[Elecraft] K3 Kenwood mic question

[Jim Brown]

On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:35:05 -0700 (PDT), alsopb wrote:


>Let's assume you don't talk to just one or a few stations over and over
>again but instead the random type contacts most of us make.
>How are you going to reduce the 12 trillion combos to a few dozen to try
>given:

You're thinking as a mathematician. I'm an engineer. I deal with the real world 
and practical solutions, not wild circumstances. 

>1) You don't know the filter width the station listening to you has. Is it
>1.8, 2.1. 2.8, 6 KHz?
>2) You don't know the speaker or earphone frequency response of the other
>station
>3) You don't know the ear frequency response of the listener

This is ham radio. It's about communications, not hi-fi. Paraphrasing Riley 
Hollingsworth, if you want to transmit broadcat audio, buy a radio station. 

>4) Most hams probably don't know their microphones frequency response 

That CAN be a known if you're not mentally lazy and you buy REAL mics with real 
spec sheets, not products with big advertising budgets and cut sheets written 
by marketing weasels.  

>5) The propogation and QRM conditions are highly variable

Has nothing to do with frequency response. 

>6) How does compression factor in?

Is different from frequency response, but from a communications point of view, 
it's a good thing. 

I'm an EE by training and an audio engineer by trade. I'm also a Fellow of the 
AES. I make my living by doing great audio. But this is ham radio. Excellence 
is about maximizing communications, which requires good linearity in the speech 
region and efficient use of the bandwidth. 

I suggest that you study the tutorials I've prepared on this topic, previously 
cited.

73,

Jim Brown K9YC