so ive been on HF for about two years now and my signal reports are generally fine but i keep hearing guys on 20m with this really clean punchy audio and im wondering what the difference is. like i know some of it is just the radio itself but there has to be more to it right

right now im running an IC-7300 into a Heil PR-40 and the audio isnt bad but its not that crispy sound either. ive played with the TX bandwidth a little and the compression but i feel like im just turning knobs without really knowing what im doing. i set the compressor pretty high at one point thinking more is better and a buddy of mine told me i sounded like i was talking through a tin can so that was helpful lol

also wondering about mic gain specifically - the manual gives you a starting point but evens guys with the same exact radio seem to have totally different settings that work for them. is there a proper way to set it or is it just trial and error with someone on the other end giving you reports

the compressor thing is a real trap. on the 7300 i keep mine at like 3-4 max, anything past that and you start getting that processed garbage sound. the point of compression on SSB isnt to crank your average power through the roof, its just to keep the peaks from getting away from you so your average power is a little more consistent. people misunderstand that constantly.

for mic gain what i actually do is pull up the ALC meter and talk in a normal voice at a normal distance and set the gain so the ALC is just barely tapping, not pegged. if the ALC is slamming on every syllable youre probably overdriving it and that messes up the audio before it even gets to the compression stage. the PR-40 is a good mic so its probably not that, more likely a gain staging issue.

TX bandwidth i run at 2.4k for normal ragchewing, bump it to 2.8 or so if conditions are good and i want a bit more presence. wider sounds better but chews up more spectrum so i dont bother when bands are crowded

yeah what he said about ALC is the thing. also honestly one thing nobody talks about is mic technique - distance and angle matter a lot with a dynamic like the PR-40. i was getting kinda muddy low end and it turned out i was just too close and getting proximity effect. moved back a few inches and it cleared right up, no eq changes nothing.

also are you on USB on 20m? stupid question maybe but ive seen people accidentally end up on LSB on a HF band and wonder why reports are weird