so ive been on SSB for about a year now and honestly most of my contacts tell me my audio sounds fine but when i record myself with audacity or whatever and listen back it just sounds... thin? kinda harsh. like AM sounds warmer to me but obviously thats not really an option for HF most of the time

im running an IC-7300 into a heil headset, the PR-40 element i think, and ive messed with the TX EQ in the radio but i cant really tell if im making things better or worse. someone on 40m told me to cut the low mids around 300hz and boost presence a bit but i dunno if that guy knew what he was talking about. he was also running like an old Kenwood and kept saying his audio was better than mine which felt like a flex lol

also i never know what the right compression setting is. i have ALC kicking in a little bit but then someone told me ALC movement is bad and i should back off the mic gain. then someone else said a little ALC is totally fine and the other guy was wrong. so now i have no idea what the correct answer is

anyone actually dial this stuff in properly on an IC-7300 or similar? curious what settings people actually run day to day not just the textbook answer

the ALC thing is one of those debates that never really dies but heres my take after running Icoms for a long time - a little ALC movement is totally normal and fine, like 1-2 bars on the meter. what you dont want is the ALC pegged or slamming hard on every syllable because then youre basically compressing the life out of everything and the other end hears that squashed, harsh sound you're describing. set your mic gain so ALC is just barely kissing on your loudest speech peaks and leave it there.

on the EQ side the IC-7300 TX EQ is actually pretty decent once you learn it. i cut a fair amount below 200hz because most of that is just rumble and low end mud that SSB cant really carry cleanly anyway, then i have a slight boost around 2-3khz for presence and intelligibility. sounds thin in the headphones but over the air it cuts through. thats the thing about SSB, what sounds good in your ear isnt always what sounds good on the receiving end 1500 miles away

honestly the best thing i ever did was get someone to give me an honest on-air report while i messed with settings in real time. not just a 5-9 report, an actual critical listen. most hams wont bother unless you ask specifically

yeah the heil PR-40 element can sound a bit middy to some ears, i switched to the HC-5 and liked it better for SSB but thats personal taste. one thing nobody mentions enough is mic technique - you gotta work that mic at the right distance, too close and you get proximity effect piling up bass, too far and you sound like youre in a cave. with heils i usually end up about 1-2 inches off to the side not straight on

also check if you have the TX bandwidth set to wide or normal. some guys run it narrow thinking its cleaner but it just makes everything sound like a tin can. i run wide on the 7300 unless theres serious QRM reason not to