Posted: 5/1/2015 11:39:36 PM EDT
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So should I run compression or no? I can run my mic gain at 100 w/o compression and peak the ALC at the S9 bar, any addition of compression will bring the meter to into the +10 to +60 category which my understanding leads to distortion. However, if I turn the gain down to 50 or so I can start to dial in the compression, but it doesn't take much before it starts to wrap above the S9 level again.
Now then I could just leave well enough alone and leave my mic gain at 100 and the compression off, but I have the desire to fix it until it's broke. |
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Using compressor will increase your overall transmitted power. It may not be needed for raw chewing but will definitely help when working DX.
Too much microphone gain will cause distortion. Same applies to compression level. Set your meter to show ALC and adjust both Gain and Compression to keep the meter at the shaded area. Usually microphone gain should be set around 40-50% and the compression level to around 30-50%. Let me know if you need help setting it up on the air. I'm near the radio right now. |
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Quoted:
Using compressor will increase your overall transmitted power. It may not be needed for raw chewing but will definitely help when working DX. Too much microphone gain will cause distortion. Same applies to compression level. Set your meter to show ALC and adjust both Gain and Compression to keep the meter at the shaded area. Usually microphone gain should be set around 40-50% and the compression level to around 30-50%. Let me know if you need help setting it up on the air. I'm near the radio right now. Sounds good. Want to try 20m? I get s7 qrn on 40.  I've played with it before, but not too exhaustive. Don't have the ability to record/monitor from here. HRD will let me record the rx but not the tx.
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Quoted:
Sounds good. Want to try 20m? I get s7 qrn on 40. I've played with it before, but not too exhaustive. Don't have the ability to record/monitor from here. HRD will let me record the rx but not the tx.Quoted:
Quoted:
Using compressor will increase your overall transmitted power. It may not be needed for raw chewing but will definitely help when working DX. Too much microphone gain will cause distortion. Same applies to compression level. Set your meter to show ALC and adjust both Gain and Compression to keep the meter at the shaded area. Usually microphone gain should be set around 40-50% and the compression level to around 30-50%. Let me know if you need help setting it up on the air. I'm near the radio right now. Sounds good. Want to try 20m? I get s7 qrn on 40. I've played with it before, but not too exhaustive. Don't have the ability to record/monitor from here. HRD will let me record the rx but not the tx.I can do any band from 80 - 10 meters. Where about are you located? I'm in South Carolina. We may be too close for 20 meters. Pick a frequency and post here. |
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Sorry, the noise level is at nearly zero over here but I can barely hear you talking. I could not even make out your call sign. The band is wide open into Europe right now but it may not be as good into California. I'm using a 3 el. Yagi at 75 ft and a kilowatt.
We can try 40 meters if you want. |
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You were sounding pretty good on my end on 40, definitely punching through my noise floor. Just sounds like I couldn't quite make it to you. Funny thing, made a contact with Belarus a while ago on 20m, something like 5900 miles. Yet I can barely be heard across the country. Funny how this stuff all works.
I had heard something about how compression improves outpu, but to what extent I don't quite know. Which is why I wanted to try and play with it. However, even with my compression way down to about 30, and compression at around 30 it was still over-driving the ALC. |
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You were sounding pretty good on my end on 40, definitely punching through my noise floor. Just sounds like I couldn't quite make it to you. Funny thing, made a contact with Belarus a while ago on 20m, something like 5900 miles. Yet I can barely be heard across the country. Funny how this stuff all works.
I had heard something about how compression improves outpu, but to what extent I don't quite know. Which is why I wanted to try and play with it. However, even with my gain down to about 30, and compression at around 30 it was still over-driving the ALC. |
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Check if you radio has a TX Monitor function.
You microphone gain may be set too high. Maybe try this - turn compressor off, set mic. gain to where the TX signal reads only half way up on the ALC scale (on the peaks). Turn Compressor on and increase COMP level to where ALC reads about 3/4 to full scale on the peaks. This should bring you close. The rest should be done while monitoring your signal on the air. Every radio is different and should be tuned to each microphone individually. You radio probably has internal TX equalizer as well. This should be tuned to your voice and the microphone for best audio quality and signal readability. We can try again tomorrow. I may need to go somewhere in the morning but will be home in the afternoon. We'll get it working well for you, no worries. 73! BTW, K9-Bob was on the 40m frequency too. He was loud over here but he said he could not hear you well. It must be the propagation. |
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Thanks for the help Gyprat.
I heard him come up. Sounded like he was halfway between us and at 500W where you were at the KW. His signal wasn't coming up from out of my noise floor (again, S7ish on 40) and his audio took some close attention at times. You were peaking at +10. So I went ahead and put my dummy load back together after I had to take it apart due to a slight oversight (long story short, after you build a paint can dummy load and fill it with oil, silicone everything first, unless you like oil seeping everywhere  ).
