[TenTec] ORION ll

[Richards]

A few thoughts...

1)  It is possible you were given bad advice in the beginning.  Saying 
your signal is "wide" is a somewhat vague, unscientific term; it hardly 
qualifies as a "term of art" all operators might understand as having a 
settled or universal meaning.  It is possible you sound just fine, and 
have no problem at all.  This depends on both your rig AND HIS, as 
sometimes the problem is in the other guy's receiver and not in the 
quality of your transmit audio.  Moreover, this is subject to the the 
very subjective opinion of other ops, and some guys have odd opinions of 
what constitutes good audio, and, perhaps, what one ham "wide" is what 
another ham would call "full"  sounding.  The trick is to know whom to 
believe.

2)  I often counsel operators with new microphones to sample the audio 
from the mic (and preamp /phantom power source) with a known clean 
computer sound card.  Recording your voice on the computer can tell you 
a lot about a microphone's particular characteristics, such as how close 
you can speak to it before you over drive the electret capsule, and what 
distance range produces a "proximity effect" (i.e., producing deeper 
bass use up real close and producing a thin, treble sound farther away) 
  so you know the sweet spot where you sound the best on the microphone. 
  That will also confirm you are not over-modulating the preamp input 
and help you select an appropriate starting output for the radio.

3)  Could you reply to the two comments that you are NOT running the mic 
signal through the front panel mic input?   This is hugely important and 
could easily account for distortion on the signal.  You ARE connecting 
the output from the VR-2000 to the Line-In input on the rear of the rig, 
right?

4)  Although I don't have a VR-2000, I have used similar equipment, and 
I doubt you can use just the phantom voltage on the unit, without 
engaging the pre-amplifier setting  (which sets mic volume level to 
Line-level signal strength - see 3) above)  and this is key to your 
success because you MIGHT be inputting too strong a signal into the rig 
to start out - you must adjust both the pre-amp volume out and the rig 
line-level input into the radio.   Having either one too high will cause 
distortion in the rig, regardless of what the other is set to.

5)  While I don't want to diss TT out of a sale... you should be able to 
get this equipment to play nice with the rig.  There is no reason to buy 
a different microphone.  But not knowing all the settings and all the 
connections you are actually using, makes it more difficult to diagnose 
the problem remotely.

6)  One way to get this done quickly and easily is to phone another guy, 
while in contact over the radio, or to work over the radio alone, and 
walk through the process and listen to changes as you make them.

In any case, I would counsel you to review the connections, and start 
with a low pre-amp output setting,  and low rig MIC input setting, and 
accept a weak, or anemic signal to start out, and work up to a more 
robust setting - while working with someone with good ears and good 
judgment on a receiver someplace.





On 6/21/2013 5:15 PM, Bob Gibson wrote:
> Great fellows..Thanks for all the advice on the radio..Just to answer a few questions..This is a new radio from the factory..one week old..I do not run the speech processer at all..I was told that I was to wide..the  audio sounded fine..just to wide..I'm going to run the audio into the back of the radio with everything on the VX-2000 turned off but the 48volts that the mic needs..if this doesn't help..I will call and get a new mic..either the 706 or the 709...I do really like the rig on rec..once I get the audio set right it should be fine..I think I will call TenTec now and see what a mic will cost me and just get rid of the other stuff I have here..sounds like I don't need it..I'll let everyone know the outcome..73s Bob
> Bob Gibson W5RG
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