Hi, Josh, I can't help with your current mic woes, but I use a $50 Yamaha CM500 headset with good results. MIC BIAS on, of course, for the electret mic.
73, Mickey N4MB On Oct 20, 2012, at 10:24 PM, Josh Lehan <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi there. Any particular model of headset, to recommend for use with > the KX3? > > Right now, I'm using a Plantronics ".Audio 500" headset, which is nice > because it has stereo RX (good for the KX3's audio effects) and it has > convenient small analog connectors (perfectly compatible with the KX3). > > However, there's 2 drawbacks: > > 1) Not enough gain. I have the KX3 set to its maximum MIC gain of 40. > Even with this, I'm not getting full voice modulation, at a comfortable > speaking voice. I have to practically swallow the microphone, and then > yell, in order to put out the full wattage. I have trouble lighting up > all 5 bars of the ALC. Increasing the CMP level helps, but isn't a > complete solution. I have CMP set to 20 now, having had it at the > maximum of 30 before, but backed it down to get a little better sound > quality. > > I know the headset microphone is sensitive and works well, because when > used with the computer, it provides full volume at default settings, I > even have to dial it down a bit to avoid saturation. I wonder what's > different about the KX3 than a typical computer sound card, from the > headset's point of view? Perhaps the wrong impedance? > > Sidetone is good, though, at level of 10. RX audio quality is great. I > noticed the recent software upgrade increased the maximum allowed > sidetone volume. I wonder if it's possible to increase the maximum > allowed MIC gain similarly in software? Maybe have an "overdrive" > feature, that shifts the bits left, so that even when the hardware is > maxed out, software can still amplify it some more, at the cost of > fidelity? Some cellphones have this, and it really helps to be heard. > > I tried both possible settings of MIC BIAS in the menu. Having "None" > seemed to help a little, but it didn't make much of an overall difference. > > 2) No PTT button. I was hoping to use my CW straight key as PTT, but no > such luck (I just sent another email about this). If I get another > headset, I would like to get one with a button in the cord, that would > be electrically compatible with what the KX3 expects. > > Any suggestions? > > Thanks! > > Josh > K6JSH > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
