[Kenwood] TS940SAT setup

[Rob Neece]

I just acquired a TS940SAT and am in the process of getting it setup and 
learning how to use it.  It is a big step for me.  A couple of routine 
adjustments didn't work quite as expected, so I have questions.

Adjusting the Carrier Level for CW.  The Owner's manual says to set the rig 
to full power, put the meter in ALC and then to adjust the Carrier Level so 
that the needle stays within the ALC zone.  That was no problem, but later, 
operating at 50 W and 5 W, I noticed the ALC was reading well above the ALC 
zone.  Not knowing if this was a problem, I went back to full power and 
turned the Carrier Level down until the output power just started to drop, 
then raised the Carrier Level just past the point where I get full output 
power.  That seemed like a good solution, but is there a better way?

MIC Gain.  The mic I received with the 940 is a Heil HC-4.  The MIC gain 
control is very sensitive.  With the meter in ALC, the control is set to 
about 1.7 on the concentric scale.  It is very sensitive around that 
point.  Cut the gain a little and the needle doesn't move.  Raise the gain 
a little and the needle goes to full scale on peaks.  So the adjustment is 
very sharp.  I tested it on the air, and got good reports on my audio, and 
the VOX works fine.  In the Owner's manual, it suggests a voltage divider 
for use with high output mics.  This gave me the idea that I might be 
dealing with a high output mic, so I put a voltage divider in the line 
expecting the MIC gain to be less sensitive and to end up much higher than 
1.7 when adjusted.  Surprise!  The MIC gain control seems to behave just 
the same -- no obvious difference.  On the other hand, now the VOX gain has 
to be set to the maximum and I have to speak up to activate the 
VOX.  Needless to say, I intend to remove the voltage divider from the mic 
line.  Can someone make sense of this?  Should the MIC gain control be so 
sensitive?

Thanks,
Rob
KK4R