so ive been on SSB for about a year now and i keep getting reports that my audio is thin or tinny, sometimes people say its hard to copy me even when my signal is strong. im running an IC-7300 into a Heil PR-40 which i thought would be pretty much solve all my audio problems but apparently not. i've messed with the mic gain and the compression settings a bunch but i feel like im just guessing at this point. the TX monitor sounds ok to me but i know that's not really a reliable way to judge it since your own voice always sounds weird to yourself.

i did notice the default DSP settings on the 7300 are pretty aggressive with the TX bandwidth, like it seems to be cutting a lot of the low end. is that normal or is that something i should be adjusting. also not sure if the PR-40 needs phantom power because i think i have that turned off right now, someone told me it doesnt need it but now im second guessing that.

anyway if anyone has dialed in their 7300 for good SSB audio id love to know what settings you're using, or just any general tips for not sounding like a robot

the PR-40 is a dynamic mic so it definitely does not need phantom power, that part is fine. what you probably want to look at is the TX bandwidth setting in the 7300 menu — by default i think it's set somewhere around 2.4 kHz which isn't terrible but for a good sounding mic like the PR-40 you can open that up a bit, maybe 2.8 or even 3.0 kHz if the band isnt super crowded. also check your bass roll-off setting, there's a low cut filter in there that might be chopping your fundamentals.

honestly the biggest thing for me was getting a proper level set without relying on compression to make up for it. start with the ALC just barely moving on peaks, like just kissing the top of the range, then add maybe 2-3 dB of compression at most. people go way overboard with compression on SSB and it just makes everything sound harsh and unnatural. good audio on SSB is mostly about a flat clean signal going in, not squishing it to death afterward.

also if you have a buddy who can give you honest on-air reports in a range of band conditions that's worth way more than any S-meter reading

yeah i had almost the exact same issue when i first got my 7300, turns out i had the mic EQ set to something the previous owner had messed with and never reset. there's a passband tuning thing in there that can really narrow things down without you realizing it. just reset your TX EQ profile to flat and start from scratch, made a huge difference for me. took me like three weeks to figure that out which was embarrassing