K3 Mic adjustment - How not to do it. :<)

[Bob - W0GI]

Well K3 number 3903 has been online for 12 days now. I bought it mostly for CW and digital, but a few days ago, I figured I should wire up a mic. So since I have a few Yaesu hand mics, I rewired the 8-pin plug for the K3.

That worked fine, but setting the EQ has been a nightmare. Monitoring from the K3 headphone jack and the receive on the Mark-V sounded weird, like it was through DSP noise reduction. I tried other dynamic mics in the rear panel and still, just a strange hollow sound.

Tonight, I decided to make an MP3 recording to send to Elecraft tomorrow, to see what is wrong with my otherwise perfect K3. Guess what, nothing is wrong? It sounds normal.

Now I realize that there is a small delay as the audio is run through the ADC, DSP, then DAC. It is only a few milliseconds, but when the headphone audio is mixed with your actual voice through bone conduction to the eardrums, you have a weird audio effect that is not true to the actual sound. The EQ is also impossible to adjust properly. My on the air reports were not good, as I had way too much high end EQ set to counter the lows from bone conduction.

So my conclusion is that the only way to do it right, is to transmit to a seperate receiver that is feeding audio into a soundcard. Record the audio, then play it back.

This effect doesn't seem as significant with an analog (no delay) audio chain, but I bet I can get the Mark-V sounding better by recording reception of the Mark-V on the K3.

Maybe I can get on the Elecraft SSB net next Sunday to see if this all works. :>)

Hope this makes some sense, and helps others with audio setup.

73 - Bob

[Brett Howard]

Perhaps you could use the DVR (if you had it) to record your voice and
then play it back...

~Brett


On Sun, 2010-02-14 at 19:58 -0800, Bob - W0GI wrote:

> Well K3 number 3903 has been online for 12 days now. I bought it mostly for
> CW and digital, but a few days ago, I figured I should wire up a mic. So
> since I have a few Yaesu hand mics, I rewired the 8-pin plug for the K3.
>
> That worked fine, but setting the EQ has been a nightmare. Monitoring from
> the K3 headphone jack and the receive on the Mark-V sounded weird, like it
> was through DSP noise reduction. I tried other dynamic mics in the rear
> panel and still, just a strange hollow sound.
>
> Tonight, I decided to make an MP3 recording to send to Elecraft tomorrow, to
> see what is wrong with my otherwise perfect K3. Guess what, nothing is
> wrong? It sounds normal.
>
> Now I realize that there is a small delay as the audio is run through the
> ADC, DSP, then DAC. It is only a few milliseconds, but when the headphone
> audio is mixed with your actual voice through bone conduction to the
> eardrums, you have a weird audio effect that is not true to the actual
> sound. The EQ is also impossible to adjust properly. My on the air reports
> were not good, as I had way too much high end EQ set to counter the lows
> from bone conduction.
>
> So my conclusion is that the only way to do it right, is to transmit to a
> seperate receiver that is feeding audio into a soundcard. Record the audio,
> then play it back.
>
> This effect doesn't seem as significant with an analog (no delay) audio
> chain, but I bet I can get the Mark-V sounding better by recording reception
> of the Mark-V on the K3.
>
> Maybe I can get on the Elecraft SSB net next Sunday to see if this all
> works. :>)
>
> Hope this makes some sense, and helps others with audio setup.
>
> 73 - Bob
>
>
>

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[Bob - W0GI]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Perhaps you could use the DVR (if you had it) to record your voice and
then play it back...

~Brett >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Recording into HRD audio grabber to the PC is working fine, but I do want to get a KDVR3, when I have the money to order one.

The Yaesu hand mic is pretty bad. I put a dynamic mic into the rear, and it sounds pretty good, but I don't want a desk mic for the K3, so I am going to try a cheap condenser element in the Yaesu mic housing.

I bet it will work great.

I am a cheap SOB, but I am starting to think that I may order an AM filter, and setup ESSB (maybe 3K) for ragchew, and the 2.7 for a tighter pattern. It is nice to have options. :>)

[DL5OCD]

Hello Bob,

i have a Kenwood MC-60 and a cheap headset connected to the K3. Also a Kenwood MC-43 is working very well.
Mabe try this adjustment for a start:
CMP: 18
Mic gain : 30 (depending on the H or L adjustment in the menue)
TX EQ:
50 0
100 +8
200 +4
400 -3
800 -3
1600 +2
2400 +10
3200 +11

On the air reports are outstanding with this adjustment, with or without ESSB enabled.

73
Michael
DL5OCD

[NZ0T]

I got the MH2 with my K3 and it works fine but I then bought a NIB Radio Shack dynamic studio mike (33-3038) off Ebay for $15 and I get great audio reports.  Hooked it up to the rear mic input and use VOX with the mic mounted on a converted lamp boom.  Works as well as a friend's that has $150 invested in a Heil mic and boom :)