help with improving transmit eq

[Elecraft mailing list]

Hi all,
I have a newly acquired slightly used K3.  Feedback on my voice audio quality is that it sounds tinny with no low or mid range.  Unfortunately, the K3 manual really doesn't provide much guidance on how to adjust the transmit EQ other than the mechanics of what buttons to push.  If I need to increase the low and mid, does this mean I should increase the values of the first half of the 8 settings and decrease the second half..or something similar?  It's been a while since I've dealt with audio equalizers.  I would appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks, Steve  KG6HJU

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[Bob McGraw - K4TAX]

It just could be a mike issue that EQ won't correct.  Otherwise, the
values should show positive or + amounts starting with about 200 Hz.  
You might also check to see the previous owner had not set other values.

73
Bob, K4TAX
K3S s/n 10163



On 2/3/2016 12:09 AM, Steve Wilson via Elecraft wrote:

> Hi all,
> I have a newly acquired slightly used K3.  Feedback on my voice audio quality is that it sounds tinny with no low or mid range.  Unfortunately, the K3 manual really doesn't provide much guidance on how to adjust the transmit EQ other than the mechanics of what buttons to push.  If I need to increase the low and mid, does this mean I should increase the values of the first half of the 8 settings and decrease the second half..or something similar?  It's been a while since I've dealt with audio equalizers.  I would appreciate any suggestions.
> Thanks, Steve  KG6HJU
>
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Steve,

Since this K3 is 'new to you', you can't know how the prior owner has
set things.
Check the settings in the TX EQ first.  I would suggest that you
initially set all bands to flat.  For communications quality, normally
you want to reduce the first 2 bands to the lowest settings and the 3rd
band by 3 to 6 dB.  The lower frequencies take a lot of power but do not
improve communications and intelligence.  OTOH if your listeners are of
the ESSB kind, they like a lot of bass in the response.
I have known one instance where that symptom was cured by calibrating
the Reference Oscillator.  Follow the instructions for Method 2 (Zero
Beating) in the manual.
Do not overlook the fact that you may have a bad microphone.  Take an
inexpensive computer microphone and plug it into the rear mic jack, set
the MIC SEL to the rear jack and turn bias on.  Those computer mics
normally produce good quality audio.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 2/3/2016 1:09 AM, Steve Wilson via Elecraft wrote:
> Hi all,
> I have a newly acquired slightly used K3.  Feedback on my voice audio quality is that it sounds tinny with no low or mid range.  Unfortunately, the K3 manual really doesn't provide much guidance on how to adjust the transmit EQ other than the mechanics of what buttons to push.  If I need to increase the low and mid, does this mean I should increase the values of the first half of the 8 settings and decrease the second half..or something similar?  It's been a while since I've dealt with audio equalizers.  I would appreciate any suggestions.
>

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[Jim Brown-10]

On Tue,2/2/2016 10:09 PM, Steve Wilson via Elecraft wrote:
>   If I need to increase the low and mid, does this mean I should increase the values of the first half of the 8 settings and decrease the second half..or something similar?

You've gotten pretty good advice, but I'll try to summarize it to
step-by-step.

With speech, content below 400 Hz makes almost no contribution to speech
intelligibility but uses a lot of transmitter power. That low frequency
energy gives the voice more "body," but it also contains breath pops,
handling noise, and room noise. We will be louder and easier to copy if
we get rid of that low frequency content. That typically gives us 3 dB,
Compression adds 10 dB more. The result is to give our 100W radio the
effectiveness of a 2kW radio.

1) Go to TXEQ in the menu and check the settings of all the bands. Like
Don and Bob, I suspect that the prior owner has set them badly.

2) Set all bands to 0 dB (flat).

3) Now, set the three lowest bands (50 Hz, 100 Hz, and 200 Hz) for
maximum CUT (-18). Set the 4th band (400 Hz) for a cut of -3 dB.

4) Make sure Compression is turned all the way down.

5)Now that we have EQ set properly, adjust Mic Gain per the manual.
6)Turn up Compression and adjust it until you see 10 dB on voice peaks
in the Comp display when you transmit.

7) Get some signal reports. Ask those listeners to set their receive IF
to a fairly wide setting, like 2.7-2.8 kHz. Depending on your voice and
your mic, you may want to cut the 400 Hz band a bit more or less, and
you may want 3-6 dB peak for the top two bands (this will make you
"brighter").

73, Jim K9YC
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[Elecraft mailing list]

Jim,
With your audio expertise, suggest a good microphone for him to use also. Cheers.

Mel, K6KBE

 

      From: Jim Brown <[hidden email]>
 To: [hidden email]
 Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 10:17 AM
 Subject: Re: [Elecraft] help with improving transmit eq
   
On Tue,2/2/2016 10:09 PM, Steve Wilson via Elecraft wrote:
>  If I need to increase the low and mid, does this mean I should increase the values of the first half of the 8 settings and decrease the second half..or something similar?

