Best new Ham Rig for 11 M

[222DBFL]

From what I have heard like you Crazy D is that the kenwood 480hx sounds good on am and can do 200 watts pep. 50 watt carrier. SSB they are great radios and I have heard my share on SSB. Not any on AM though. I was DX'ing last night and got on AM, spoke to a gent in TN, and he said I sounded great on my Icom 746 doing about 20 watts pep per the meter. SSB I was getting compliments left and right last night. Right combo of compression, TX tone, and mic gain with the stock HM12 hand mic does the job for me. Been looking at the 5 band eq for sale on EBay. These to be exact. They say they work well. Might offer him a bit less and try to get one. Here is a pic. I beleive they also make an 8 band eq as well. Just something to mess with some more!! Never can have enough good audio LOL!!

 

[M0GVZ]

. Been looking at the 5 band eq for sale on EBay.

All you need is a Behringer Xenyx 802 which is about $50. You don't need 5 band or 8 band EQ, just the ability to cut the lows, cut the highs and boost 2.4kHz.

 

[Crazy_D]

Here is how I achieved great AM audio on 11m using a ham radio consisted of the following setup (This was back in 2007-2008):

~Kenwood TS-850SAT (balanced modulator input mod) I bought this radio from ghettoway driver from southern cali
~Blue Kiwi Microphone ($1,999 retail) (I tried over 20 mics, this did it for me) I also used the blue pop filter on it and it was mounted to a audio technica stand and shock mount.
~Mbox2 Pro w/certain plug-ins (ProTools A/D-D/A interface, now you can do pretty much anything you want to your audio signal for maximum fine tuning, heck even add echo and beeps from the protools plug-ins and other audio file insertions on the air if you wanted too, I had a blast using this, I remember the 12AX7 plugin gave me that tube distortion sound like you get with a browning or tram cranked up and fooled everyone on the air, they thought I was on a boat anchor when I was using a kenwood 850sat, lol)
~W2IHY IBox (for matching the mbox2 pro to kenwood 850sat line input)
~Heil footswitch for PTT (cool, when I first used it for this setup, it reminded me of using a Tram D201 or keying up a large amplifier), however for long keydowns, not cool, foot got tired and would sometimes let up, so I also rigged up another switching arrangement using a toggle switch, in case I wanted to get long winded and lock it down).

If I did it over today I would use the Flex SDR-1000 100w model with opened software for 11m (cheaper than kenwood,more audio bandwidth capability than kenwood, better receiver than kenwood and a ton of other things) and a bunch of hours getting it all setup and fine tuned right, but this would be a optimal route/pathway to go for high end audio on the air (AM or SSB) for not alot of money (you can substitute the expensive blue kiwi mic for a lower end model for a couple hundred dollars or less). A system like this today using a flex 1000 $500, mbox2 $~150, blue or similar style of mic $50-300+, etc would not be expensive, around a grand or so to build something like this today, and assuming you got a computer that will work with the flex and the pro-tools software, and most of all, the time to get it all setup right. It would look good on a 42-50" screen.

The best part is the mbox2 pro (pro-tools w/plug-ins) eliminates a whole audio rack of conventional gear and all the extra connections, extra cables etc (RFI) and simplifies the audio chain tremendously. All the audio processing is done in the digital domain. You get more audio adjustment capabilities using pro-tools with the plug-ins, it took me hours to learn it and get it setup right the first time out.

 

[222DBFL]

The reason for wanting the EQ M0GVZ is that I can use the stock mic and don't have to get a mic or any adapters and such. I habe been told the same thing as you stated by another member here long ago. He runs the type setup you're describing into an anytone 5555 and it sounds great. Not sure what mic he is using. Want to say it's a headset type mic setup. At any rate thanks for the info and I may go this route. The EQ is more for experimenting with, thus me making an offer to the seller and not just buy it now. Don't want to spend a lot and have mediocre results!! Again, thanks for info and have a Happy New Year!

 

[M0GVZ]

The reason for wanting the EQ M0GVZ is that I can use the stock mic and don't have to get a mic or any adapters and such. I habe been told the same thing as you stated by another member here long ago. He runs the type setup you're describing into an anytone 5555 and it sounds great. Not sure what mic he is using. Want to say it's a headset type mic setup. At any rate thanks for the info and I may go this route. The EQ is more for experimenting with, thus me making an offer to the seller and not just buy it now. Don't want to spend a lot and have mediocre results!! Again, thanks for info and have a Happy New Year!

Buy a more modern radio like a Kenwood TS480 and it will usually come with a built in EQ which will save you having to buy one. I think the TS480 is something daft like 12 bands.

 

[222DBFL]

I like my Icom 746 just fine M0GVZ and get great audio reports all the time with just the stock mic and proper settings of the radio. Not trying to have a pissing match over what radio has better eq or audio and such. I know there are always better radios, that cost way more money and have way more options. That wasn't the point here. This eq is a simple plug and play unit for radios that don't have eq's built in. I haven't seen anyone on this forum ever speak of them, thus the curiousitiy of how well they actually work. I may purchase one just to play with. But it's not something I have to have. But thanks for the info about other radios sir. Have a good day.

