New General here with an IC-7300. I'm struggling with getting proper mic gain settings for SSB. When I set the gain high enough to see decent power output on my wattmeter (around 80-90W), I'm getting constant ALC indication. Lower the gain and I'm only seeing 30-40W average. How do you balance proper mic gain with ALC limits? Manual says to avoid ALC activation but then my power seems too low.

Your 30-40W average reading is actually correct for SSB! SSB mode will only indicate about 30W or so while speaking if the mic gain is properly configured, with peak to average ratios between 6:1 and 3:1. The mistake is cranking up gain to see 100W average - that creates distortion and splatter.

My IC-7300 mic gain is set at 5% and I get full 100W PEP on SSB with average around 35%. Use a dummy load and oscilloscope for proper measurement if possible. Your wattmeter reading 30-40W average with occasional 100W peaks is exactly where you want to be for clean SSB.

I made this same mistake when I first got on HF. People try to see 100W output on average reading meters by maxing mic gain and processor drive, resulting in horrible sounding audio and dirty signals that interfere on adjacent frequencies. Set gain for just a flicker of ALC on voice peaks, not constant activation.