Equipment Setup at W3OZ

So you have decided that you would like to do something to make your audio better. If you are like me, you first looked at a new microphone. Maybe a new broadcast type or one of the new Heil microphones that are being produced these days. You noticed that these microphones have a different type of connector on them that has 3 prongs (XLR), not at all like the eight or so that match the mic input of your rig. This is your first problem. How do you get this better microphone connected to your rig, and is that all that is need? The manual that came with the mic, might says it needs phantom power, what is that? Will the new mic be OK by itself, or will you need other boxes to make it sound good. What are EQs and mixers and effect boxes? How can you connect all these boxes together and still get the mic connected to your rig, and where do you connect the audio devices to your rig? It can seem overwhelming at first just to look at the connections that have to be made to go from the mic to the rig. The jargon that is used on the air by hams who are already into audio can make it even more confusing. If you listen to some guy who you like the sound of, you may be tempted to ask him what he is using and buy the exact same equipment. This may work, but there is a good chance that you will not understand all the equipment that the experienced audio ham is using and you may find out that you do not need all that equipment at first or for that matter maybe not at all. 

You will want to follow the old advice of keep it simple. Get one thing going and than and only then go on to the next feature you want to do. For example if you want to start off with a better mic, select one that you think will work for you. A mic that you have heard others praise or have expressed that they have had good results with. Most audio guys have many many, probably too many mics in their shacks. This is because they like to mess around and think that a new mic would be fun to play with not that it is really going to be much better than the one they have. I have a least 10 myself and some very expensive ones are setting in boxes gathering dust. Just start out with a inexpensive dynamic microphone. You will not need external power for this microphone and it will be less likely to pick up shack noise. After you tame this mic, you can go out and buy that big recording studio microphone and put it into service if you feel it is necessary. I would recommend getting a small mixer next so that the connection can be made easily to the rig and the mixer will give you some flexibility for the future. You can do without a mixer, but like I said it will be easier with a small mixer like some of the Behringer mixers out there that can be had for around $60 or so. 

Mixers can be a little intimidating. Even the small ones have a lot of knobs, sliders, lights and jacks on them. You hear about mixer channels, lines, mic channels, AUX sends and returns, Gain knobs, PFL, etc etc. All you have to remember is that you will put your mic with a XLR cable into a socket on one of the channels and you are going to take the audio out of the main mix of the mixer to your rig. The main mix will usually allow for a XLR or 1/4 plug to be connected to it and the other end of the cable must match the input point of your rig. Here's where it gets a little confusing. You may say as I did, "OK I got the mic in the XLR spot on the mixer and I have a cable with two 1/4 phono plugs on each end and there is nothing on the radio that will accept a 1/4 plug other than the headphones plug and I am sure it does not go there, so what do I do?" You can connect to the mic input or sometimes to the back of the rig in the phone patch input by getting a cable that has 1/4 on one end and 1/8 on the other or RCA on the other or what ever matches you phone patch port on the back. You can also rig up a cable with 1/4 on one end and what ever you need to go in the balanced modulator. It just depends on your rig and the facilities it has for connection. The stand by, is to use the mic input. In this case you will use a cable with 1/4 on one end and match the input to a regular mic plug that you can buy at Radio Shack or many other places. Of course, remember that, the output of the mixer is, in most cases, at line level and must be stepped down to mic level, so you will have another box between the mixer main out, and the radio mic input.  A description of this function follows on this page under the Murf Box or the W2IHY I-BOX. I hope this has not confused you even more, but basically when you are done you will go from the mixer main out to the step down box (Murf or I box) and then to the rig either in the back or mic input port. 

Most of the little mixers have built in equalizers (EQ). You can play with the knobs here to see if you can find a sound that you like. After you get the audio going from your new mic to the mixer and eventually to the rig, you can go on to other things, but make sure that you have this function working and you understand it. I have a mixer and other boxes that do specific things. I have more than I really need, but I enjoy messing around and interjecting different sounds so I have devices that do specific things that the beginner would probably not hear or appreciate. Some of the experienced guys fall into this category also. All of these boxes linked together are called an audio chain.

