You don't want either control to be too close to either end of its range. If the sound card level is so high that the gain control in the rig has to be set to only 1 or 2, the granularity of the rig's control becomes a problem (e.g. set it to 1 and get zero or one bar, set it to 2 and get six bars, with no way to reach a setting in between). Also, some sound cards might become non-linear at or near the top of their control ranges, and too high an input level into the rig might also cause non-linearity introduced at the rig end of the link before the level control.
If the sound card level is too low, the granularity issue might appear at the sound card end, and the signal to noise ratio at the input to the radio might become a problem. You want the audio signal at the input to the rig to be well above the level of any hum or noise picked up anywhere along the way, but not so high that it drives the audio circuits into non-linearity. Ideally, then, you want the rig's Line In level control to be in a comfortable range (say 6-10 or so) with the sound card's control somewhere in the middle of its range. 73, Rich VE3KI NA6Z wrote: I know about how to use the S-meter to set transmit audio level (4 bars). What I've yet to find anywhere is a discussion on whether to favor the sound card output or the mic gain. In other words, is it better to have a lower sound card output and a higher mic gain, or vice versa, or does it matter? And why? 73 and Happy Thanksgiving! Don NA6Z ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [email protected]
