secondary sound card setting option for the internal wave
files.
An external synthesizer will not play the wave files either,
therefore, you still have everything going through the sound card.
What must be determined is whether or not your recorded contest
exchanges can be routed through an alternate sound card while the
logging program is running.
Toward that end, the first question is are the function keys that play
the various exchanges assigned by the logging program, or through an
independent program. If they are assigned by the N3FJP program, you
may have hit the wall again, all the more reason to ask Scott about
what to do.
Meanwhile, you can buy some USB sound cards dirt cheap, as in a few
dollars. While a dirt cheap card may not be what you ultimately want
for playback, it will at least let you play with various
configurations in order to see exactly what you can send through each
card before you break the bank on a more expensive model.
My second guess is that you will also need to have a separate media
player running for the second card, since the wave files from the
logging program will grab Windows Media Player, or whatever your
default player happens to be.
If I say much more than that, I'll be in over my head regarding
configurations and how to do them.
Do let us know what ultimately works.
K5XU
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2013 11:52 AM
Subject: alternative contest logging programs
Hi, folks.
As I think many of you know, I have gotten very much into contesting
over
the past few years, and have been using the N3FJP logging software
package
as my main means of logging contest contacts.
The software actually is quite good in terms of interfacing with Jaws
and
windows, and the price of the entire software package certainly can't
be
beat.
In recent weeks, however, I have begun to re-think the N3FJP contest
logging
option at least a bit. The reason is rather simple.
As our friend, Steve, KW3A knows all to well, I have been trying to
figure
out a way to record contest voice exchanges, and transmit them with my
TS590
via a connection between my laptop and the TS590. My goal simply has
been
to create voice contest exchanges on the computer, and be able to
access
them as needed via one of the function keys on the computer keyboard.
While this sounds like it would be pretty straight forward, it has not
turned out to be this easy.
It turns out that the N3FJP software uses the Windows default sound
card to
play the wave files that tell you which fields you are in as you enter
contest log data. And, these wave files can only be played through
the
windows default sound card. Apparently, this condition cannot be
changed in
the N3FJP software, and this greatly limits what I can do in the way
of
interfacing the TS590 with my laptop, where the contest voice
exchanges are
recorded.
AS a result, I'm now beginning to wonder whether I might want to look
at
other contest logging software that might have more flexibility in
switching
sound cards for various purposes.
Some folks on this list have mentioned using the N1MM software, and I
know
some others use Writelog, but I believe there are significant costs
associated with each of these packages. Plus, I believe you also
have to
buy separate software for each contest.
For now, my short-term solution is to directly record at least a CQ
contest
voice exchange directly on the TS590 using the VGS1 voice recorder,
but the
risks there involve the possibility of making an error by hitting the
wrong
voice memory key in the heat of a contest, if you have more than one
exchange.
If anyone has any thoughts on these alternative logging software
programs,
please send them my way. Any cost info would be appreciated as well.
73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
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