 

[Crazy_D]

I like my Icom 746 just fine M0GVZ and get great audio reports all the time with just the stock mic and proper settings of the radio. Not trying to have a pissing match over what radio has better eq or audio and such. I know there are always better radios, that cost way more money and have way more options. That wasn't the point here. This eq is a simple plug and play unit for radios that don't have eq's built in. I haven't seen anyone on this forum ever speak of them, thus the curiousitiy of how well they actually work. I may purchase one just to play with. But it's not something I have to have. But thanks for the info about other radios sir. Have a good day.

I have heard a Icom 746 (non-pro) on AM a couple of times (these were on 40meters and 6 meters) and it sounded great. I like the fact the 746 has 2 meters built in at 100w output.

 

[222DBFL]

I have gotten good audio compliments on AM as long as I keep the settings right and the power set right. This is on 11m AM. And yes I have a non pro 746. It's been a workhorse for me since I have gotten it. Not a single issue. All works as it is supposed to. I'm happy with it the audio wise but it would be nice to mess with some equalization as well. I may get one of the 8 band eq's that the same seller as the 5 band one has. Either way it's just for fun!!

 

[Crazy_D]

I have gotten good audio compliments on AM as long as I keep the settings right and the power set right. This is on 11m AM. And yes I have a non pro 746. It's been a workhorse for me since I have gotten it. Not a single issue. All works as it is supposed to. I'm happy with it the audio wise but it would be nice to mess with some equalization as well. I may get one of the 8 band eq's that the same seller as the 5 band one has. Either way it's just for fun!!

Hell yeah its all for fun. anything is better than nothing. I have used a w2ihy 2 band eq to various 31 bands, the more bands, the better ultimate voice control. For the 31 band,I did it a couple ways, once with a modified Behringer DEQ-2496, and the other with the Digi Designs Mbox series (pro-tools). I was looking for ultimate audio quality, I was using silver mic wiring and a expensive studio mic. I silver pasted all the connections and I also modified the Mbox 2 hard ware input/output circuits for better fidelity, so nothing I was using was stock. Makes me want to reassemble another station like this but today there is no one worth while to talk too in my area (both on cb or ham)so its not worth the time and money, maybe in a couple of years as some of these (a-holes)guys die off.

 

[M0GVZ]

but today there is no one worth while to talk too in my area (both on cb or ham)so its not worth the time and money, maybe in a couple of years as some of these (a-holes)guys die off.

That's the problem but on a bigger scale. The number of people who are likely to be on the receiving end with gear that would get the full benefit of all your effort is an extremely small number. I know there is an AM net on 75m in the USA where they have a lot of old timer gear that really does like that kind of quality audio but your average Joe with their Cobra, its going to be wasted on them.

 

[Road Squawker]

Here is how I achieved great AM audio on 11m...~Blue Kiwi Microphone ($1,999 retail)....

... its going to be wasted on them.

I can think of many other ways I would "waste" $2k.

 

[Crazy_D]

I can think of many other ways I would "waste" $2k.

I own three businesses so my time on the radio (or this computer) can be limited and sparse at times (no daily routine like most people) so I was only trying to talk to other am high fidelity operators on the superbowl who also had modified receivers like my kenwood which was very wide banded, so I could copy alot of guys who were widebanded and or if they were tweaking their audio on air. It didn't care about roaming the cb band looking for skip, I was locked in on 27.025 at that time. It kinda all petered out after awhile so I sold the setup and many other radios/equip/big amps and moved my qth. too bad back when I used it there were minimal flex radios out there (only one that I knew of at that time on cb) and not many on ham, so I could never hear one but today they are everywhere on the ham bands and you can tell the difference immediately when a guy with a flex setup gets on the air.. I also used this kenwood setup on SSB on some of the ham bands and on channel 38 but it was only really meant ansd setup for AM. If you think $2K is wasting money on a high end studio microphone, you should check out the prices of some of the components in some of the other hobbies I am into, makes all this cb radio stuff we use belong in a dollar general...........

 

[Mudfoot]

It's only money, you either have it or don't.

 

[Mudduckmobile]

From what I have heard like you Crazy D is that the kenwood 480hx sounds good on am and can do 200 watts pep. 50 watt carrier. SSB they are great radios and I have heard my share on SSB. Not any on AM though. I was DX'ing last night and got on AM, spoke to a gent in TN, and he said I sounded great on my Icom 746 doing about 20 watts pep per the meter. SSB I was getting compliments left and right last night. Right combo of compression, TX tone, and mic gain with the stock HM12 hand mic does the job for me. Been looking at the 5 band eq for sale on EBay. These to be exact. They say they work well. Might offer him a bit less and try to get one. Here is a pic. I beleive they also make an 8 band eq as well. Just something to mess with some more!! Never can have enough good audio LOL!!

Please go to YOU TUBE: TWiT HAM Nation #227, Bob Heil is one of the hosts of the show, and talks well on Audio, as only he can.

 

[222DBFL]

Oh yes I have watched some of his stuff. Almost got a heil mic for my Icom 746, but it's hard when I get really good reports from the stock HM12 mic and the right compression and mic settings. It took me some time to get it right. Wasn't just s simple deal!! I spent a lot of time fine tuning things. And I get reports all the time on how well my audio sounds. Get asked all the time what I am running!! Anyway, thanks for the link and I'll let you know about the Kenwood ts480hx soon as my local pal just bought one and is waiting for it to get here from NY. So I will know first hand how well the 480 does!!