"Transmitter Man" wrote...

The job of an audio processor is to increase the 'average level' level
of audio without changing the waveform.

With all due respect, equine droppings.

Processor is a general term... someone or something that
carries out a process.
For an audio or speech processor, as with any electronic
circuit, the process is whatever the designer decides it is.

A speech or audio processor may be no more than an amplifier... it
carries out a process on the audio you put in. It may be an
amplifier with clipping, which can cause real distortion.
A well known speech processor, sold in the UK and USA (maybe
even around the world), is exactly that - amplify, clip, amplify again.

It should be noted that a simple amplifier does increase the average
level - even if by increasing all levels. What a simple amp does not
do is to alter the dynamic range of the signal.


This can be done at both audio and RF frequencies (RF speech
processors are commonly found in many ham transceivers).

The problem here is that we may see the way things are done at
the top end, where equipment costs a friggin fortune, and
assume that is the standard or the requirement.
Cheaper versions may do the absolute minimum required for
the manufacturer to be able to legally defend the product.

As an example, what would you consider a "regulated" supply to be?
Personally, I would not call something "regulated" unless it has a
way of monitoring the output and compensating for errors. However,
manufacturers have sold "regulated" supplies which are no more than
a rectifier and smoothing.


However, even in the best processors a certain level of
distortion is generated.

Any active circuits will cause some distortion, including those
already built into the radio. Perfect circuits would produce zero
distortion, but there is no such thing as the perfect circuit.


It's down to the designer and the user to keep this to a
minimum.

Not quite.
It is up to the designer to meet the balance between quality and
price set by the company. Their job could range from the minimum
to avoid legal action, through to top of the range products at top
of the range prices.

In some cases, it may even be cheaper to risk legal action than to
correct a problem or recall products.
Which of these would have been better off playing by the rules...
Cadbury (did they get fined?), Channel 5 (fined £300,000 for game
show cheating) and West Ham (fined just a tiny portion of next
season's premiership money).


A *good quality* speech processor will be designed to reduce the dynamic
range of the signal, without overdriving the next stage, while producing
as little distortion as possible.
But do the terms "CB" and "quality" go together?


Yes, a scope is handy but I doubt your typical processor user would
know what to do with one.

Except those in Sheffield... they all have 'scopes on their submarines.
(I can joke about it, I had the sense to live on a hill).


Regards,
Peter.
http://www.citizensband.radiouk.com/