[Elecraft] [K3] How much compression for contest use?

[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

That is exactly what I was going to write, Phil. DON'T use ALC to set drive 
level. And make sure you follow the directions in the K3 manual EXACTLY when 
setting up a new mic. Meter the ALC voltage on the K3 and set the mic gain 
to produce 4-5 bars of INTERNAL ALC, no more. Then add compression as 
desired for the best effect. You might also want to experiment with the 
transmit equalization, especially by removing the first two (lowest) octaves 
of response. Cut them all the way down as far as they will go. You don't 
need or want any audio energy at those low frequencies. Jim probably covered 
all that in his earlier post that he referred to. All mics should be set up 
using this same procedure.

This was your original question -- and the answer as to how much 
compression: IT DEPENDS. Compression fills in the "valleys" in your natural 
speaking voice, so how much compression depends heavily on what you own 
voice sounds like. Since you're asking about a contest, you will want to be 
a little more aggressive on compression than you would for ordinary QSOing, 
but not to the extent that your voice becomes distorted. There is no 
substitute for intelligent on-air reports -- but if you are using locals for 
reports, make sure they turn down the sensitivity of their receivers (back 
off on the RF gain) so they are not creating internal IMD products that 
would give you a false impression of your audio.

Bill W5WVO


-----Original Message----- 
From: Jim Brown
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 08:19
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] How much compression for contest use?

On 10/29/2010 6:30 PM, Phil Lonzello - WA6LDI wrote:
> Any suggestions as to the proper
> mic/compression settings I can use to prevent overdriving my amp?  Thank 
> you
> for whatever suggestions you can recommend.

The instructions are exactly the same as I posted two days ago for the
other mic.

Your TVI problems may be the result of using ALC to control power. That
is a very bad idea.  NEVER use ALC to set the amplifier power. ALWAYS
set the drive power to the amplifier by adjusting the POWER control on
the K3 to get the desired power out of the power amp.  Use ALC ONLY to
protect the amp from problems when something goes wrong (like something
breaks in your antenna system, or you goof in tuning or switching the
antenna (we all do that).

73, Jim K9YC
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