Sloppy talk

[Paul Stewart]

Do ya ever get frustrated with those on VHF/UHF FM with low modulation and then they mumble their words too? Well I do. More than anything I want to learn from all the HAMS I come in contact with, but I get tired when they are low volume and they mumble.

Now I know my hearing ain't what it once was but I can hear well articulated speech. Help us old guys, please speak strongly and clearly [especially when identifying] so we don't have to ask for a repeat or just give up.

Thank you

KE0TFX

[NN5I]

... and then they mumble their words too ... they are low volume and they mumble ... I know my hearing ain't what it once was but I can hear well articulated speech ...

Forgive me, Paul, but it's a bad rap.

I too have lost much (nearly all!) of my hearing with advanced years. But by modifying the frequency response of my receivers, by using headphones, by wearing hearing aids, and/or by turning the darned thing up loud enough to break car windows, I can usually hear the other guy when I want to. If I can't, it's not his fault for assuming I'll hear speech the same way, and as easily, as do people with normal ears. It's right and natural for him to assume I can hear -- most people he talks to hear much better than I ever will again, and the fix is not for him to shout. If he has to shout, where's his fun in talking to me?

Besides, if it's a round-table QSO and he shouts for me, he'll make himself unpopular with everyone else.

No fair.

[Paul Stewart]

Very good point, thank you.

But please, his shouting my not help as you pointed out. I'm just asking for deliberate diction and enunciation. And yes I accept that can be difficult for some, but many including myself can get lazy----especially when identifying our stations (we do it so often) that we run the letters and number close together in such a way it is unintelligible. Speaking very fast especially when using phonetic characters makes de-coding difficult. My request is that we all remember communicating is the goal.

Thank you

KE0TFX

[NN5I]

Yes, you are right -- clear and correct enunciation always helps.

Many, however, are simply incapable; they might benefit from a good speech therapist, but most of them are blissfully unaware that they talk badly. I occasionally hear a ham, for example, who gives his callsign with a suffix that is approximately "appity" or maybe "appidy". I conjecture that his callsign suffix is either "ipd" or "apd", or maybe "ipt" or "apt". No way to know for sure. He speaks generally with a strong regional accent that I think is rural South Georgia or maybe rural Northeast Florida. Perhaps he is an example of the following definition from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary:

Low-bred, adj.
"Raised" instead of brought up.

But maybe, if he talked more like William F. Buckley Jr and less like his family [I make an assumption, of course], his local friends would have the same trouble, figuring out what he said, that I have when I hear him now. So why should he change? If I want to understand, it's my responsibility to listen up as well as I can, or augment my equipment -- probably both.

[Paul Stewart]

Good observation. Thanks again.

Mostly I Post to try and get some interest in this blog. There are so many things to talk about Carl yet there is so little activity here. I'm disappointed with this nice blog and such little usage.

Paul

[N4MU Papi]

Yes, I agree to a point that many amateurs do not seem to be "loud". To date, no one has mentioned that their seemingly low audio might be that their radios are set up for narrow band instead of wide band. Most ops don't know the difference or that they may be using narrow.
If your radio is expecting wide band (it should be in all but a very few locations) and they are using narrow band, they will seem quieter than another station using wide band. Read about "deviation" in FM.
We have a daily 2 meter net here at the RV park I live in and you'd be surprised at how many ops have no clue that they are transmitting narrow band and then are wondering why so many wide band listeners complain that they "aren't talking loud enough".

[NN5I]

Hmmm -- that conjecture about narrow FM is possible, I suppose -- but it would be a difference of only 6.02 db, noticeable in an A-B comparison but not nearly enough to impede understanding. Forgive me for doubting.