David & company;
My experience with audio indicated that there is room for improvement in the
audio chain of most amateur receivers. However, when one evaluates the
performance, one must ask, are we expecting performance of a "communications
receiver" or a "Hi Fi receiver"? For me one of my "new" sidelines is 160M
AM, full bandwidth high level modulation, with a receiver having a bandwidth
of at least 12kHz in the IF and the audio pass band to follow. Wow, what a
difference.
In the audio path, changing from electrolytic caps to non-polar or poly caps
may make a difference in some cases. One other area of weakness and most
often is the speaker and its enclosure that is provided with today's modern,
compact, radios. A good speaker, and not necessarily a Hi Fi speaker, will
add improvement to most any radio. I use a JBL 10" bass reflex design in a
solid wood cabinet. It's very efficient down to 100Hz or so, therefore a
couple of watts of audio really makes it talk. It has a nice roll-off
starting at about 5KHz so the hiss and etc is not objectionable.
I agree, external EQ's, amps and the like are often "patches" but if they do
the job that one wants done, then I say "do it".
73
Bob K4TAX
----- Original Message -----
From: "David McGinnis" <n7mjw@yahoo.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 6:17 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Paragon II audio help
> Help with Paragon II audio
>
> I have had a Paragon II radio for a while and have
> always thought the audio
> sounded "weak" or mushy. What I mean is the signals
> dont have seem to
> jump out like some other rigs. This is on SSB. For
> instance comparing to a
> Harris RF-350, the signal strenghts are the same and
> are of the same quality
> between the two, but everything on the Harris seems
> clearer and easier to copy
> than the Ten Tec. The Ten Tec has a nice receiver,
> and signals really do sound
> 5/9 at levels well below other receivers, but those
> same signals seem flat in
> response and dont stand out like they should. This is
> kind of the reverse of
> what Bob Heil says about microphones.
>
> I've been through this in the past with another rig
> and have replaced the diodes
> in the product detector ring and have had positive
> results. The Paragon II doesn't
> seem to have a simple diode detector ring however. I
> have even clean up hiss in
> audio section by replacing electrolytic capacitors
> with polyester bi-polar caps.
> The Paragon does not seem to have the hiss problem. I
> do not believe "cleaning up"
> with DSP is ever a cure for a problem in the receiver
> and wont go there.
>
> The radio has been back to Ten Tec for a re-alignment.
>
>
> What I'm asking from the group is if anybody has
> explored this ground with the
> Paragon series of radios. I have never had an Omni to
> compare this to, but I
> do believe the problem is common in some Amateur
> equipment. I like so much else
> about this rig that I would like to "fix" or "improve"
> it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Dave
> N7MJW
>
>
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