Hello All,After a few weeks of fruitless attempts (repeating theme: several hours trying, get frustrated, drop it for many days, repeat for many cycles), tonight I finally succeeded in getting QRSS driven by an RSPdx-R2 SDR working on my Mac laptop (an M1 MacBook Air if anyone is interested). It was not straightforward figuring this out, but now that it's done, it's pretty simple in hindsight. I'll recount it here in case there are other Mac afficionados out there wanting to get SDR-driven QRSS on their Macs.
For SDR, I'm using SDRplay's RSPdx-R2 (www.sdrplay.com/rspdxr2. Thanks, Gedas, for the recommendation). SDRplay has a Mac version of its control software called SDRconnect. Once SDRconnect is installed on the Mac, the RSPdx-R2 SDR is fully functional on the Mac and I found the software to be both straightforward and robust. If that's all I had wanted, I could have stopped there.
But I wanted to be able to receive QRSS LOWFERS (etc.) using Argo, which only runs on a Windows platform. The challenge was to get the audio from SDRconnect on the Mac platform over to Argo on a Windows platform.
I created a virtual machine (VM) on my Mac using Parallels Desktop (annual subscription fee). Parallels will install a bare bones Windows 11 automatically, but it doesn't have the full range of all Windows functionalities. I had to take out an individual license from MS (one time charge, not too expensive) to fully activate Windows 11. This created a VM running full-featured Windows 11 on my Mac. Using the Edge browser on the Windows side (so as not to "contaminate" Argo with anything "Mac-like," I downloaded ARGO software and installed it in the Windows side. Straightforward.
To get audio from SDRconnect on the Mac side over to Argo (crossing the Mac/Windows interface), I used VB-Cable per recommendation of someone on this board (sorry, can't remember who but thank you!). VB-Cable comes in both Windows and Mac packages, and I tried both. For crossing the Mac/Windows interface, you have to install VB-Cable on the Mac side. Then in the Mac audio output settings you can make VB-Cable one optional audio output (which goes into the input of VB-Cable), and that can be later selected inside SDRconnect (you can toggle back and forth between sending audio to the Mac speakers or VB-Cable, as you wish). You also have to go into Mac privacy settings and allow Parallels Desktop to access the Mac's microphone (why will become apparent momentarily). So, now everything is set up on the Mac side.
On the Parallels/Windows side (the Windows VM), you have to go into audio settings and designate audio input as coming from the output of VB-Cable, which acts as if it's a microphone. For audio output, you leave it alone on speakers, so you are only changing the setting for audio input. It required a restart, but after that, "microphone" shows up as a sound card source in Argo, which once selected, completes the routing of RSPdx-R2 to SDRconnect to VB-cable, over the Mac/Windows interface, into Windows and thence to the Argo software, where QRSS can be toggled in as one of many modes. So, sweet success was finally mine. QRSS on my Mac here I come.
I have not yet connected this up to my decent LW listening antenna so can't yet report on LOWFER signals, but even with a wire thrown across the living room floor as an antenna I could see plenty of signals and run QRSS at various speeds with "starndard" stations such as WWV, CHU, etc., seeing their coded sidebands in the horizontal Argo waterfall. So all the functionality is there; I just need to get a good LW antenna on it. Please, winter propagation, stick around long enough for me to see a LOWFER on QRSS!
If you got this far, congratulations!
73 to all, Bruce WA1HGJ