[Elecraft] Microphone for K2

[JEAN-FRANCOIS MENARD]

Could you tell us what you found in the MH-2 ??? 

On Thursday, September 02, 2004, at 09:46AM, <redmen1969 at optonline.net> wrote:

>I had the occassion to take apart the hand held mic that Elecraft carries (MH-2?) and was really shocked at what I found inside.
>
>Now as a mostly CW guy I really don't have a good appreciation of sound quality, but I'm finding this thread very interesting.
>
>Tom
>WB2QDG
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
>Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2004 8:22 pm
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Microphone for K2
>
>> I must not have been clear. it is not "another option" -- it's 
>> precisely the 
>> Plantronics headset I noted I had seen at Fry's Electronics. So 
>> everything 
>> that applies to making a cell phone headset work applies equally 
>> to 
>> making the PC headset work.  
>> 
>> The point is that these headsets differ only in 1) the quality of 
>> the headset 
>> and mic elements; 2) Physical comfort; 3) the connector(s) on the 
>> end. All 
>> of the Plantronics headsets have noise cancelling mics. Bill, 
>> NY9H, has 
>> observed that these capsules (and the capsules used in the VERY 
>> expensive ham mics) sell for half a dollar or less without the 
>> name of the 
>> very expensive ham mic marketing company on them. 
>> 
>> Another point. Plantronics is an old line telecommunications 
>> company. 
>> The "Altec Lansing" NAME was purchased at least a decade ago, is 
>> applied to cheap junk from the far east, and sold. There is no 
>> connection 
>> (other than this sale of the name) between the company using the 
>> name 
>> and the company that MADE the name a household word for high 
>> quality 
>> audio. In spite of its pedigree, I'll bet your headset works a 
>> treat on the K2!  
>> 
>> What can be very tricky to get to work is a headset with an inline 
>> PTT 
>> switch sold to work with a ham talkie. In essence, you have to do 
>> major 
>> surgery on what is a very delicate (and cheap) switch with very 
>> tiny and 
>> delicate wiring to either disable it or rewire it to work with a 
>> radio for which 
>> it was not intended. I  bought one of these new at a hamfest. VERY 
>> bad 
>> idea. 
>> 
>> Jim Brown  K9YC
>> 
>> --Original Message Text---
>> From: G3VVT at aol.com
>> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 19:08:31 EDT
>> 
>> Another option may be to use a PC microphone/headset that are 
>> available in the market 
>> at very low prices. I use an Altec Lansing AHS-201 headset 
>> electret boom microphone 
>> with a single earpiece with my K2. As the headset is terminated in 
>> the standard 2 x 
>> 3.5mm stereo jacks I made up the necessary connectors and a PTT in 
>> a small plastic 
>> box with two leads out for the K2,  8 pin mic connector and a 
>> 3.5mm stereo plug for the 
>> headphone connector. A foot switch could be added if desired for 
>> PTT. The +5V bias 
>> voltage is already available at P1 on the K2 Front Panel board. 
>> All it takes is a suitable 
>> resistor to provide the bias voltage needed from the +5V on P1 pin 
>> 6 to the designated 
>> AF pin or pin 1 on the K2/KSB2 side. There is already a 2.2uF 
>> isolating capacitor, C34 
>> on the KSB2 I/P, so no other isolation is required with the 
>> standard K2/KSB2. The bias 
>> voltage needed for the Altec Lansing AHS-201 does not seem 
>> critical. I used a single 
>> AA 1.5V dry cell in tests and with that was able to overdrive the 
>> K2 in the microphone 
>> high setting.
>> 
>> An added advantage with this particular headset is the microphone 
>> is noise cancelling 
>> for use in noisy situations and the earpiece seems to work well 
>> with the K2 giving a 
>> good RX audio level. I had built the setup originally to use with 
>> a Yaesu VHF/UHF 
>> mobile and it was pleasing to find that it worked very well with 
>> the K2. Trying it out was 
>> easy as I already used the Yaesu standard for the K2 8 pin 
>> microphone connector. The 
>> Altec Lansing AHS-201 should be retailed from about $10 in the 
>> USA. The obsolete 
>> AHS-15 should also work well at an even cheaper price if still 
>> available. 
>> Bob, G3VVT
>> K2 #4168
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>
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-- 

Jean-François Ménard, VA2VYZ
va2vyz at rac.ca

Club des Astronomes Amateurs de Sherbrooke
Club Radio Amateur de l'Estrie
 
http://homepage.mac.com/jfmenard

--