SM1000 FreeDV in a box arrived

Very excited this week when the SmartMic 1000 arrived. This is a FreeDV digital voice codec in a very nice box. It's designed so you can hold it in your hand rather like a big microphone and just talk in to it to transmit and receive digital voice.

The case has 3.5mm sockets for everything and also an RJ45 socket for a single cable connection. It's like the Signalink boxes and has a similar internal jumper system for wiring it. I followed the instructions and quickly had it working with my FT817.

The button marked "select" on the front switches between analog passthrough (so you can hear what the radio hears) and digital mode.

To test transmission, I listen off air and decode with the FreeDV app. My scatter plot looks reasonable I think:

I can hear my voice decoded so the next step is some contacts on 14.236 where I'm listening and calling.

Notes: 

• Mic Gain control operates in reverse.
• Select button switches between analog and digital. On power on it defaults to analog.
• Back button isn't used.

Stephen, VK2BLQ, also has one of these and I was able to receive him on 40m, here's a snippet.