Another WIN11 attempt

[Rick, W4XA]

Howdy all, 

I am making another try at getting FreeDV to work with Winblows 11

I can get everything to work EXCEPT I cannot seem to get USB Audio Codec audio from the computer to the FreeDV software.  I can tell it's making it to the computer though.

The internal MIC seems to work because I could press "Record 2 Seconds and see my  voice waveform.

I feel I should be able to see input (to the computer) USB audio if I attempt to record but there's nothing.

If I plug the USB cable into my Macbook Pro or my Linux Desktop, everything works.

The JBL Charge 3 Bluetooth speaker works particularly well on the MacBook and on the WIN computer it plays other audio sources like Youtube etc.

The sample rates shown are the only choices.

Anything obvious here?

73/Rick

[Walter Holmes]

Sorry if I missed a previous message Rick.

 

But what radio are you using there?

 

You may have already worked this part already, but just in case you haven’t.

 

Not sure if this is an issue your seeing directly, but I have seen many times that if Windows grabs your radio codec as a default audio source, you will be blocked from being able to use it for anything else.

 

Ie..  when that happens you will see in the ADVANCED settings of the audio source, that by default, Windows has a setting that states “Allow applications to take EXCLUSIVE control of this device.”

 

 

 

Hope that helps,

Walter/K5WH

 

From: digita...@googlegroups.com <digita...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Rick, W4XA
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2025 5:20 PM
To: digitalvoice <digita...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [digitalvoice] Another WIN11 attempt

 

Howdy all, 

 

I am making another try at getting FreeDV to work with Winblows 11

 

I can get everything to work EXCEPT I cannot seem to get USB Audio Codec audio from the computer to the FreeDV software.  I can tell it's making it to the computer though.

 

 

 

 

The internal MIC seems to work because I could press "Record 2 Seconds and see my  voice waveform.

 

I feel I should be able to see input (to the computer) USB audio if I attempt to record but there's nothing.

 

If I plug the USB cable into my Macbook Pro or my Linux Desktop, everything works.

 

The JBL Charge 3 Bluetooth speaker works particularly well on the MacBook and on the WIN computer it plays other audio sources like Youtube etc.

 

The sample rates shown are the only choices.

 

Anything obvious here?

 

73/Rick

 

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[D Smith]

I never was able either. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digitalvoice/00d801dc5f2d%24c2d94c20%24488be460%24%40k5wh.net.

[Rick, W4XA]

Hi Walter,

Thanks for the reply!

I do not see that menu anywhere in the audio settings, or is it in the device manager?

[Walter Holmes]

If you right click on the speaker in the lower right corner of your task bar, the go to sound settings, make sure the USB codecs are NOT selected there.

 

Then you can scroll down near the bottom, for More Sound Settings, select it and you will see the sound device settings.

 

Check the Playback and Recording tabs, both in the advanced area.  For both the ANALOG mic and SPEAKER areas, to ensure they do NOT have that checkbox set for Allow applications to take EXCLUSIVE control of this device.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digitalvoice/3f88cf8c-65dc-4915-9cc2-e66c33bd3476n%40googlegroups.com.

[Rick, W4XA]

Ok, 

I did that and I also noticed in the Device manager Win11 (Home) had named the 2 USB Audio Codec (in/out) as Microphone and Speaker and gave them numbers 2 and 3

I "uninstalled" those entries (with the radio USB cable disconnected and then reconnected it.

When plugging the USB cable back in with the radio -ON (ICOM IC705) the entries came back as "Microphone (USB Audio Codec) " and "Speaker (USB Audio Codec)"

\\\\\

In Linux they're called :

alsa_input.usb-Burr-Brown_from_TI_USB_Audio_CODEC-00.analog-stereo

alsa_output.usb-Burr-Brown_from_TI_USB_Audio_CODEC-00.analog-stereo

The MAC just called both of them "USB Audio CODEC"

Interesting with Windows that they call them "Microphone" and "Speaker" (USB Audio Codec) 

Am I to assume that "Input" = "Microphone" and "Output" = "Speaker"

The MAC made it simple and FreeDV (I assume) only allowed the correct choices in each list of choices. I.E, you cannot select the wrong USB Audio codec "channel?"  to and or from the radio.

It's very confusing!

Neither USB Audio CODEC (input or output)  is a "Speaker" or a "Microphone" 

I think most people having problems getting this stuff to work, is having these problems figuring it out!

And with Win11,  I still cannot get USB audio from the radio to FreeDV.

[Mooneer Salem]

Hi Rick,

That's correct, Microphone = input and Speaker = output. 

Also, have you tried any other ham radio apps on this system (e.g. WSJT-X)? If so, can those hear the audio from the radio without issues?

Thanks,

-Mooneer K6AQ

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digitalvoice/b8e703eb-2d8a-430b-97e8-50e14a08b106n%40googlegroups.com.

[Rick, W4XA]

Mooneer, 

I think this has always been a Windows (11)  issue for me since those other programs are having a similar problem

I even installed Wfview on the Win11 laptop and it sometimes works and sometimes not.  it seems very difficult navigating the Windows audio selections (when it's not all that hard with Linux or the MAC) 

It also seems like Windows is changing settings with no "help" from me.  I never expected it to be so seemingly complicated to get windows 11 to work.  Especially when it was ridiculously easy with Win10 Pro.

I was using Win7 Ultimate and later Win10 Pro nearly from the very beginning of FreeDV (back in 2009 or so?) 

I am pretty sure it's not the New ACER NV15 laptop because I installed a different drive it and then installed Ubuntu 24.04 .....   FreeDV simply worked as advertised right out of the box!

[Walter Holmes]

Adding to that Rick, with Windows 11, you do indeed have to disable the audio leveling that win11 does. As it adjusts your audio levels without warning at times.

But you CAN disable that feature\problem.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digitalvoice/487ae7a1-eb63-47ce-999c-295fcfa14965n%40googlegroups.com.

[Michael Lizzio]

Rick,

I Have W11 working with a 705. I have found that W11 will change settings when other devices are plugged into usb ports. In most cases it can be dealt with by following Walter's recommendations but finding the settings can be challenging. 

I start with windows Device Manager to make sure the proper virtual ports and codecs are configured correctly.

Next I locate the old style windows control panel and check the settings under playback and recording and disable settings that can hijack usb ports. 

 I will send you a few screenshots in a few days or we can meet on Walters zoom channel sometime and help you there just let me know your availability.

Mike Wa2top

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digitalvoice/007b01dc5fec%24b0d40dc0%24127c2940%24%40k5wh.net.

[Rick, W4XA]

Thanks Mike!

I am just about at the point of abandoning Win11 altogether.  Let me have a look at the screenshots and let me see if I can find what you're talking about