It seems that the HM-151 microphone shipped with the IC-7000 has inadequate audio output level. It also has too much bass response. They used a very small condenser element which doesn't even fit into the silicone keypad mount for it inside the mic.

To make it function on SSB, you have to use the compressor as an additional preamp and cut the low frequencies with the DSP (TBW control). Without the compressor turned on, it is almost impossible to get full modulation and output level.

On FM there is no work-around. Even at 100% mic level setting, the on-air audio is just plain low. It seems that the radio's internal software makes it difficult to modulate over about 4KHZ deviation. Add that to low microphone drive level and you have very low over-all modulation on FM.

Being a modern firmware-run radio, there is no simple electronic audio adjustment inside the radio. How and why this happened is not important. How to fix it - that's our goal here.

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Bob Nagy - AB5N - 121 Rainwood Ter. Pearcy, AR. 71964