Alan (VE4YZ) said :
...short passes ...goode olde PacComm NB96
I'm reminded of a comment made by Nader (ST2NH) not so long ago, suggesting local testing between two of your radios to iron out kinks.
It sounds like you already even have one side of that link up and runnable with your NB96 old-mode hardware... Thats a great start I'd think.
Better than where I'll start with two (un-tested) soundcard solutions running back to back via two (un-tested) radios. (That probably explains why I haven't yet started) (The 9600 testing may well conclude, before I even get started ...)
I wonder if my soundcard is good enough to record some downlink audio. Hummm, probably more of the same confusion/frustration.
Good luck, be sure to let us know what works... 73 /;^)