Werner, Merv, In that case I do suspect something is wrong. Can I assume you are running the latest firmware? There was a change in the ALC and the recommended 'number of bars' about 3 months ago which increased the normal 'number of bars'. If you are back-level I recommend you upgrade to the latest beta and try it again.
One other consideration is how far away from the mic are you speaking - if using the headset, the microphone should be a max of only 2 inches (5 cm) away from your mouth, and the flat side of the mouthpiece should face your mouth. With a desk mic, it should be placed about the same distance from the mouth as well. Those mics are designed to 'close-talk' which helps with pickup of room noise too, and the microphone output drops off dramatically if you speak off-axis. I normally operate with the Elecraft MD2, but I went down to the workbench and brought up my D-104 that has been modified with an HC-5 element. I plugged it in a tried it at the same settings as I used with my MD2 (but with bias off) and could not talk it up to any ALC bars at all without shouting, but I did see an occasional bar or two on the CMP meter.. I switched to FP.H and still had to increase the mic gain up to 43 before I could see 7 bars on voice peaks with normal speech, like "Hello from W3FPR". My compression was set at 23 for all those tests. From that experience, I must conclude that any who say they run with the mic range on Low and a mic gain setting of 23 for their HC5 element either have more mic gain than my K3 or they are shouting into the mic, or have a mic preamp in the AF input - no offense to anyone intended, but my K3 just does not behave that way with the HC5 element (unamplified). I do consider my setting to be in an acceptable range because the HC4/5 elements are the lowest output mics that I will likely use with my K3. 73, Don W3FPR Dr. Werner Furlan wrote: > hi Merv, > > Merv Schweigert schrieb am 11 Jan 2009 um 11:51: > > >> I just checked mine #2306, cannot get ALC above 7 bars either, Heil >> proset, mic setting of 8 to 10 is plenty to get full power out. But even >> if setting mic to 60 ALC is still 7 bars max. But I notice that below the >> ALC bar scale ALC brackets go to 7 bars, perhaps that means full scale? I >> am using the rear panel jack also, manual states 5 to 7 bars max. As far >> as power output less, thats normal check the CONFIG: TXG VCE menu and set >> the gain up a small amount, will bring SSB up to CW power level. Use an >> external meter as the K3 bar may not respond fast enough to show peaks on >> SSB. Merv KH7C >> > > I checked again and it is exactly the same here. I have a LP-100 peak meter > and it shows 100 Watt out in SSB with MIC GAIN 20 COMP 20. > With normal speech I have only 2-4 bars of ALC, with OOOOLA I get 5-6. > > 73! de Werner OE9FWV > > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