Listed below is my current chain with links to where you can find the particular box or device. I make changes to my chain quite regularly. I will try to keep this list current. But, and let me emphasize this. You do not have to buy equipment like this new commercial stuff I list here. You can find much of the equipment listed here, used just about anyplace including places like ebay. You can also use normal HI FI components you may have laying around the house. And, heaven forbid,  you may even build your own. I just want to make sure you understand that you don't have to spend a lot of money, to make a big audio difference. I know I could purchase a nice little audio chain for less then $200.00 including a microphone, and I would not be ashamed to use it on 14.178 or any other place on the bands.

List of audio equipment used in my station. 

Please Click on the links below for more information on each of the pieces of the chain. Oh, and then come back here.

RackRider       RR-15NL power conditioner. 

Heil PR-40 Studio Dynamic Microphone

    Behringer MX1604A Mixer

Behringer Ultra-Curve Pro DEQ2496    

Behringer DSP1024P  Virtualized  Pro Digital Effects Processor 

 W2IHY i-Box       

First and foremost, you will need a transceiver that is capable of producing a good audio signal. The rig should have DSP or in the case of Yaesu, EDSP in both receive and transit. It should have a pass band of at least 100Hz to 3100Hz or better. Typically most older transceivers go from about 200Hz to 2800Hz, this is not enough to provide for sufficient highs and lows in the spectrum. Some of the radios that I have heard used on the air by hams putting out great audio signals include radios like the ICOM IC-756PRO II and III and the IC-775/DSP. The KENWOOD TS-2000, TS950SDX, TS850S with DSP-100 module, and probably one of the best pure audio radios the TS-870S. The YAESU  FT-1000MP and the new Mark V and FT-2000. There are modes that are available that will make some of the Yaesu rigs really work for ESSB. Some of the newer TEN-TEC radios like the Jupiter, are doing a great job too, but I am not familiar enough with the line to recommend a model.

You must select a microphone that has enough dynamic range to capture the sound you want to project. It must have a range that goes down to at least 100Hz or lower to be useful in audio work. The microphone you got with your rig will not do the job. Many of them cut off at around 300Hz or worse. You can select a dynamic microphone or a condenser. The condenser microphone will need an outside power source, typically 48 volts to operate. Most mixers provide this power, which is referred to as phantom power. 

The microphone is connected to the mixer and to the various audio boxes as I have described above. There are  other great web sites that have great technical discussions about this subject and have loads of other information about amateur radio audio. Two of them are K6JRF, Jim and NU9N John. Now these guys, are experts and they really know what they are talking about. 

Now may be a good time to talk about the term you will hear called broadband or as the hecklers will tell you, that you are SO BROAD. There is a misconception that audio nuts like myself run illegal radios that have been modified to give a signal that is excessively broad. This is not true at all. I, and most amateurs who enjoy great audio, have not modified our rigs at all. They are in fact brick walled by DSP to not go beyond the designed  limits. It is just that they, as apposed to other amateur signals, are using the entire allotted spectrum and when these signals are projected using legal power levels they APPEAR to the ear as being extremely strong and broad. It is not uncommon for someone to tell me that I am 40 or 50 over S9, but when I ask them to really look at their S-meter they find that I am not really that strong but they always say, "well you sounded that strong." John NU9N gives a great explanation about this on his web page, I will not try to duplicate what he says here, but read what he says and you will get a better understanding of what I am talking about.  You will, if you are into audio long enough get the guy who gets on your frequency and says " I can hear you down or up the band 15KC. " Most of the time I find that these guys are not in QSO with anyone, they just found your signal.

By the way your close friends are not good judges of your new audio as they have a mind set on what you are supposed to, and used to, sound like and they will NOT like the new sound, believe me. Also this type of audio is not good at all for working DX in pile ups. Yes I know you hear guys working DX stations using QualityAudio, but most of the time the DX is calling the US station. Or working non rare DX.  In a real DX situation where there are thousands of guys calling on just a few frequencies and everyone is 59+40, they don't recognize this type of sound.  That is big time DX, not your garden variety like working Japan from the West Coast or Europe from the East coast. I have made many tests and can assure you that you had better set up your station with your microphone that you currently use for Dxing close by and have the ability to take all the audio boxes off line when you want to work DX, especially a rare country. Or you can develop an EQ that makes it sound as though you have a HC-4 or 5.