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Hotwire
Intermediate Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 127
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 11:24 am: | 
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I want to find a good desk mic for my Connex 4800 using it as a base. Any suggestions? |
Bburck
New member
Username: Bburck
Post Number: 9
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 1:04 pm: |
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With out a doubt, go with the tried and true, Astatic D-104 Power mic. You will not be disappointed. Just MHO
Brian in Augusta, GA
Home of the Masters |
Bc910
Intermediate Member
Username: Bc910
Post Number: 357
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 1:05 pm: |
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Silver eagle man!
What else?
BC |
Hotwire
Intermediate Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 130
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 9:54 am: |
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I have a D104 and it sounds ok just doesnt have the sound I'm looking for. Its so loud if I even breathe on the gain it starts over modulating.. So i keep it all the way down. Looking for something that cancels noise but still has that base sound. The D104 has a high pitch to it. I'll look into a Silver Eagle.Do they come unamplified? |
Pig040
Advanced Member
Username: Pig040
Post Number: 713
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 11:29 am: |
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Hey Hotwire,
I mentioned in another post a lot of d 104 heads sound different, try another head on the mic, they did make unamplified d 104's. Try the mic turned half way, and control it with the radio mic gain, that usually makes the backround reasonable.
Rich |
Racer_x
Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 53
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 1:12 pm: |
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I know everyone loves how D104s look, but I like compression mics like a Turner +3 because they increase average modulation. |
Skilletlicker
Intermediate Member
Username: Skilletlicker
Post Number: 184
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 3:04 pm: |
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to me the best mic is the turner plus rhree on the base and the hand held dio4 on the mobile
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Beantown
Junior Member
Username: Beantown
Post Number: 46
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 12:52 am: |
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I hava a Kenwood MC-60a on my base and a Astatic Night K eagle as a back up. Seems that my 2995dx prefers the Kenwood from the audio reports I get! As far as a Mobile I use a Astatic 575m-6, after using that mic you couldn't give me a 104 hand mic! Why they quit making the 575m-6 is beyond me. Flame suit on about the comments on the 104 hand mic! ;)
See ya,
beantown |
Racer_x
Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 60
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 11:53 am: |
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I love my MC-60A. I use it unamplified and it's got a great sound. There are very few microphones that I've used that don't sound good when used properly, but the MC-60A is better than most and I find myself using it more than most. |
Bob_p
Advanced Member
Username: Bob_p
Post Number: 697
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 8:32 pm: |
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Racer_x
Have you compared the Kenwood to a Heil GM-5?
I've been thinking about buying one, but every one has told me the Heil was the mic to go with.
I was running a Turner +3 on my TS 480HX, but was told the audio was better with the Heil, not as loud, but a more pleasant sound to listen to.
Thanks in advance
Bob |
Wendy
Member
Username: Wendy
Post Number: 96
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 9:32 pm: |
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Hi,
Can you use a Heil mic with an Rci Base? |
Tech808
Moderator
Username: Tech808
Post Number: 5049
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 12:18 am: |
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Wendy,
Yes, it can be used with the RCI Base Radios.
Sorry but I do not have the Mic wiring to do it but I am sure someone on the forum here will be able to help.
Lon
Tech808
CEF808
N9OSN |
Racer_x
Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 63
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 8:49 am: |
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Bob_p - I've never used a Heil microphone. I understand that they are very good microphones for communications. Several months ago I wanted to try a Heil element retrofitted in an old Turner microphone with a bad element, but they weren't selling them separately at that time because of a production problem. Now I don't have the extra cash to spend on it, so it'll be a while until I do.
If you've got another radio why don't you tape yourself saying the same thing with both microphones and listen for yourself? I do it all the time to listen to the differences of the various microphones I own. |
Pig040
Advanced Member
Username: Pig040
Post Number: 714
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 10:36 am: |
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Bob,
I used to have the M60A, nice mic, especially if you can run it without the power, tried the Heil, love it, mine is the gold line with the 4 and 5 cartridge, it works great on my KW 850
RIch |
Jon666
Intermediate Member
Username: Jon666
Post Number: 335
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 3:12 pm: |
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i here rumor astatic is relesing
a new astatic base mic soon
jon |
Bob_p
Advanced Member
Username: Bob_p
Post Number: 698
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 4:30 pm: |
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Racer X I have tried to us my 10 meter rig and monitor the audio, but it sounds like the radio is under water. I've been told by others to do the same thing, and I've turned the power down to 5 watts (as low as the Kenwood will go) and it still doesn't sound right. There's no feed back, but it just sounds like a broken radio.
