Nobody knows what he, himself, sounds like.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "George, W5YR" <w5yr@att.net>
To: "Ronald Hands" <ronald.hands@sympatico.ca>
Cc: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 11:46 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Corsair audio
> Just one, Ron:
>
> Quit trying to set up your transmit audio by relying upon on-air contacts
> with "friends" or worse, casual QSO partners.
>
> I can predict with almost 100% certainty that you will just end up with
> about as many opinions as the product of the number of mics and setups
> times the number of people involved, plus a few more since some of the
> people lie and others change their minds.
>
> The point here is that only *you* know what you sound like and what you
> expect to sound like on the radio and only you can be relied to be
> completely honest with yourself. Even a close friend that knows your voice
> may not be inclined to be totally honest in reporting his impression of
how
> Mic A sounds compared to Mic B. People are people and they all change from
> day to day. And they might expect that you *want* to hear that expensive
> Mic A really does sound better than junker Mic B.
>
> I suggest that you use a second receiver - a good one with a clean audio
> system - and a good set of headphones with it to monitor your transmitted
> signal. Put a dummy antenna on both your transmitter and the monitor
> receiver. Tune in your own signal very carefully using the widest SSB
> filters you have. Be very careful not to overload the monitor receiver.
You
> should see an S7 to S9 signal on its meter at the most.
>
> Now, you are prepared to audition *your* voice on various microphones
> and/or equalization settings, etc. and to select what sounds to you either
> (a) most like how you think your voice sounds or (b) what you would *like*
> to sound like on the air.
>
> If you haven't done this, I would expect that it will take you maybe 2
> minutes to try all three mics and find which one comes closest to meeting
> your goals. If none of them do, then it may be time to use a small mic
> premp/equalizer to shape the mic output to suit you.
>
> I have used the W2IHY EQ/Noise-Gate unit very successfully with several
> microphones to tailor the sound. I presently am using the Behringer MX602A
> Mixer/EQ unit as the main audio control center in the shack to handle all
> transmit, receive, computer, and scope monitor audio as well as to drive a
> power amp and speaker system. The flexibility of shaping your voice signal
> has to be heard to be believed. And for $70, it is quite a buy. It works
> equally well for shaping received audio so you can listen to other signals
> and make them sound best to your ears.
>
> This long harangue boils down to one fact: you can rarely believe what
> other people tell you from on-air contacts about how your audio sounds.
> They are hearing you through their own receivers and filters and their own
> speakers and finally their own ears, and evaluating what they perceive
> according to "their" standards of what you should sound like.
>
> I gave up years ago asking "how does my audio sound?" unless I was looking
> for a trouble report based upon my suspicion that something had gone
wrong.
>
> Hope this is of some help and not too discouraging . . .but the bottom
line
> is that I do not believe that there is any "best mic" for any radio. Like
> most other things in life, "it depends."
>
> 72/73/oo, George W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas
> Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe
> Amateur Radio W5YR, in the 56th year and it just keeps getting better!
> QRP-L 1373 NETXQRP 6 SOC 262 COG 8 FPQRP 404 TEN-X 11771 I-LINK 11735
> Icom IC-756PRO #02121 Kachina #91900556 IC-765 #02437
>
> All outgoing email virus-checked by Norton Anti-Virus 2002
>
>
> Ronald Hands wrote:
> >
> > There seems to have been a fair bit of discussion about microphones
> > lately, which leads me to ask: is there any consensus on a particularly
> > good desk mike for the Corsair II?
> > I've had my Corsair for three or four years, but use it mainly for
> > CW so I haven't bothered about microphones. However, I've recently had
> > occasion to crank it up on SSB a bit more often and have been testing
> > different microphones -- and growing more confused by the minute.
> > Did a test the other night between a Shure 444 and a Drake hand
> > mike. Everybody said the 444 was best. Then I did a test today with a
> > friend who knows my voice. Used three mikes: the 444, the Drake and a
> > TenTec 701 hand mike. The verdict was that the Drake was far superior,
> > the 444 came second and the Ten Tec was a distant third.
> > Obviously I need more choices. Any recommendations?
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