Ideal EQ Settings

[bassjunkie]

Just looking for some feedback on the ideal EQ settings for a scanner? I mean, I'm sure it will vary based on FM/Digital, even the frequency, but generally the best at removing the most amount of noise and boosting clarity of the voice. I'm sure there are some closet sound engineers hanging around here

Personally, I put a curve peaking at around the 600 mark, but I'm sure there's much better settings

 

[kc2rgw]

You'll get answers all over the map on this one.

Experiment and plainly, just use what your ears tell you sounds good.

I can tell you that there's almost no voice energy above 4kHz or below 200Hz that isn't PL tone, DC hum or high pitched noise.

Anything else you do in between will depend on how all your local systems sound and the equipment in your audio chain. Systems in my area are all so drastically different in sound quality that I never bother with EQ. Actually these 'signatures' they have make it easy for me to identify what system I'm hearing when they talk.

 

[PeterGV]

Soooo much depends on your audio source (different models of scanners have different audio characteristics) and the EQ filters you're using as well (most of them are pretty "sloppy", that is, they're not very "sharp" in their EQ bands).

For my scanner feed, on playback I cut off everything below 300Hz and everything above about 6KHz. Aside from that, there are trade-offs to be made between enhancing intelligibility and making the audio "pleasant" to listen to. For example, in ham radio SSB HF, we often peak the 2K band to create bright-sounding, clear, and penetrating audio... but it's not something I'd like to listen to for an extended period of time.

Peter
K1PGV