The Kenwood has a digital recorder built into it so you can make a recording of yourself calling CQ for three of your favorite bands. But I was told that it really doesn't show you what the radio actually sounds like when you play the recording back. The Kenwood also has a TX monitor, and again I was told it really doesn't represent what the radio sounds like on the air. I guess you can tell if your over driving the radio, but that's about it. Because I tried the Heil on the wide setting (HI-FI studio setting) and it sounded real bassey and hard to understand on play back. But I was talking to someone and switched it over to the Studio setting and they said it sounded great.
By the way I saw the Heil elements on an auction site and they where under $25.00 each. And Heil has made a conversion kit for the D-104. I don't know if it has anything more than a HC-4 or 5 designed to fit into the D-104 head, but it wasn't very expensive. It would be nice if it came with the instructions and resistors to drop the impedance to 600 ohms for the newer radios too, but that's probably not the case.
Thanks and good luck on the Heil Turner combo, I bet it'll sound great.
Bob |
Racer_x
Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 65
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 6:59 pm: |
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Forgot about the transmit equalization of the TS480. I'd turn all of that off for microphone comparisons. Of course you could use the same method to see how the equalization changes the transmit audio.
I always transmit into my paint can dummy load and use a little back of the set antenna for the receiving radio and adjust the RF gain until it's 1/2 scale or lower. I also usually use both AM and SSB just to see if there is a difference.
You could also try the Kenwood over the air and connect the dummy load to the receiving radio, but that might not give enough signal if the dummy load and coax are well made. Besides, I always thought over the air radio checks were rather impolite so I prefer to transmit into the dummy load.
BTW - That's also how I adjust the frequency of my CBs. After a good warm up period I get my Kenwood dead on frequency by syncronizing it with the WWV signal, switch to the dummy load, whistle into the Kenwood's microphone while listening to the other radio on headphones. Then I zero beat the whistle tone. It's easier and more accurate than a frequency counter. |
Bob_p
Advanced Member
Username: Bob_p
Post Number: 699
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 11:44 pm: |
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Thanks Rich
Glad to hear you like the Heil. The one thing that bothers me about the Heil microphones is that you have to turn the mic-gain way up to get any punch out of it at all (at least on my radio). Then it still will not drive the radio the way the Turner +3 does, thats way I've been thinking about the MC-60.
Before I bought the GM-5 I called Kenwood and asked their tech support what the best sounding microphone for the TS-480 would be, and they said to try the Heil GM-5 right off the bat. But after having the HM-5 I just wasn’t sure. It also seems strange that Kenwood would recommend a Heil rather than their own microphone. Particularly since I’ve heard so many good things about the MC-60. I was wondering if the powered mic, might have a little more punch than the Heil, and if the sound of one or the other is better.
Thanks again
Bob
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Bob_p
Advanced Member
Username: Bob_p
Post Number: 700
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 02, 2005 - 12:09 am: |
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Racer_x
I know what your saying about asking for radio checks and particuarly when it comes to working on an audio quality issue (that is pretty rude).
I havent tried the dummy load approach through the other radio yet, that sounds like it might do the trick. I have spent hours playing with the EQ through the dummy load on the MFJ 949, with the power turned down to 5 watts to keep the dummy load from burning up. The EQ in the 480, really is amazing if you use the ARCP-480 software. The only problem is that it doesn't come with instructions, and I'm no audio pro so I'm not sure what the diffent sliders really do. If I can hear myself using the dummy load approach, I could probably get the radio to sound the way I want it to with any microphone I have. So I'll be working on that tomorrow and let you know how it works out.
If you haven't seen the EQ while the rados hooked up to a pc, I've been working on a web page the last couple of days, and have some pic's.
http://justbearly.net/Ham%20Page/Desktop/desktop.html
Thanks for the advice
Bob
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