FreeDV RADE: a new HF voice mode that wants to be the next SSB
It has been about half a century since single sideband pushed AM aside as the go-to voice mode on HF, mostly because SSB needs roughly half the bandwidth. Now there is a digital contender that wants to repeat the trick, and I find that genuinely exciting.
The mode is called RADE, short for Radio Autoencoder, and it comes from the FreeDV project. According to Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), which funded the research behind it, RADE occupies half the bandwidth of an SSB signal and is reported to sound more natural. It combines machine learning with classical digital signal processing and can work at signal-to-noise ratios as low as -2 dB. The design aims at good use of spectrum, speech quality and power efficiency, all things that matter when you are working a crowded band.
What makes it more than a lab curiosity is that manufacturers are starting to build it in. ARDC says the first step is a downloadable module that can be installed on certain FlexRadio models. If you run another transceiver, you can still use the mode through a computer connected to your radio.
I am cautious about big claims for any new mode, and real-world results will decide whether it catches on. Still, a voice mode that squeezes into half the SSB bandwidth is the kind of thing that could help on crowded bands and weak-signal contacts. More details are available from FreeDV and the ARDC website, and I plan to keep an eye on how it develops.
Source: ARRL
The mode is called RADE, short for Radio Autoencoder, and it comes from the FreeDV project. According to Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), which funded the research behind it, RADE occupies half the bandwidth of an SSB signal and is reported to sound more natural. It combines machine learning with classical digital signal processing and can work at signal-to-noise ratios as low as -2 dB. The design aims at good use of spectrum, speech quality and power efficiency, all things that matter when you are working a crowded band.
What makes it more than a lab curiosity is that manufacturers are starting to build it in. ARDC says the first step is a downloadable module that can be installed on certain FlexRadio models. If you run another transceiver, you can still use the mode through a computer connected to your radio.
I am cautious about big claims for any new mode, and real-world results will decide whether it catches on. Still, a voice mode that squeezes into half the SSB bandwidth is the kind of thing that could help on crowded bands and weak-signal contacts. More details are available from FreeDV and the ARDC website, and I plan to keep an eye on how it develops.
Source: ARRL
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