BCD396T settings re: Narrowbanding

[whacker]

Since narrowbanding is now the defacto standard, should I be examining the "Modulation" settings for all of my conventional frequencies and setting them to either "Auto" or "NFM", for the slight improvement in audio I might gain? I had gone through a period a while back where I had moved off the "Auto" default to "FM" because some of the old wide channels were overdriving the audio when using "Auto". I also wonder about the "Auto" settings default, as it is (as I understand it) relating to what was the standard for the particular band way before narrowbanding was instituted (as opposed to it actually detecting what is being received and making an optimal adjustment to it). Please correct me if I'm wrong in that assumption. I also realize this is a very minor point as far as any appreciable audio improvement to expect (maybe a little less hiss, etc.).

Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year to all!

 

[ka3jjz]

I think you would need to confirm in your state's forum what has or has not actually migrated. Even though narrowband is now the de-facto standard, it's likely not everyone has moved yet. For those that haven't moved yet, if you set it to NFM, I suspect the audio might be a tad high. In fact, I think it's been mentioned that if you set the wrong mode on freqs using FTO, you might not get an accurate decode.

The AUTO setting sets up default modes for certain ranges - and it might or might not be correct in your area. You can see the listing of modes in the Easier to Read manual. As you say, you might see a bit of improvement if you have to set something up manually that has actually narrowbanded (the audio won't sound so soft).

Mike

 

[whacker]

Thanks for that reply. It's pretty much as I expected, and since it doesn't really affect receive-ability of an active comm I'll just deal with it on a case by case basis. Obviously if more active channels (assigned freqs) get crammed in next to existing ones it'll be pretty apparent what needs to be done.