[Boatanchors] D-104 for DX-100 crystal or dynamic and what impedance?
Rob Atkinson
ranchorobbo at gmail.com
Mon Mar 13 12:36:20 EDT 2017
You can find D104 heads with xtal elements at hamfests. The original
Astatic element is best. They fail only if the owner is an idiot and
puts the mic in his garage and leaves it there all summer or leaves it
in his car out in the sun all day or something like that. As long as
they stay indoors with A/C they're fine. Look for an unamplified base
but the mic head is all you really need. It's nice to have a way to
test them at the fest. A small solid state audio amp that can run off
a 9 v. battery with a variety of mic. jacks and a headphone output and
pair of headphones is great. You are testing if A. the element is
good and B. if it sounds okay, so you don't wind up with a diaphragm a
CBer poked holes in.
It's worth the trouble. An original unamplified crystal D104 is
probably the best mic ever made for any of the old ham tube AM rigs.
Rob
K5UJ
On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 10:05 AM, Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Unfortunately, the D-104 element is very susceptible to humidity and
> physical shock and they went bad on a regular basis. Astatic stopped making
> replacements years ago.
>
>
> The Kobitone element that worked very well as a replacement, 25LM022, was
> also discontinued a few years ago.
>
>
> Heil supposedly has kits to modify the D-104. However, I cannot find it on
> their website. It is listed on a couple of dealers websites as
> HC51RETROKIT. But, various reviews say that the frequency response is not
> as good as the original cartridges or the Kobitone element.
>
>
> Glen, K9STH Website: http://k9sth.net
>
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