Icom: IC- 7300 Question

[KF0AWL]

Ok just received my radio last week and having dealt with factory manuals in the past I ordered the Radio Today guide for setting up and learning the ropes... That being said I'm following the book to set Mic gain and it says to key down and speak on clear freq blah blah blah.... Observe the ALC meter and adjust gain to keep the meter in the (RED) zone. I went all the way to 100 on gain and my voice hardley moved the meter.. (let along the red zone...
Then I noticed not only is the ALC split into a Red and Blue
But under the blue section of the meter is a thin red line 🤔 is the bottom line the one im supposed to worry about and not the big red meter?

 

[prcguy]

Ignore the ALC meter, its a meaningless number. I'm going by memory here but I believe these are the really excellent settings for the 7300. Set mic gain to 50%, TBW wide 100-2900Hz, compression on, level 3. Then go into the menu, set, tone control, tx, SSB, leave bass at 0 and put treble to +4. These settings are for the stock hand mic or the optional SM-30 base mic, but that has a gain control on the bottom that should be adjusted last but the factory setting seems to be ok on a few I've tested.

These settings are loud, punchy and very articulate. They will sound very much like your natural voice but louder. I've done a lot of testing with the 7300 into a spectrum analyzer and with friends close by using receivers with spectral displays. Its nearly impossible to make the radio do anything bad on transmit, no splatter, no going out of bounds on TX bandwidth, the radio just keeps getting louder with no problems.

The 7300 with good settings will out talk most any other modern radio made except for the Icom 7610 which sounds nearly identical and maybe the higher end Icom. I you want to use a different mic I have a few settings that are really good for the Heil PR-40 (I would avoid that mic) the PR-781 and the Electro Voice RE-27.

 

[KF0AWL]

Ignore the ALC meter, its a meaningless number. I'm going by memory here but I believe these are the really excellent settings for the 7300. Set mic gain to 50%, TBW wide 100-2900Hz, compression on, level 3. Then go into the menu, set, tone control, tx, SSB, leave bass at 0 and put treble to +4. These settings are for the stock hand mic or the optional SM-30 base mic, but that has a gain control on the bottom that should be adjusted last but the factory setting seems to be ok on a few I've tested.

These settings are loud, punchy and very articulate. They will sound very much like your natural voice but louder. I've done a lot of testing with the 7300 into a spectrum analyzer and with friends close by using receivers with spectral displays. Its nearly impossible to make the radio do anything bad on transmit, no splatter, no going out of bounds on TX bandwidth, the radio just keeps getting louder with no problems.

The 7300 with good settings will out talk most any other modern radio made except for the Icom 7610 which sounds nearly identical and maybe the higher end Icom. I you want to use a different mic I have a few settings that are really good for the Heil PR-40 (I would avoid that mic) the PR-781 and the Electro Voice RE-27.

Thanks for the info. Everything i have experienced so far i absolutely love this rig! Easy operation and easy to follow menus!
Think ill be happy for a long time compared to my 891!

 

[AK9R]

This image from page 3-10 in the Basic manual shows the ALC zone on the meter:

 

[prcguy]

This meter right here is what you ignore. Set up the radio where it sounds like a million $$ and the ALC meter will be well into the red range. But this radio has been thoroughly mapped out over the years and is not like your dad's old Kenwood that will splatter everywhere, it won't do anything bad. Use the suggested TX audio settings, maybe watch the ALC meter freak out but otherwise don't let it control your life.

This image from page 3-10 in the Basic manual shows the ALC zone on the meter:
View attachment 120300

 

[KF0AWL]

This is my first Icom radio, I use kenwood vhf uhf mobile in the shack and mostly Yaesu ht and my other HF rig so I just assumed the manual would be just as hard to follow.
From the responses I have read it looks like Icom might be smarter about manuals.

 

[prcguy]

The 7300 was my first Icom HF rig in many years, I unboxed it and had it running very well without ever opening the instruction book. The radio is the instruction book for almost all functions.

This is my first Icom radio, I use kenwood vhf uhf mobile in the shack and mostly Yaesu ht and my other HF rig so I just assumed the manual would be just as hard to follow.
From the responses I have read it looks like Icom might be smarter about manuals.