[ARC5] T-17 Metal 1942 or Plastic 1944 for 1949 GRC-9?

[Clare Owens]

There was a longish discussion of the T-17 variants and getting them to
work again on one of these Old Military Stuff lists a couple of years ago.
I'll see what I have but a short version goes like this:

The Gov't apparently did not much care what went into the T-17 mics as long
as they looked pretty much the same and all worked the same.  OK, I suppose
it was more formal than that, but the end result was what we see now.  As
was mentioned, some were metal, some plastic.  Some had replaceable carbon
mic elements of one size and others of other size(s).  There was at least
one where the mic was integral with the body and just comes to pieces
during disassembly.  Old Western Electric phone carbon mics will work in
some models as I recall but at least some will require material removal to
make room.  I read that some hams just fastened the W-E mics on the face of
the T-17 body and threw away the black face plate - yuck!  I used some of
the N1 mic elements from the old phone operator boom mic headsets to repair
two T-17s and since they are quite a bit smaller than the original mic
elements that was pretty easy.  I did one with an old telephone mic and had
to do minor surgery to the T-17 body with my Dremel tool.  All three seem
to work fine now.  But as they say, YMMV.

Clare



On Tue, Sep 13, 2016 at 3:41 PM, Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

>    I must admit that I never knew before that there were two versions of
> this familiar microphone.  I can understand that as metal become more
> precious designs to conserve it became more common. For instance the
> notorious celluloid labels on Lionel J-36 keys. My one and only T-17 barely
> works. Noisy and the cord has rotted badly.  I opened it recently to see if
> I could repair it and decided just to leave it as an artifact.  I have an
> RS-38A carbon mic which is mint and works like new. I suppose mostly a
> difference in storage but I have no idea of the actual age or provenance of
> either one.  I can't even remember where I bought them now although it was
> undoubtedly in some local surplus store. My T-17 was built by Shure. I
> don't have it handy so can't look for a contract number on it. I think its
> a metal case version. I will look later and post something.
>     I also recommend keeping both.
>
> On 9/13/2016 12:02 PM, Dennis DuValll via ARC5 wrote:
>
>> Keep both….  Always good to have a spare.
>>
>> Dennis D.  W7QHO
>> Glendale, CA
>>
>> ****************
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 13, 2016, at 9:26 AM, Don Merz via ARC5 <arc5 at mailman.qth.net
>>> <mailto:arc5 at mailman.qth.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I want to add a T-17 to my GRC-9 radio. I have 2 good ones--as noted
>>> above a metal 1942-contract and a plastic 1944 contract. Is there any
>>> reason to care which one I keep?
>>>
>>> 73 de N3RH Don Merz
>>>
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> --
> Richard Knoppow
> 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
> WB6KBL
>
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