Re: [wsjt-devel] Subject: Feature request: Output audio device selection for alert sounds

[Uwe, D. <dg...@gm...>]

Bonjour Olivier,

Thanks for your suggestion. I would just like to briefly explain why we 
have not done this so far.
Firstly: A second sound card selection menu would not solve the fact 
that alerts can only be played if you have at least 2 sound cards on 
your PC.
Secondly, something like this would only make things more complicated. 
Because then it would have to be programmed in such a way that the 
settings in both are mutually exclusive. Imagine Windows resetting all 
sound card numbering after a Windows update (or after you have plugged 
in a new USB audio device). This would then cause quite a mess, because 
you have to correct two sets of settings which are dependent of each other.
Thirdly: Honestly, many OMs don't really understand these technical 
details one way or another. That's why the alerts are switched off by 
default. This means that those OMs who have never heard of an Audio 
Alerts feature and have never reached the Alerts tab in Settings will 
find the Soundcard menu in Settings/Audio exactly as it has always been.

However, we have now explained the correct audio settings in more detail 
in the User Guide for the upcoming “250501” update. It will be released 
on Thursday.

Allow me one general comment: My recommendation is that Windows users 
who also use JTAlert should use the audio alerts from JTAlert, because 
JTAlert does this best. The Alerts feature in WSJT-X Improved was 
primarily developed for Linux and macOS, because JTAlert is only 
available for Windows, and for those OMs who do not use JTAlert.

73 de DG2YCB,
Uwe
________________________________________
German Amateur Radio Station DG2YCB
Dr. Uwe Risse
eMail: dg...@gm...
Info: www.qrz.com/db/DG2YCB


Am 26.04.2025 um 18:34 schrieb F4HTB via wsjt-devel:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I would like to suggest a small but useful improvement for WSJT-X 
> regarding audio handling.
>
> Currently, WSJT-X uses the system’s default audio output to play alert 
> sounds.
> In some setups, this can lead to problems: I have noticed, both 
> personally and among other operators, that when using the same audio 
> interface for radio transmission and for WSJT-X, the alert sounds may 
> accidentally be transmitted over the air.
>
> I have observed this behavior both under Windows and Linux.
>
> To prevent this issue, I propose adding an option in the Audio tab of 
> the configuration menu to allow users to select a specific output 
> device for alert sounds, independently of the device used for radio 
> transmissions.
>
> For reference, Fldigi has provided this capability for a long time, 
> which helps avoid this kind of problem.
>
> Thank you very much for considering this request, and thank you for 
> all the excellent work on WSJT-X.
>
> 73,
>
>
>
>
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