DigiLink Nano - on the Pi.

As followers will know, I'm very much of the 'if it works, don't change it' school of thought when it comes to which equipment I use for radio (and everything else!)

I'm not impressed by new things, simply by virtue of them being new. Instead, I stick with things that have a proven track record. 

In that vein, I've stuck with my ZLP digital interface for about ten years by now. I carried one in my /p box, and use one at home. They are very good, very low-noise units that have stood the test of time under heavy, daily use. What's more, the old-style Digimaster I have can run two rigs, so there's no need to switch connections around when I want to use 2m digimodes after a spell of HF, for example.

Smaller, lighter and lower-noise things are all highly desirable for all /p operators!

A couple of years ago, after just about everyone except Tigertronics (which have a poor noise value, according to many reviews), had ditched on-panel volume controls, I got fed-up with ZLP and chose a DigiLink Nano for home use. That, also, has no on-board controls, but that is the way of things now, and so I decided a change was justified, and the much smaller size a big benefit.

This proved to be very successful - easy to install, tiny, and yet has the same, very low noise levels as the ZLP (as I carefully examined here). I never looked back, and slowly came round to correcting my view that on-panel volume controls were necessary; in fact, they are not, and whilst they do afford a quicker way to adjust things than via software, they must also add a little noise to the circuit.

Last night, I decided to check-out the DigiLink Nano with my Raspberry Pi 4B. Now, things are usually simple with the Pi, but not always. As it happens, it was literally just a case of plugging the Nano into the Pi, and connecting the line to the FT-818 (you can choose which interface you want, included in the price of the Nano).

 

The only difference with the Nano over the ZLP is that you have to set the volume output on the software of both Pi and Windows machines to near, or at their maximum in order to be able to both operate at normal power settings of maybe 5-10W or so, and be able to reduce the power on WSJT-X and the like to much lower levels when needed.

When I initially tried middle-of-the-road sound settings, all worked well, except when I reduced the TX (volume) on the digimode software to just 1W, when the audio output was then not enough to keep the line triggered, so it would stop transmitting or stutter. Setting all to maximum resolves this issue, without problem.

The mic can now remain connected, housed where the ZLP interface was!

 

So the Nano allowed me to vacate the space dedicated in my small box to the old ZLP interface, and use it instead to house the microphone when, previously, the mic had to be disconnected and put in my backpack. I use a 1m audio cable extender to both allow the rig to be a bit further from the computer, and also allow me to disconnect the rig from the extender, rather than directly from the Nano's own audio port, which runs the risk of premature failure. 

Disclosure: I have no connection (pardon the pun!) to either ZLP or Digilink, other than as a paying customer for their products.