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Re: [TenTec] ORION ll

To: Bob Gibson <w5rg@yahoo.com>, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] ORION ll
From: Richards <jrichards@k8jhr.com>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:18:15 -0400
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
A few thoughts...

1) It is possible you were given bad advice in the beginning. Saying your signal is "wide" is a somewhat vague, unscientific term; it hardly qualifies as a "term of art" all operators might understand as having a settled or universal meaning. It is possible you sound just fine, and have no problem at all. This depends on both your rig AND HIS, as sometimes the problem is in the other guy's receiver and not in the quality of your transmit audio. Moreover, this is subject to the the very subjective opinion of other ops, and some guys have odd opinions of what constitutes good audio, and, perhaps, what one ham "wide" is what another ham would call "full" sounding. The trick is to know whom to believe.

2) I often counsel operators with new microphones to sample the audio from the mic (and preamp /phantom power source) with a known clean computer sound card. Recording your voice on the computer can tell you a lot about a microphone's particular characteristics, such as how close you can speak to it before you over drive the electret capsule, and what distance range produces a "proximity effect" (i.e., producing deeper bass use up real close and producing a thin, treble sound farther away) so you know the sweet spot where you sound the best on the microphone. That will also confirm you are not over-modulating the preamp input and help you select an appropriate starting output for the radio.

3) Could you reply to the two comments that you are NOT running the mic signal through the front panel mic input? This is hugely important and could easily account for distortion on the signal. You ARE connecting the output from the VR-2000 to the Line-In input on the rear of the rig, right?

4) Although I don't have a VR-2000, I have used similar equipment, and I doubt you can use just the phantom voltage on the unit, without engaging the pre-amplifier setting (which sets mic volume level to Line-level signal strength - see 3) above) and this is key to your success because you MIGHT be inputting too strong a signal into the rig to start out - you must adjust both the pre-amp volume out and the rig line-level input into the radio. Having either one too high will cause distortion in the rig, regardless of what the other is set to.

5) While I don't want to diss TT out of a sale... you should be able to get this equipment to play nice with the rig. There is no reason to buy a different microphone. But not knowing all the settings and all the connections you are actually using, makes it more difficult to diagnose the problem remotely.

6) One way to get this done quickly and easily is to phone another guy, while in contact over the radio, or to work over the radio alone, and walk through the process and listen to changes as you make them.

In any case, I would counsel you to review the connections, and start with a low pre-amp output setting, and low rig MIC input setting, and accept a weak, or anemic signal to start out, and work up to a more robust setting - while working with someone with good ears and good judgment on a receiver someplace.





On 6/21/2013 5:15 PM, Bob Gibson wrote:
Great fellows..Thanks for all the advice on the radio..Just to answer a few 
questions..This is a new radio from the factory..one week old..I do not run the 
speech processer at all..I was told that I was to wide..the  audio sounded 
fine..just to wide..I'm going to run the audio into the back of the radio with 
everything on the VX-2000 turned off but the 48volts that the mic needs..if 
this doesn't help..I will call and get a new mic..either the 706 or the 709...I 
do really like the rig on rec..once I get the audio set right it should be 
fine..I think I will call TenTec now and see what a mic will cost me and just 
get rid of the other stuff I have here..sounds like I don't need it..I'll let 
everyone know the outcome..73s Bob
Bob Gibson W5RG
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