I did not get a specific response from anyone who is using my same audio
set-up on the Orion Classic. Again, my current audio chain is a Heil PR-40,
W2IHY 8 band equalizer, and the W2IHY EQPLUS.
I am no audio expert; this is all new to me, but I am having fun and wanted
to pass along my learnings (so far). I found a way to "visually" see my
audio adjustments on a graph by comparison.
Months ago, I had installed the latest firmware (V2.056) on the Orion
Classic, but discovered the audio properties had changed some and really did
not have a good way of re-adjusting my audio properties. So I went back to
the older firmware (V1.37xxxx), since it works well for my operating style
(with only a few glitches ever once in awhile when using the scope in
conjunction with BW, etc).
A few months ago, I came across a Drake R8B receiver and tried to adjust my
audio that way, but again was not successful because I could not adjust my
properties using headphones. I needed some way to measure my voice pattern
with the old software, then make the V2 software match with adjustments of
the W2IHY equipment.
I had bought a copy of the Hamalyzer software several months ago too, and
decided to hook up the Drake to my soundcard to do trace comparisons. I
first made a plot with the V1 firmware and saved it. Next, I loaded the V2
firmware and made a plot. As indicated by other folks on the list that has
done some V1 to V2 comparisons, you can clearly see that the low end was
gone, but the upper end was not as different.
So as it turned out, I was able to match the patterns pretty darn close.
(BTW, I used the same text when doing the comparisons so the plots will
reflect the same voice pattern for the same series of sentences).
Recordings and playbacks on the computer reveal the "sound" is identical.
As a matter of fact, I have gotten great unsolicited audio reports from my
"local" friends as well as comments from DX (I use the same settings for rag
chewing and DX).
I just wanted to pass along my settings, so this might help someone else who
does a search on the archive with a similar set-up. BTW, my best friend
bought an Orion Classic the same time that I did, runs V2 firmware, and
uses a Studio One mic. He does not have the W2IHY equipment, but his audio
sounds great. We just had to turn things down (compared to V1).
I know there are many posts concerning this very issue and I do not wish to
rehash old stuff; this post is intended to be a guideline to help others
who have struggled with this or who might need some ballpark settings to
start them out as they "fine tune" their particular situation. The greatest
thing about V2 is that is has been VERY stable (so far); and I did not have
to give up my audio!
Thanks,
Orion I settings:
TX Filter BW - 3000
L.F. Rolloff - 50
Mic gain - 20
SP - off
W2IHY 8 band Equalizer settings
50 - (12)
100 - (4)
200 - (- 10)
400 - (- 10)
800 - (- 10)
1600 - (0)
2400 - (10)
3200 - (16)
(I also use the noise gate)
W2IHY EQPlus
no additional bass/treble - leave it off
comp - 10 o'clock
downward expander - your own setting according to your background
effects delay - 9 o'clock
effects level - 2 o'clock
effects switch 2
Thanks and I hope this helps someone else. As you know, your voice, your own
liking, etc. will cause you to need to change these settings, but at least
this is somewhere to start.
73's
Mark KA4ICK
Kingsport, TN
|