[Elecraft] SSB transmit audio - Where's the punch?

[David Gilbert]

I also use a cheap computer headset (I've only found one single electret 
headset out of several I've tried that ever sounded badly) with mic gain 
set to 20 and compression set to 20.   A compression setting of 25 for 
my voice still gives decent audio, but I can definitely hear the onset 
of noticeable distortion at that setting.  I'm sure most people would 
find it perfectly acceptable, though.

By the way, individual voice characteristics and assertiveness have a 
LOT to do with how much "punch" a person has in their signal.  I do a 
lot of contesting and I hear lots of folks with strong signals who don't 
speak strongly enough to do their signal justice.  It has nothing to do 
with how much gain or compression they are using ... they just sound 
weak period.  Listen to the DX multi-multi's who keep their mic gain low 
enough that they don't distort but practically yell into the mic and 
you'll see what I mean.    The ones I'm referring to totally punch 
through the noise and QRM without distortion even when their signal 
isn't at killer strength.    To be clear here, I'm not referring to 
those several contest stations that have their gain and compression set 
so high they splatter +/- 8 or more KHz.

I'm no audio expert, but I suspect that speaking more strongly adds more 
spectrum to someone's voice, probably shifting the bulk of the energy 
upwards toward higher frequencies.  Maybe I'll do some spectrum tests 
some time with my own voice to investigate it.   I already have one 
recent example where I was trying to help a guy address an issue he had 
with weak and marginally choppy audio.  He was transmitting while a 
friend of his was in the shack making various adjustments (I think they 
were even using a K3), but almost nothing they did helped very much.  
The friend took over the mic to make a comment and the audio immediately 
improved dramatically in both clarity and punch.  They switched back to 
the first operator and when he tried to speak more forcefully he sounded 
much better, but for him it just wasn't "natural" and he couldn't 
maintain it very long.

Whatever it is, it makes a difference and I'm not sure comparing one rig 
to another using different operators is a good test.

73,
Dave   AB7E



> On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 11:13 AM, Rob May<roblitespeed at hotmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> The K3 has sufficient equalization to tailor the sound of any microphone,
>> the external equalizer is completely unneeded in my opinion.  My cheap-o
>> computer gaming headset sounds really good (through the monitor) and gets
>> great reports on the air.  When chasing DX or during a contest I'll turn the
>> compression up to 25.  I've heard my signal through a couple of different
>> radios that have their output online.  The audio is surprisingly good.
>>   Setting the compression that high really makes a huge difference in average
>> output and it makes a big difference on the other end.
>> Rob
>> NV5E