So after a few minutes of playing with things I found that a mic gain of 25 (of 100) and a compression of 3 (of 10) pretty much stays into the S9 portion of the ALC meter occasionally peaking just into the +10. While I couldn't tell what my voice was actually doing since the DVM was bouncing around so much, but with a steady whistle the meter read 100.4V steady with the ALC in the +30 range. This works out to 101.6 W output. If I was to hold a steady voice tone, such as the "eh" sound in check (think cheeeeeeeeeeck) I'd get about 86V output (again meter dances a bit but seemed to hold here somewhat) Also, in some subsequent fiddling it seems I can run the compression level to 5 and get about the same results and ALC activity but with a bit more peaking to +30 if speak too loud, but it stays mostly below +10 if I talk in a normal volume and don't try to yell my signal over. If that's the case then I need to move the mic away from my face and that seems to bring the levels down. With the compression off and gain at 100 I was getting 98.7V output for a total of 98.2W while whistling with the ALC staying at or below S9. Holding a steady voice tone I'd get about 82V output. With the gain at 40 and compression at 1 I see the same results as when it is at 25 and 3. With the steady voice tone I'd get 85V. (All these tests were done with the radio set at 100W output on 40m) So the compression does kick in a couple watts here and there, but how much affect it has on the intelligibility of the transmission needs more than just a DVM to tell. Radio does not have a transmit audio monitor. As a side note: The wife was looking at me refilling the oil in my dummy load and was wondering what I was doing with "that battery." I tried to explain that it was a dummy load, it allows me to transmit the radio and take measurements without actually sending a signal out to the world. She had a blank look on her face. I told her it was basically a condom for the radio. That seemed to clear things up. |
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As a side note: The wife was looking at me refilling the oil in my dummy load and was wondering what I was doing with "that battery." I tried to explain that it was a dummy load, it allows me to transmit the radio and take measurements without actually sending a signal out to the world. She had a blank look on her face. I told her it was basically a condom for the radio. That seemed to clear things up. Love it! Extra points for the wet dummy load. We had some HF rigs at my old job, and I had to try to explain why I needed 2 1/2 gallons of mineral oil to the credit card holder. Your explanation would have helped (or gotten me fired). |
| The short answer is yes, you want to use it. How much and how it interacts with mic gain is tricky on most rigs. I've got the fanciest, danciest audio setup imaginable, but even I will tell you that you can only get in the neighborhood using the meters and that the only way to fine tune it is to solicit on the air reports from a lot of people. Preferably people with good S9+ copy on you who are willing to spend a few moments letting you try different settings on them. It's something you just work on over a period of time. Eventually you'll have enough signal reports to know what works best for your station. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the help Gyprat. I heard him come up. Sounded like he was halfway between us and at 500W where you were at the KW. His signal wasn't coming up from out of my noise floor (again, S7ish on 40) and his audio took some close attention at times. You were peaking at +10. So I went ahead and put my dummy load back together after I had to take it apart due to a slight oversight (long story short, after you build a paint can dummy load and fill it with oil, silicone everything first, unless you like oil seeping everywhere ).
So after a few minutes of playing with things I found that a mic gain of 25 (of 100) and a compression of 3 (of 10) pretty much stays into the S9 portion of the ALC meter occasionally peaking just into the +10. While I couldn't tell what my voice was actually doing since the DVM was bouncing around so much, but with a steady whistle the meter read 100.4V steady with the ALC in the +30 range. This works out to 101.6 W output. If I was to hold a steady voice tone, such as the "eh" sound in check (think cheeeeeeeeeeck) I'd get about 86V output (again meter dances a bit but seemed to hold here somewhat) Also, in some subsequent fiddling it seems I can run the compression level to 5 and get about the same results and ALC activity but with a bit more peaking to +30 if speak too loud, but it stays mostly below +10 if I talk in a normal volume and don't try to yell my signal over. If that's the case then I need to move the mic away from my face and that seems to bring the levels down. With the compression off and gain at 100 I was getting 98.7V output for a total of 98.2W while whistling with the ALC staying at or below S9. Holding a steady voice tone I'd get about 82V output. With the gain at 40 and compression at 1 I see the same results as when it is at 25 and 3. With the steady voice tone I'd get 85V. (All these tests were done with the radio set at 100W output on 40m) So the compression does kick in a couple watts here and there, but how much affect it has on the intelligibility of the transmission needs more than just a DVM to tell. Radio does not have a transmit audio monitor. As a side note: The wife was looking at me refilling the oil in my dummy load and was wondering what I was doing with "that battery." I tried to explain that it was a dummy load, it allows me to transmit the radio and take measurements without actually sending a signal out to the world. She had a blank look on her face. I told her it was basically a condom for the radio. That seemed to clear things up. I've used IC-7200 a lot but don't own one. I don't remember what the meter looks like. Usually ALC should never exceed the top of the "shaded" area on the meter. Usually holding a microphone about an inch from your mouth works best. Some people like to keep their microphones 8-10 inches away and end up using a lot of microphone gain. This always brings in a lot of background ambient noise. Sorry, I could not hear you well enough yesterday to give you a decent signal report. The noise on 40 meters usually stays at about S0-S1 with some static crashes that bump it to about S3. You were at about S3 level on 40 meters. We can try again today if you want. You can also go to Remotehams.com, download RCForb software and use one of the many available radios to listen to your own signal. There is about a second or two latency so you will hear your signal with a delay. Also check if your radio has TX DSP audio equalizers. It usually helps to set emphasis to high audio frequencies while somewhat limiting the lows. Also, setting TX bandwidth to about 150Hz - 3kHz helps to improve your signal readability and will improve TX audio. TX audio is very subjective and usually takes time and someone helping by listening to your signal on the air. P.S. "A condom for the radio". This is classic! 
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