carrier setting should have nothing to do with SSB at all unless for some 
reason the radio's backward and carrier actually adjusts mic gain? a jump in 
mic gain like you referred to should be noticed.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 8:32 PM
Subject: Re: some question on TS590 carrier settings and meter function 
switch


>    Steve:
>
> Originally, when I was alerted to the problem, my carrier level was set at
> 25, and my mic gain was set at 50.  I then put my mic gain up to 80, which
> is quite high, in my oppinion), but left the carrier at 25.  My audio 
> still
> sounded a bit light according to some reports I was getting.  Steve (KW3A)
> and I then worked together a bit, and I took the mic gain down to 68, and
> raised my carrier to 50, and he said I sounded much better.  So, I think 
> the
> carrier level might make at least some difference.
>
> But, you are correct;  I ultimately need to adjust things most accurately 
> to
> match my voice characteristics, which I will work on in the coming days.
>
> 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 7:03 PM
> Subject: Re: some question on TS590 carrier settings and meter function
> switch
>
>
>> Tom,
>>
>> It's probably more useful to look at your ALC reading and adjust your mic
>> gain accordingly.  Even though you and Steve may be using identical mics,
>> your voice characteristics and the volume with which you speak into the
>> mic
>> may require that your mic gain be set differently.  Don't get me wrong; 
>> it
>> doesn't hurt to use the settings as a starting point, but they don't
>> represent the final word.
>>
>> I don't believe that the Carrier adjustment has any meaning in SSB since
>> your carrier is suppressed anyway in that mode.  As far as I know, that
>> adjustment is primarily intended for AM, where you want to run your
>> carrier
>> level at about 50.  If you run it higher than that, you'll run out of 
>> head
>> room, which will ultimately result in lower audio levels.  Run it lower,
>> and
>> you'll have too little carrier with respect to your audio, which will
>> cause
>> you to sound like you're running double sideband, carrier suppressed.  In
>> other words, people will hear distortion if they're listening in AM mode.
>>
>> A long press of the meter switch redirects the driver output of your
>> transceiver from the finals to one of the RCA jacks on the back of the
>> radio.  This mode is intended for use with a transverter where you need a
>> low power signal (5 watts or less) for the transverter input.  Of course,
>> in
>> this mode, your power output from the finals is 0, hence the reading on
>> your
>> power meter.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 17:28
>> Subject: some question on TS590 carrier settings and meter function 
>> switch
>>
>>
>>> Hi, everyone.
>>>
>>> Today, I was late for the cross-country blind ops net, but did have a
>>> nice
>>> chat afterwords on 14.258 with Steve (KW3A) and Bob (WA0KZB).  Hope I 
>>> got
>>> your call right, Bob.  (grin)
>>>
>>> Anyway, Steve indicated that I sounded a bit light, so I did some
>>> re-adjusting of carrier and mic gain settings so that now, for SSB, my
>>> carrier setting is 50, and my mic gain setting is 68.  These are close
>>> to,
>>> if not identical to, the settings Steve uses for his Heil mic, and since
>>> I
>>> too have a Heil GM5 mic, I thought I'd replicate those settings.
>>>
>>> When I did some testing, my ALC meter said "over" several times, but 
>>> when
>>> I
>>> backed off from the mic a bit, the readings ran between 12 and 14.
>>>
>>> So, I think I'm clost to being in the ball park here.
>>>
>>> Do these settings sound reasonable?
>>>
>>> My next questions are these:  1.  can you vary the carrier settings by
>>> mode?;  and 2.  What's a reasonable carrier setting for CW mode?  And, ?
>>>
>>> Finally, I made one other interesting discovery here:  If I press the
>>> meter
>>> function button longer than usual, I seem to go into a mode where the
>>> carrier function does not read out any longer.  In other words, I get
>>> "a0"
>>> no matter what I do.  Does anyone know what this extra function of the
>>> meter
>>> function button is?
>>>
>>> I thought I'd ask these questions here, rather than posting them to the
>>> TS590 list, where folks might not totally understand what we have to go
>>> through to make things work correctly sometimes.
>>>
>>> 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>>>
>>