[TenTec] close talking was Scout,Omni,TS 850 transmit

[bstephens1@mindspring.com (robert k stephens)]

I realize this thread is somewhat off topic but I think of it as : "How can
I  transmit the best ssb possible with  my Scout", so I hope this is more
or less on topic for the list.

I have listened to my transmitted signal.

At 6 inches away from the mic I think that the Ten Tec hand mic in
combination with my voice and the Scout sounds mildly bassy. It's ok,
fairly pleasant, but is really  not what I prefer.

At 4 inches away from the mic I sound more bassy and at 2 inches from the
mic I sound like a blues singer. The effect is less with the Tram mic. I
did not hear my own signal using  the D-104 but I was told it sounded good
at about 3 or 4 inches.

I have read, and ssb contesters have told me that it is best to backoff the
mic gain and close talk the mic because this will improve the signal to
noise ratio. I often have significant background noise; in the car it might
be the fan or maybe even my dog- at my alternate base there might be a
crowd of people in the room having conversations. I typically talk about 3
to 4 inches from the mic but sometimes in very noisy locations I have
turned the mic gain way down and talked 1 inch from the mic in an attempt
to improve the S/N .

If close  talking a mic both improves the S/N and increases the bassiness
then I guess an EQ unit could be used to reduce the bassiness of a close
talked mic or a mic without proximity effect could be chosen. I could be
wrong but I thought the Heil HC 4 and HC5 elements were designed for close
talking ?

I'm told that the D 104  sounded fine at 3 to 4 inches. I was using the
D-104 with the amp turned off and careful not to over drive the Scout.
I'll get some more reports on the D-104/Scout/my voice combination on my
local Tues night net and see I'll see what they say.

tnx 73
Bob, KB1CIW


Dr Gerald N. Johnson Electrical Engineer wrote:

>[snip]
>
>Back off from the microphone to reduce bassiness. Most microphones have
>a proximity effect that enhances bass. That's why singers try to swallow
>their hand microphones.
>
>The amplified D-104 will definitely tend to overdrive a ham rig. It was
>made for CB where the radio makers intentionally kept the audio gain low
>to prevent over modulation (and generally prevented adequate
>modulation). The original crystal D-104 is so high impedance that when
>coupled to a solid state radio it has very poor audio balance. It will
>be even more unbalanced towards highs than what its design was.
>
>73, Jerry, K0CQ
>-- 
>Entire content copyright Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer.
>Reproduction by permission only.
>