[Elecraft] K3 mic problems

[Jim Hoge]

I am need of guidance on all things voice. I have used my K3 (#1816) for some time now but only on cw. With the 6m openings, I decided to put a mic on the radio and promptly ran into problems. I cannot get the mic gain high enough to reach 8 bars per the manual. I can only get close if the mic gain is maxed, the compression is maxed, the menu gain is toggled to the high level, and I shout. I have tried both a hand mic wired through the front panel and an Heil PR-20 wired through the rear panel. I have not played with eq at all yet but I have noticed that there is no mic output unless there is some compression. No compression equals no output. Your help is greatly appreciated. It's probably operator error but I'm too close to see the problem.

73,
Jim W5QM