[Elecraft] Mic Settings

[Jim Brown]

On Tue,10/20/2015 8:51 AM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> I am using a Heil HC-4 element with no
> equalizer settings, mic 30 compression 18.

Hi John,

I'd be happy to listen to you on the air and talk you through adjustments.

Some suggestions. Ignore your numbers of 30 and 18 -- they are the wrong 
thing to look at. Start with TXEQ -- set the three lowest bands to 
maximum cut, take the 4th band down about 6 dB. Leave everything else 
set flat (0dB). Now, turn compression all the way down, and adjust your 
mic gain so that you see occasional peaks of full power. To get the 
right setting, you may need to temporarily increase VOX GAIN. Now, turn 
up compression so that on the compression METER, you see peaks of about 
10 dB. This is the way you want to run it.

This will get you in the ballpark, and it's time to get some signal 
reports. Also, if you're like me, you probably yell louder during the 
contest, so be prepared to turn the mic gain down to stay within those 
settings.

You will, of course, want to balance the live mic with recordings. The 
above assumes that the live mic is on the mic input and the computer is 
on the Line Input. That's how I work. So once you're adjusted for the 
live mic, you'll want to adjust computer playback to get the same 
indications of compression.

There's more to the computer gain adjustment. It's written up here, 
following the disucssion of computer sound cards.

http://k9yc.com/USB_Interfaces.pdf

73, Jim K9YC