You've gotten pretty good advice, but I'll try to summarize it to
step-by-step.

With speech, content below 400 Hz makes almost no contribution to speech
intelligibility but uses a lot of transmitter power. That low frequency
energy gives the voice more "body," but it also contains breath pops,
handling noise, and room noise. We will be louder and easier to copy if
we get rid of that low frequency content. That typically gives us 3 dB,
Compression adds 10 dB more. The result is to give our 100W radio the
effectiveness of a 2kW radio.

1) Go to TXEQ in the menu and check the settings of all the bands. Like
Don and Bob, I suspect that the prior owner has set them badly.

2) Set all bands to 0 dB (flat).

3) Now, set the three lowest bands (50 Hz, 100 Hz, and 200 Hz) for
maximum CUT (-18). Set the 4th band (400 Hz) for a cut of -3 dB.

4) Make sure Compression is turned all the way down.

5)Now that we have EQ set properly, adjust Mic Gain per the manual.
6)Turn up Compression and adjust it until you see 10 dB on voice peaks
in the Comp display when you transmit.

7) Get some signal reports. Ask those listeners to set their receive IF
to a fairly wide setting, like 2.7-2.8 kHz. Depending on your voice and
your mic, you may want to cut the 400 Hz band a bit more or less, and
you may want 3-6 dB peak for the top two bands (this will make you
"brighter").

73, Jim K9YC
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[k6dgw]

I'm thoroughly convinced that I'm as bright as I'm ever gonna get. :-)

I followed Jim's advice for both RX and TX EQ after wasting a whole
bunch of time trying to figure it out myself [see first sentence above].
  I use a Heil Proset with the iC element from Elecraft, and in rare
forays into the phone bands, I invariably get unsolicited "great audio"
reports.

Another piece of advice from him:  When messing around with things like
TX and RX EQ or AGC <mumble> that have multiple possible settings, go
very slow ... one change at a time followed by some OT&E [Milspeak for
Operational Test and Evaluation].  Some of the effects of the changes
can be very subtle [see first sentence above].

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2016
- www.cqp.org


> 7) Get some signal reports. Ask those listeners to set their receive IF
> to a fairly wide setting, like 2.7-2.8 kHz. Depending on your voice and
> your mic, you may want to cut the 400 Hz band a bit more or less, and
> you may want 3-6 dB peak for the top two bands (this will make you
> "brighter").
>
> 73, Jim K9YC

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[Jim Brown-10]

On Wed,2/3/2016 10:39 AM, Mel Farrer wrote:
> With your audio expertise, suggest a good microphone for him to use
> also. Cheers.
>

Sure. It's awfully hard to beat the Yamaha CM500 or the Koss SB-45. They
sound really good (both mic and earphones), are very comfortable to
wear, and are very reasonably priced. About $60 for the CM500, about $30
for the SB-45.

73, Jim K9YC


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[Jim Brown-10]

On Wed,2/3/2016 10:21 AM, Walter Underwood wrote:
> I seem to remember that the 3-6 dB boost in the top band was to
> correct for rolloff in analog receive filters. I have no idea where I
> read that, but it was probably back in the 1970’s.

It's compensating for both TX and RX filters. The first mic I know of
that provided that compensation was the Shure 440, as far back as the
'50s. The current model is a 444D. The D104 does much of the same thing.
Those mics also roll off the low end a bit. Heil's contribution was to
use exactly that principle in mics that are smaller, or "sexier," or in
more convenient packages, to advertise them as if they had invented the
idea, and to raise the price a lot.

73, Jim K9YC
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[Wes (N7WS)]

Re: SB-45

I bought one, took it out of the box, clamped it my head and I do mean
"clamped", took it off after a few minutes and put it back in the box.  It went
back to Amazon. If I want my head squeezed I can go back to my David Clark
H10-30 headset.  For now I'll stick with my second CM-500.

On 2/3/2016 3:29 PM, Jim Brown wrote:

> On Wed,2/3/2016 10:39 AM, Mel Farrer wrote:
>> With your audio expertise, suggest a good microphone for him to use also.
>> Cheers.
>>
>
> Sure. It's awfully hard to beat the Yamaha CM500 or the Koss SB-45. They sound
> really good (both mic and earphones), are very comfortable to wear, and are
> very reasonably priced. About $60 for the CM500, about $30 for the SB-45.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>

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[Jim Brown-10]

On Wed,2/3/2016 6:25 PM, Wes (N7WS) wrote:
> Re: SB-45
>
> I bought one, took it out of the box, clamped it my head and I do mean
> "clamped", took it off after a few minutes and put it back in the
> box.  It went back to Amazon. If I want my head squeezed I can go back
> to my David Clark H10-30 headset.  For now I'll stick with my second
> CM-500.

Thanks for that input, Wes.  I've not seen one, but am repeating the
recommendations of K6LL and GM3SEK.

73, Jim K9YC
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