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

Tue Oct 5 15:55:54 EDT 2010

Where does TXG VCE fit into this brew?

Dick, WO1I, K3# 911

Quoting "Joe Subich, W4TV" <lists at subich.com>:

>
> > Now you have K3 users with no clue about how to set the TX eq and
> > clipping level OPTIONS to get the IDENTICAL shape to their voices on a
> > K3 as the other rigs.  There actually is a clarity advantage to the
> > K3's clipping method IF you know where to set all the options.
>
> How very true ...
>
> As K9YC (and others) has often advised, start by setting the first two
> (LF) bands of the TX Eq to -16 and set the third (200 Hz) to - 9dB or
> lower.  Set the top three bands for at least 3 dB/octave (+3, +5, +6
> dB) boost ... that works well with a mic that has some natural high
> frequency boost like the HC-4.  For flatter mics (like the new HC-6
> or a CM-500) use more high frequency boost (between +6. +10, +12 dB
> and  +9, +16, +16 dB) to provide clarity.  Since the human voice has
> little energy in the 600 - 1200 Hz band, I like to add a bit of a
> "notch" in the middle (-6dB at 800 Hz) ... cutting that band helps
> to reduce background noise without impacting voice quality.
>
> With reasonable adjustments to enhance the frequencies important for
> communications (vs. some "golden ear" belief in a bandwidth more
> appropriate to classical music), reducing the power wasted in the
> lower octaves that do not contribute to enunciation, and 10 to 15 dB
> of clipping, the K3 can more than hold it own while remaining very
> clean compared to the Yaecomwood rigs that drive the PA into clipping
> in order to generate ALC!
>
> 73,
>
>    ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
> On 10/5/2010 2:23 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:
>> A lot of the "punch" on older rigs is because the low end rolloff on
>> TX for communications audio IS IN THE TX components and cannot be
>> changed or "optioned" out.  The K3, to satisfy all the vocal desirers
>> of options, lets the user set everything, so that every body can have
>> it his own way, from "I want my beautiful deep bass voice to be heard
>> on ESSB", to contesters' "I just want my highs out there on the power
>> peaks, I ONLY care about maximum QSO's, fidelity be damned".
>>
>> In the old analog rigs, all that stuff was wired in, one resistor and
>> capacitor at a time, and the choice implied by the discrete components
>> used was THE choice, PERIOD.  I note that some of the rigs quoted
>> earlier are in that collection.  What was done in those was to favor a
>> highs-emphasized TX audio, with as little distortion as possible.
>> SOME clipping helped with average power.   ESSB advocates should note
>> that NONE of those emphasized the bass, unless someone went in and
>> monkeyed with the discrete components, or put a banded preamp between
>> the mic and the rig.
>>
>> What that state of affairs did was ENFORCE a defacto communications
>> audio default, very soft on bass and hard on highs.
>>
>> Now you have K3 users with no clue about how to set the TX eq and
>> clipping level OPTIONS to get the IDENTICAL shape to their voices on a
>> K3 as the other rigs.  There actually is a clarity advantage to the
>> K3's clipping method IF you know where to set all the options.
>>
>> The problem is that in the bright new digital world, with options to
>> satisfy every conceivable preference, ONE HAS TO KNOW HOW TO SET THE
>> OPTIONS AND LEVELS TO GET WHAT HE WANTS.  Add that to NOBODY EVER
>> WANTS TO READ THE MANUAL. (I, personally am no better than anyone else
>> here, I HATE reading manuals.)  With the combo you get complaints that
>> "My K3 is broken" because the user doesn't know that's an option and
>> he has to set it his way in that menu.  Likely perceived awful and
>> confusing, because to understand the menu you have to read the manual.
>>   And there are so many optional behaviors that keeping up the manual
>> is a real piece of work, and requires the most talented of technical
>> writers to explain it in a straight-forward effective manner.
>>
>> This is not a peculiarity with a K3.  N1MM has that problem because of
>> the huge number of options, as does all the MicroHam stuff, which
>> serve a very wide audience IF the users understand the options. I
>> pretty much suffered brain damage learning MM logger.  Microham was
>> better because I had W4TV. K3 was easier yet because of the reflector.
>>   Flexibility generates confused digital options newbies all over the
>> place in all kinds of pursuits.   The universal curse of the age of
>> digital options freedom.
>>
>> These days RTFM is really the only way out.  Unless someone who has
>> the time, inclination, and the sharp knowledge of all the options,
>> sets up a utility which sets a spectrum of options based upon older
>> rigs.
>>
>> Since the version D DSP board, this actually seems possible.  Once you
>> learn all the diddles, the K3 is marvelous.  I have its RX sounding
>> like my 75A3, IF I use a good speaker.  ALL my computer speakers turn
>> out to be crap beside my old-time Acoustic Research bookshelf speaker.
>>   If I run my 75A3 to the computer speakers, the 75A3 sounds like crap.
>>   Of course the sonorous old AR 8 ohm needs a 10 watt audio stage or an
>> amp to drive it because it is so brutally inefficient.
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