so ive been running SSB on 40m for a few months now and keep getting reports that my audio sounds muffled or like im in a tunnel. running an IC-7300 into a dipole, nothing exotic. the radio has the built in compressor and i honestly dont know if i have it set right or if thats even the problem.

ive tried tweaking the mic gain but every time i turn it up to where the ALC is doing something the reports get worse not better. someone on the local net told me to check my TX bandwidth settings which i hadnt even thought about. had it set to wide because i figured more bandwidth = better audio but maybe thats the issue with filter rolloff or something? i dunno.

also using the stock hm-219 hand mic that came with the radio. wondering if thats part of it. any of you guys run the 7300 and have a baseline you can share for mic gain, the TX bandwidth, and compressor settings? or at least tell me if im on the right track here

yeah the stock mic on the 7300 is fine honestly, its not gonna be the main culprit. the thing that gets most people is the TX bandwidth being set too wide — on SSB you generally want to keep it somewhere around 100hz on the low end and maybe 2800 or 2900 on the high side. if you go wider than that youre just adding low frequency rumble and high end hiss that makes you sound muddy and also wastes power outside the passband nobody can hear anyway.

the ALC thing is real important too. you dont want the ALC working hard at all on SSB — if its constantly getting hammered your audio is gonna be compressed in a bad way and start sounding distorted. mic gain should be set so the ALC only just barely moves on peaks. like a slight nudge, not pinning it. the built in compressor on the 7300 is actually decent but i'd leave it off until you get the basics dialed in, then add maybe 3-5db of compression if you want a bit more punch for pileups. start without it.

had the exact same problem when i first got mine. turned out my bass response was way too boosted which made everything sound hollow on receive. the 7300 has that TX tone control in the menu — i think its under set > microphone or something like that — and i pulled the bass down a few notches and suddenly people were saying my audio sounded much cleaner. wasnt expecting that to matter that much but it really did.

also for what its worth i switched to an SM-30 desk mic eventually and it made a noticeable difference just in terms of consistency since im not right on top of the mic or at an angle. hand mics are kind of all over the place depending on how you hold them.