so ive been on HF for about two years now mostly doing digital and just started getting more into SSB phone and honestly my audio reports have been all over the place. some guys say i sound great, others say im muffled or distorted and i cant figure out whats causing the inconsistency. im running a ts-590sg into a desk mic, the heil pr-40, and ive been tweaking the mic gain and processor settings but nothing feels dialed in. i know the 590 has a parametric eq built in but ive never really touched it much.

also not sure if im supposed to be watching ALC or just set it and forget it. i always thought you wanted the ALC barely moving but someone on the air last week told me to just crank the mic gain and let the processor handle it, which honestly sounds wrong to me but what do i know. any tips from guys who actually spend a lot of time on SSB phone would be helpful, especially anything specific to the kenwood if you have one

the ALC thing is really important and that guy was giving you bad advice. you want the ALC just kissing the top on voice peaks, not pegged. if its pegged youre almost certainly flat-topping and thats where the distortion comes from, people on the other end will describe it as harsh or buzzy. with the 590 specifically i'd back off the mic gain until the ALC is barely moving on average speech then use the processor carefully if you want more average power, but even then less is more with that radio.

the parametric EQ on that radio is worth learning. most mic/room combos benefit from cutting some of the low end, like below 200hz or so, and adding a little presence around 2-3khz for intelligibility. the PR-40 is a great mic but it has a lot of low end by default which can sound boomy on SSB especially on a crowded band. try a gentle high pass and see what your signal reports look like. have someone you trust listen and give you honest feedback, not just the polite 59 report everyone hands out

yeah what he said about ALC is spot on. one thing i'll add is that the inconsistency you're hearing might also just be band conditions and the other stations receiver, honestly SSB is so dependent on whats happening at both ends that its hard to know whos at fault. i spent like two weeks convinced my audio was garbage and turned out my buddy had a dirty IF filter in his old 756.

that said i did find with my mic that keeping it about 6 inches away and slightly off-axis helped a lot with plosives and room noise, closer you get the more bass buildup you get from proximity effect and that just muddies everything up on SSB where bandwidth is already limited. dont obsess too much over it, get a couple honest signal reports from different directions and go from there