I feed the audio thru a Timewave DSP-59+ and an external speaker with
a built in headphone jack (SP-230). This allows a separate AF volume
control and narrow DSP audio filtering if necessary--it seldom is. In
this configuration, I have the AF set at 54%, because I feed the
filter from the speaker jack in the rear of the rig. If I have the
headphones plugged into the VII's front panel jack, the AF is down
about 2%. Either my ears or my headphones are very sensitive and
anything above that hurts. I always use headphones.
I use the PRE on 17m and above and often on 20m. I turn down the RF
gain until the background noise is at a low level so that it's not
tiring to listen. This may be anywhere between 50-90% depending upon
condx. If a weak signal appears while tuning, I tweak the RF gain to
see if I can improve the S/N ratio. Sometimes I can. I've not found
an occasion where using the ATTN helps. Very occasionally, engaging
the NR helps in comfortably copying a signal. At times the NB helps,
especially with the Chinese ORH radar.
I use AGC medium on CW. On occasion, I've used FAST with the RF gain
turned way down if it helps readability.
Gary - W7TEA
|