Ham Radio Deluxe has a built-in audio grabber and audio playback. This feature requires a connection from your radio the your sound card in your computer or an external sound card interface.

Audio Grabber

The audio grabber stores incoming audio in MP3 files using the MP3 tags to store information about the radio settings (or any other information you feel to be important).

An alternative to MP3 would be Windows Media format (WMA) but the programming of WMA files is rather complex.

To display the audio grabber select Audio Grabber from the Tools menu. By default the Audio Grabber is docked at the bottom of your Ham Radio Deluxe Screen. By grabbing the top bar o the Audio Grabber you can un-dock it and make it a separate window. To re-dock the wind grab the top bar of the Audio Grabber and start moving it into your Ham Radio Deluxe window. You will see arrows at the four edges plus four arrows in the middle of the screen. Move the Audio Grabber over the desired arrow and it will dock in that location.

Record

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Here you have the standard recording buttons. From left to right:

  • Record,
  • Stop,
  • Reset current recording,
  • Restart (close current file first),
  • Browse for MP3 files.

You also set a file limit – a downside of MP3 is that the tags are written at the end of the file when it is closed, so to avoid losing information in the event of an unexpected event it is best to use more, smaller files.

Folder

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Here you select the folder where the MP3 files are stored.

Quality

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Here you select the bandwidth and quality. Modern computers have more than enough CPU power to support a very high quality. A bandwidth of 4.5 kHz is usually acceptable unless you are recording a WFM broadcast.

Soundcard

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Select the soundcard that you are recording from.

Tags

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Here you see the values stored in the MP3 tags. To change the values just add the new text and then press Apply.

Audio Browser

Use the audio browser to playback MP3 files. To open the Audio Browser, select Audio Browser from the Tools menu. You can also start the Audio Browser by clicking on Browser in the Folder tab within Audio Grabber.

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Peter PH1PH came across IrfanView – an excellent freeware utility.

MP3 Player Options

Player

Select MP3 player – a basic MP3 player is built into Ham Radio Deluxe, however you can select an alternate player such as the excellent Windows Media Player. Press Default to select the default player.

Folder

Page-103-Image-165.pngSelect the folder to browse
Page-103-Image-166.pngSelect default folder
Page-103-Image-167.pngRefresh the current folder

Audio File

Select a file to play from the list at the bottom of the window.

Page-103-Image-168.pngPlay currently selected file
Page-103-Image-169.pngPause
Page-103-Image-170.pngStart again
Page-103-Image-171.pngStop

From

Page-104-Image-172.pngStart at beginning of file
Page-104-Image-173.pngSet From at the current position

To

Page-104-Image-175.pngTo end of file
Page-104-Image-173.pngSet To at the current position

Use the From and To slider positions to select the part of the file to repeated over and over and over again. This is useful for determining exactly what the station was sending.

Other Options

The other options are:

  • Copy – copy the selected files to another folder.
  • Delete – delete the selected files.
  • Move – move the selected files to another folder.
  • Rename – rename the selected file.
  • Artist / Album / Title / Description – change the MP3 tags.


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