Local Ham Told To “Turn Up The Mic Gain”

By WBØRUR, on the scene

BILLINGSFIELD, Fla. — Local ham radio operator Stephen Blakely is confused and concerned over the purchase of a new microphone.

“I’ve not been able to make any contacts on the local repeater since I bought my mobile headset,” says Blakely.

The headset – which looks great, fits comfortably and has a frequency response from 30 Hz to 19,000 Hz – was purchased from a well-known national retailer of ham radio gear.

Although the high-tech black and chrome unit came with a detailed set of instructions, Blakely failed to read them and discarded the pamphlet with the unit’s packaging.

Now, he’s at a loss about what to do when fellow hams say “Turn up your mic gain!”

The newly licensed ham says the topic of “mic gain” was not covered in his entry-level ham radio class. And due to the headset failure he can’t respond and ask anyone what they are talking about.

Blakely says he’ll continue to listen to the local VHF repeater for now, but may get out of the hobby since it “seems to be very technical.”

### hamhijinks.com

photo credit: Nicolas Alejandro Street Photography via photopin cc