CM500 mic keeps cutting out midsentence

[Jeff Hall, W6UX]

I'm having problems preventing my Yamaha CM500 boom mic from cutting out
intermittently while talking.  I have the following settings on my K3:

VOX Gain: 85
Anti-vox: 0
Mic delay: 0.90
Mic Gain: 30
Cmp: 25

The mic is routed to the K3 via a microHam MKII.

I have tried moving the mic to various positions but this doesn't help.  TX
cuts out every few words and this is very annoying! I have to raise my voice
above normal conversation levels to get it to turn the transmitter on.  I've
play around with various values, but I'm not finding a good combination.  Is
there another setting I have forgot to address? Maybe I've got a loose
connection in the mic itself? Not sure how to take this apart for
inspection.

Thanks for any any and all suggestions!

Jeff, W6UX
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[AC7AC]

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[David Gilbert]

Why not connect the mic directly to the sound card of your computer to
see if it is the problem or not?  Trial-and-error on everything at once
is not a very good trouble shooting methodology.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 12/19/2010 1:22 PM, Jeff Hall (W6UX) wrote:

> I'm having problems preventing my Yamaha CM500 boom mic from cutting out
> intermittently while talking.  I have the following settings on my K3:
>
> VOX Gain: 85
> Anti-vox: 0
> Mic delay: 0.90
> Mic Gain: 30
> Cmp: 25
>
> The mic is routed to the K3 via a microHam MKII.
>
> I have tried moving the mic to various positions but this doesn't help.  TX
> cuts out every few words and this is very annoying! I have to raise my voice
> above normal conversation levels to get it to turn the transmitter on.  I've
> play around with various values, but I'm not finding a good combination.  Is
> there another setting I have forgot to address? Maybe I've got a loose
> connection in the mic itself? Not sure how to take this apart for
> inspection.
>
> Thanks for any any and all suggestions!
>
> Jeff, W6UX
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

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[Chester Alderman]

" Zero VOX Gain should mean that *any* sound picked up by the mic should
initiate transmit."  ???

I always thought "zero" meant NO - so you are saying if you turn the VOX
Gain down to zero, you're  going to be able to hear a flea sneeze?

Or did you mis-read what Jeff actually said?

MC & HNY

Tom - W4BQF



-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Ron D'Eau Claire
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2010 4:05 PM
To: 'Jeff Hall (W6UX)'; [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] CM500 mic keeps cutting out midsentence

Zero VOX Gain should mean that *any* sound picked up by the mic should
initiate transmit.

The Mic delay means that when VOX does drop out, there's a 0.9 second delay
before it reasserts after the mic picks up sounds. You might try reducing
that to see if there's any effect.

Presumably you are seeing 5 to 7 bars of ALC on the bargraph indicating
normal mic audio levels into the K3.

Try connecting the mic direct without the Microham to eliminate the Microham
interface.

Try transmitting PTT to determine whether it's the VOX setup or an
intermittent in the mic wiring.

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
I'm having problems preventing my Yamaha CM500 boom mic from cutting out
intermittently while talking.  I have the following settings on my K3:

VOX Gain: 85
Anti-vox: 0
Mic delay: 0.90
Mic Gain: 30
Cmp: 25

The mic is routed to the K3 via a microHam MKII.

I have tried moving the mic to various positions but this doesn't help.  TX
cuts out every few words and this is very annoying! I have to raise my voice
above normal conversation levels to get it to turn the transmitter on.  I've
play around with various values, but I'm not finding a good combination.  Is
there another setting I have forgot to address? Maybe I've got a loose
connection in the mic itself? Not sure how to take this apart for
inspection.

Thanks for any any and all suggestions!

Jeff, W6UX

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[AC7AC]

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[Jeff Cochrane - VK4XA]

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[Jeff Hall, W6UX]

Thanks to everyone who offered their suggestions!

I am not sure what happened, but the problem cleared up simply by accessing
my uRouter software for the MKII and toggling from Front mic to Rear, then
back to Front.  Once I did this I immediately noticed the CMP and ALC bars
back to their desired peaks (5-7 for ALC, 10 for CMP).

I worked with a local audiophile over the air and we settled on the
following settings:

Mic Sel: rPL.bias
Mic: 30
Cmp: 20
VOX Delay: 1.2 (for rag chews; use something shorter for contesting)
VOX Gn: 50
AntiVox: 25

The tone of my voice was still a bit nasal to him, so we adjusted the TX EQ
as follows:

50 Hz @ +0 dB
100 Hz @ +0 dB
200 Hz @ +8 dB
400 Hz @ +2 dB
800 Hz @ -16 dB
1600 Hz @ -2 dB
2400 Hz @ +0 dB
3200 Hz @ +0 dB

He suggested I consider adding a Behringer Shark DSP110 to soften up my tone
and give it a warmer, fuller sound.  They can be had cheap on eBay so I may
pick one up to experiment with.

73,
Jeff W6UX
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[Gary Gregory]

Use your EQ more, no need for external audio gear here.

To make your voice sound more 'round'...peak your low freq settings.

Again, keep playing with the EQ settings and you should get the desired
audio.

73's
Gary

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:46 AM, Jeff Hall (W6UX) <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Thanks to everyone who offered their suggestions!
>
> I am not sure what happened, but the problem cleared up simply by accessing
> my uRouter software for the MKII and toggling from Front mic to Rear, then
> back to Front.  Once I did this I immediately noticed the CMP and ALC bars
> back to their desired peaks (5-7 for ALC, 10 for CMP).
>
> I worked with a local audiophile over the air and we settled on the
> following settings:
>
> Mic Sel: rPL.bias
> Mic: 30
> Cmp: 20
> VOX Delay: 1.2 (for rag chews; use something shorter for contesting)
> VOX Gn: 50
> AntiVox: 25
>
> The tone of my voice was still a bit nasal to him, so we adjusted the TX EQ
> as follows:
>
> 50 Hz @ +0 dB
> 100 Hz @ +0 dB
> 200 Hz @ +8 dB
> 400 Hz @ +2 dB
> 800 Hz @ -16 dB
> 1600 Hz @ -2 dB
> 2400 Hz @ +0 dB
> 3200 Hz @ +0 dB
>
> He suggested I consider adding a Behringer Shark DSP110 to soften up my
> tone
> and give it a warmer, fuller sound.  They can be had cheap on eBay so I may
> pick one up to experiment with.
>
> 73,
> Jeff W6UX
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

--
Gary
VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile
http://www.qsl.net/vk4fd/
K3 #679, P3 #546
For everything else there's Mastercard!!!
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