[Elecraft] Monitor in SSB sounds "crummy" K3s?

[Don Wilhelm]

Ken,

Is the Monitor level too high?
Are you using speakers for the monitor audio?  That will certainly cause 
feedback because the mic will pick up sound from the speakers.  You can 
use headphones with high isolation.

I would suggest a better way to evaluate the microphone response is to 
make a recording and then play it back.  If you have the DVR installed, 
that is a perfect tool for doing that recording.  If no DVR, use the 
monitor to send audio to your computer soundcard and record it with an 
application like Audacity (an open source and free audio editor).

The intent of the monitor function is to give the user of headphones 
some audio in the phones because it is easier than speaking into a 
microphone without that acoustical reinforcement.  For that purpose, it 
does not have to represent the full audio response - but I agree it 
should not be distorted by design.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 7/1/2016 5:31 PM, Ken Arck wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I've been trying to set up a couple different microphones with my K3s 
> and have noticed they all sound horrible using MONITOR but on another 
> radio, they sound good. Specifically, it doesn't take much level 
> before they sound distorted, and way too....."midrangy?" whereas 
> listening to it on 2 other local radios they sound fine.