I will say that before we finally got it all straight, I couldn't hear it. Luckily I have a friend who does a lot of audio work and he was the only one that could hear it out of my usual group. I sent him some audio recordings that I recorded into a dummy load and he ran his analysis software which showed flat tops on some of the peaks and some spikes. When I had it set with enough audio drive to provide 100 watts out it was even worse, and the TX Meter set on MIC showed sporadic spikes that would peg the needle in the red. No matter what I tried those needle spikes where there unless the audio drive was so low I was lucky to get 20 or 30 watts out at 100% on the drive, and the issue was still there just not as pronounced. The analysis software showed the spikes and flat topping. I also tried a couple of different mic's and that didn't change anything.
After scratching my head for a while I remembered something Dudley had told me about turning the Leveler off because it was handled by the rack gear. Well if that's the case why not turn the software mic gain to zero and use the mic gain on the preamp. I did some more recordings and low and behold the artifacts were gone. I set the mic gain on the external preamp to where the TX Meter set on MIC hovers between -2 and 0. The needle is now stable without any of those nasty spikes and my friend can no longer hear the tearing, he ran another analysis on some recordings, other than I was driving it a touch hard, the spikes and flat topping were gone. I don't think it's a software problem, you just can't use mic gain in two places, which kind of makes sense. I have already had one person tell me that's how they run their system and another has tried it and says it worked for them. Rob, W1AEX, who wrote an article on setting up your gain listened to me on AM the other day and recorded it along with a video of his PSDR. Its posted on Youtube at this link http://youtu.be/G-aDcy0z2ds . I dont have any recordings of on air SSB, but everyone tells me it sounds Great. I know Dudley said he was going to try and duplicate this in the lab, and I hope his findings are the same. There are so many variables between systems it may be a tough nut to crack. This has worked for me and at least one other person who e-mailed me direct so I'll post my settings one more time and would like to hear from anyone else using external rack gear. Mic Gain 0 Mixer Bal Line In all the way to the top DSP Phone Buffers 4096 External Mic gain set to bring the TX Meter MIC needle between -2 and 0 That's it, your results may differ .. Thanks Craig W1MSG -----Original Message----- From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of mike Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:41 AM To: supp...@flex-radio.com Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Audio Rack and the 5000 Thanks Dudley. But this has been done many times over the years. I wish I wouldn't have said anything. Many were in denial in the beginning. Some people just don't have the high frequency hearing and they hear it to a lessor or non existent sense. Others are not in to Essb audio and probably don't know what to listen for. So you see....it really is a losing battle. We had a test here on the west coast many years ago where someone rotated transceivers between the 1000 , the 5000 and another transceiver. At the time, I and 4 others picked out the 5000 almost every time. It really is no big deal anymore. I shouldn't have replied to the original email and opened this up again. I just don't want to go down that road again. Mike On 2/11/2012 9:09 PM, FlexRadio Support, Dudley Hurry wrote: > Mike, > > There are a lot of things that can cause slight tearing in the audio. > RF in the analog audio or RF into the digital chain of the computer > can cause what sounds like tearing with just slight RF.. And it is > hard to reproduce in the lab, not all radios/installations have this. > If you have a good procedure that can be reproduced in the lab, > this would be helpful. > > > 73, > Dudley > > WA5QPZ > FlexRadio Systems > > (512) 535-4713, Option 2 > Email: supp...@flexradio.com <mailto:dud...@flex-radio.com> > Web: www.flexradio.com <http://www.flex-radio.com> > > > > Chat > <https://www.crossloop.com/FlexRadioSupport?type=email%22+target%3D%22_blank %22%3E%3Cimg+border%3D%220%22+src%3D%22https://www.crossloop.com/images/badg e-sm-gray.jpg%22+alt=%22Get+help+from+Dudley+%28WA5QPZ&%2341;+Hurry> > > FlexRadio SystemsT > 4616 W Howard Ln Ste 1-150 > Austin, TX 78728 > > logo > /Tune In ExcitementT/ > PowerSDRT is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems > > > > > > On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 9:56 PM, mike <m...@k6zsr.com > <mailto:m...@k6zsr.com>> wrote: > > Well, some people just cannot hear it. But, I guarantee it. You > put it on the air and I will hear it. It is in all of the 5000s' > Sorry about that! > > Mike > > > On 2/11/2012 7:52 PM, William H. Fite wrote: > > Not "we," Mike. I've never experienced that problem with my 5000. > > > On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 11:58 AM, mike <m...@k6zsr.com > <mailto:m...@k6zsr.com> <mailto:m...@k6zsr.com > <mailto:m...@k6zsr.com>>> wrote: > > The tearing of the audio has been noted since the first > production > of the 5000. Flex was aware of the problem from the > beginning and > said they would look into it. They worked on trying to fix this > problem but they never found the cure. This is something > we just > have to live. > > Mike, k6zsr > > On 2/10/2012 10:00 AM, flexradio-requ...@flex-radio.biz > <mailto:flexradio-requ...@flex-radio.biz> > > <mailto:flexradio-requ...@flex-radio.biz > <mailto:flexradio-requ...@flex-radio.biz>> wrote: > > Audio Rack and the 5000 > > > _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
