A while back, my wife and I had been making yearly cross-country trips from
the east coast (where I live now) to the west coast where we moved from.
I too wondered about my transmit audio on my 7000. Even listened in monitor
mode, but was never really convinced one way or another how it really sounded.
I usually operated mobile on 40 thru 10 meters. Let me tell a short story:
I called CQ one day, and was answered by a ham who ID'd, and said right off the
bat, that I was running an IC-7000. You can imagine my surprise with me not
having given him ANY info on what I was running. I asked him how he knew it was
a 7K. He said he could tell by my audio, which to my surprise had never been
mentioned before as being anything other than good.
He said he had 2 IC-7000's, and that I had my TBW settings wrong, and if I could
change them right now, he would guide me setting them. I said OK, since my XYL
was driving.
Going to the SSB Menu TBW settings, I set values as follows:
WIDE LOW 100 QS Menu Setting #3 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
WIDE HIGH 2900 QS Menu Setting #4 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
MID LOW 200 QS Menu Setting #5 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
MID HIGH 2900 QS Menu Setting #6 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
NARROW LOW 300 QS Menu Setting #7 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
NARROW HIGH 2900 QS Menu Setting #8 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
MIC GAIN 50% QS Menu Setting #2 M-3 TBW Hold for 1 Second
COMPRESSION ON M-3 COM Hold for 1 Second
Once I changed to these settings, he said "NOW it sounds like a 7K SHOULD
sound". Ever since I changed to these settings, I have been told the 7K's
transmitted SSB audio sounds great, fantastic. And this has been from dozen's of
contacts since changing my TBW settings. BTW, my mic has NOT been modified by
Bob, AB5N, and, as in a previous posting from Perry, K4PWO (above) mentioned:
"If you have a mid-range voice, only the Japanese versions of the HM151 have the
problem.? The later Chinese made mikes are fine with an average voice BUT you must
use the TX equalizer in the radio¡¯s menu to boost bass and mid-range while cutting highs."
By the way, my HM151 mike is the Japanese mic, and the only one I've ever used
with my IC-7000.
So this is my story for what it's worth. Hope this helps, it certainly did help me. And I
still love and use my IC-7000 mobile.
73's, Alan, AB6C
