W2XB wrote:
> Hello Group,
> Har! getting old is not for sissies!! I was coping cw with my "new" (first
> ever) hearing aids. When they are out, rx is normal. With the aids in, its
> picking up the high pitch. Sorry about the wasted bandwith.
I'd normally reply direct but there has been a sporadic "K3 and hearing
aids" thread on the reflector so it's not "wasted bandwidth."
Getting used to hearing aids takes time, especially these days because
most are wonders of DSP microelectronics and do some amazing things.
Mine have 5 "programs" for different conditions, and they switch
automatically -- that's good. Both ears don't always switch at the same
time, which isn't quite so good. You could probably buy a couple of
fairly well appointed K3's for what mine cost. They'll even notch a
fire truck siren down to an acceptable level.
Hearing aids won't make things sound like they did when you were a kid
and could hear well [except when Mom was calling you], their goal is to
make things more intelligible for you. For nearly all males, hearing
loss starts at the higher frequencies and proceeds downward as you
encounter birthdays. Your audiogram is thus very likely a curve that
slopes downward as frequency increases, and the aids attempt to invert
that curve and what you describe is a direct result of that. You'll get
used to at least most of it, you're just not used to hearing those
higher frequencies like you did when you were a kid at first. However,
there is good news if you have a K3 ... very good news.
Take the aids out when you operate. If you're comfortable with
headphones, use them, it works much better and with a boom mic too, you
have two free hands. Then find a rag chew going on [75 at night has a
number of them, the content repeats and is usually medical, just pick
the disease you want to listen to], go to MAIN:RX EQ 1 in the main menu,
and start adjusting the equalizer. There are 8 "bands" which you select
by pressing the number keys and the VFO A knob will vary the level of
that band 16 dB up or down from zero [32 dB total range]. You're going
for most intelligible sound, not necessarily "most natural," since you
no longer know what "natural" sounds like. It will take some playing
around, and you have to give yourself some time to adapt to the varying
conditions on the radio. But, if you stick with it you will be surprised.
Wayne, Eric, and the E-crowd did us deaf-ies a big favor with the RX EQ
feature. I have no clue how to adjust the TX EQ, and I get very good
audio reports with it just flat. But you can really improve things with
the RX EQ. Just be patient and adjust things in small steps and then
wait and see how it plays for you under different conditions.
If they weren't busy doing radio things, I'd ask for some equalizer
memories ... when I found a configuration that seemed to work in power
line QRN, I could save it and recall it instantly.
E-Crowd: I'm just illustrating, not asking :-)
73,
Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2010 Cal QSO Party 2-3 Oct 2010
- www.cqp.org
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