so ive been running SSB for about two years now mostly on 40m and 20m and i keep getting reports that my audio is either too thin, too bassy, or just generally not great. im using an IC-7300 which everyone says sounds good out of the box but clearly im doing something wrong. mic gain is set around 50-55%, compression is off because i read somewhere thats better for casual operating, and im using the stock mic that came with the radio.

had a guy last week tell me i sounded like i was transmitting from inside a tin can. that stung a bit honestly. ive played with the TX equalizer a little but i dont really know what im doing with it. i know theres a whole rabbit hole around mic positioning, EQ curves, the whole thing. anyone have a starting point for getting decent sounding SSB audio on the 7300 or just in general? not trying to be a broadcast quality studio or anything just want to not sound terrible

the stock mic on the 7300 is honestly not great, that's your first problem. the HM-219 or whatever they ship with it is pretty mediocre for SSB voice work. but before you go buying anything, try adjusting your TX bandwidth first — a lot of guys leave it at the narrowest setting because they read it helps with interference but it just makes you sound muffled. i run mine at something like 100-2900 Hz and it made a noticeable difference.

also mic positioning matters way more than people think. dont talk directly into it, talk slightly across it or position it off to the side of your mouth a few inches. reduces plosives and thinens out that boxy sound. as for compression, i actually do run a tiny bit of the COMP on the 7300, maybe 5-8 dB, it helps with readability especially on a noisy band without making you sound over-processed. the key is watching the ALC — you want it barely moving, not pegged. if your ALC is slamming on every word youre overdriving somewhere upstream of it.

yeah same thing happened to me when i first got on SSB, took me forever to figure out the mic gain interaction with the ALC was the whole issue. one thing that helped me a lot was actually recording myself on another receiver — either use websdr or borrow a friend's radio and have them make a recording. hearing yourself from the other end is kind of brutal but super useful. i was shocked how different i sounded compared to what i thought i sounded like monitoring my own sidetone