microphone level

Charles - K5UA

Hi Norm,

You have a good mic and good hi and low cutoffs, but the DX+ position is probably too aggressive to expect anyone to be impressed enough to give you an "exceptional" audio report. I would try the NORM position for typical operating conditions and reserve the DX position for pileups and the DX+ position for BIG pileups.

I think I read in one of the posts that the DX+ position also overrides the default high and low audio cutoffs to maximize the effectiveness of the DX+ processor position. That could be why you are not getting the occasional "exceptional" audio reports typical of the 6000 series radios (the frequency response is too restricted).

I have a quiet voice, so I need the mic pre-amp to really drive the balanced input.  If you have more power in your voice, make sure you are not driving the peak audio level indicator into the red, which would cause audio distortion.

I am uncertain of this, but the balanced audio input may require line level input since it is an XLR connector common to professional audio gear which is typical line level, not mic level. Maybe Tim or Steve could comment on whether or not the balance inut is a line level or mic level input, I'm not really sure.  All I know is I can't drive it with the extra 20dB and 100% mic gain with my voice and my dynamic mic unless I use a mic pre-amp.

Bill -VA3WTB

Many operators of  the top of the line radios use a pre-amps. The Icom 990 and almost all of them. A simple 4 channel mixer with 48v phantom power works very well. You can find them costing around $70.00 or so.

I have a good friend with a 6500 and he has an outboard pre-amp. we set his audio up a few days ago and he sounds astounding. Dave w2ox helped on air, and we got it.

Ken - NM9P

I have found that if you have too much bass in your signal, running DX+ the processor gets overwhelmed by the "Big Bass" and doesn't sound very nice.

I have gotten excellent results with a PR22 with wide response when running PROC in NOR and DX, but I have to shave off some low end when I run PROC DX+ .  But you want to emphasize the higher frequencies a bit anyway when trying to bust pileups.  On weak signals, highly compressed signals with big bass sound mushy and indistinct.

Ken - NM9P

Tim - W4TME

Charles - K5UA wrote: "I think I read in one of the posts that the DX+ position also overrides the default high and low audio cutoffs to maximize the effectiveness of the DX+ processor position."

That is not applicable anymore.  We removed any filtering restrictions on DX+.

On the FLEX-6500/FLEX-6700 the rear XLR combo connector, the 1/4" TRS and 3-pin XLR are eclectically equivalent.  The only difference is that you cannot enabled the +20 dB microphone preamp when you select LINE.  I have my outboard equipment connected using the 3-pin XLR connection, but in SmartSDR I set the input to LINE so that I can never mess up and enable the mic preamp. 

Andrew VK5CV

Tim,

I just tried that trick. Set the input to LINE but the +20dB button in setup seems to be active.

Using an XLR to TRS balanced input from the preamp. I also tried line level output from the preamp.

Andrew