Most likely your AMC needs some adjustment - also adding a power microphone may make a difference....however - be very very careful with adjusting the AMC on the N2 or N4 radios - boosting your AMC will boost your swing and output and those radios are very touchy with heat and although most of the failure issues have been resolved you don't want to be maxing anything out.
Don't mess with the ALC or any other power adjustments unless you have a PHD in electrical engineeringSlight adjustment of the AMC should be fine but only adjust until the bars are tickling the top - if you have an external watt meter or modulation meter you can tell better what is going on as well when adjusting.
I really dont intend to do any adjustments to power levels. As it stands, my mouth is touching the mic and yelling else in normal tone it would barely move much. 3 bars perhaps.
In SSB mode, not that it matters, the meter "looks" ok when I speak into the mic. Meaning it jumps high the louder I talk.
From Ranger USA website:
5. TX AM Modulation:
Set radio to 28.495 MHz, AM mode, mic gain control to maximum, key the transmitter. Inject 30 milivolts of 1 KHz audio into the audio input pin of the mic jack (pin 2).
Adjust VR17 to 100% modulation.
Warranty Notes
We have noticed an increase in radios sent in for warranty repair that have problems directly related to the modulation limiter being clipped or removed. Radios sent back with this modification will not be covered by warranty. When you clip parts out of a well-designed radio, you can cause harmonics, which result in distortion. If you clip a part, then you have defeated the purpose for which that part was intended. This may cause related parts to go bad; thus causing the radio to perform in a way that it was not designed.
We made this decision after a hard analysis of radios returned for warranty and/or repair during a two month period. We even went so far as to fly both the top technician and engineer from the factory to assist us in solving the problems. The result of the analysis, and confirmed by the factory personnel, were startling to us - 87% of the returned radios were caused by the below modifications. This reflects a problem that is not with the radio or it's manufacturing process. It can also cause you problems with your customer, as when something goes wrong, they tend to blame you, your mother, father, your kids, and every one at Ranger - both here and in China! All because of something someone else did.
Here is the list of controls &/or components we found that are commonly de-tuned &/or removed by customers:
RCI-6300 Series: VR14 (AM Carrier), VR16 (AM Modulation), and Q39 (TX Audio Limiter).
RCI-6900 Series: VR15 (AM Carrier), VR17 (AM Modulation), and Q43 (TX Audio Limiter).
RCI-2950/70/90 Series: VR13 (AM Carrier), VR14 (AM Modulation), and Q32 (TX Audio Limiter).
RCI-2950/70/90 DX Series: VR15 (AM Carrier), VR17 (AM Modulation), and Q43 (TX Audio Limiter).
If the above components are removed or max-tuned, the warranty will be voided, as it is a bad practice and by doing these modifications can cause problems of spurious emissions and overheating.
So, let's start an education process. Tell your customers that over modulation causes the user and the radio to sound like crap. It overworks the components of the electronic device and causes the parts to have premature wear and failure. Inform them that in accordance with good technical practice, you will not be a part of that kind of "butchering". You may hear some flack from them at first, but if you explain it to them correctly, they should understand. Plus you can show them the difference in the output signal of a clean sounding radio transmission verses an over-modulated and distorted signal.
Then explain that if they clip a part out of a radio, they have defeated the purpose for which that part was intended. This may cause some other or related parts to go bad; thus causing the radio to perform in a way that it was not designed. An example is the overheating problem caused by removing the TX audio limiter. It causes the power transistors to overheat and shut down or just burn out.
I think, together, we can help clean up the signals and cut way down on the problems that you encounter with these operators. If we can eliminate this one area of problems for you, we can free up the Ranger technicians to solving and repairing real problems.
And, if you are going to "verify" the "alignment and tuning" of a Ranger radio before selling it to a customer, let me remind you to please check all the features and functions of the radio BEFORE opening and breaking the seals. This way, if something is wrong, it can be taken care of in the fastest way possible. It doesn't take that long to check and it may save you some headaches. It also removes any doubt of whether the radio was at fault or something someone else did that caused the failure. Our actual failure rate of the radios is one of the lowest in the industry, so just take the time to check it out first.
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