[Elecraft] Mic Options (WAS: Heil handmike discontinued.)

[Bill NY9H]

I go with RON on this one.

After 30 years working ( under contract) with companies
that include Sennheiser, AKG and Shure Brothers, all who 
actually  manufacture microphone elements. They taught me some things.

I have bought a few Sennheiser boom headsets on Ebay... great headphones ,,
and i have some mics for my K2 icoms and tentecs made from
electret elements scrapped from telephones...nortel, panasonic.

ALL electrets  are WAY TOO GOOD for communications audio....
even the one you get at radio shack for $ .99 US. Just stuff it in a gooseneck
and you have a GREAT base station mic.... don't forget the ptt switch...
another $ 1.29.....

  It's Sooo cheap you owe it a try.

bill

>----------------
>
>A typical electret does very well on a K2. Electrets are not necessarily a
>high-impedance element. The impedance the rig "sees" will be the value of
>the dropping resistor used to supply d-c bias to the mic element "hot" side.
>Since the d-c voltage source for the bias is grounded for audio (has large
>capacitors to ground in the circuit), the resistor becomes the audio load
>between the audio line and ground. My electret uses a 1k resistor, so its
>impedance is 1k ohms.
>
>It is true that a high-impedance mic won't normally sound good on a rig
>expecting a fairly low impedance mic, like the K2. Connecting a typical
>high-impedance mic to a low impedance will normally cause the lows to be
>lost, making the mic sound very "bright" or "tinny". Very few such mics are
>still around. Even the venerable "D-104" was updated with an amplifier in
>the base to convert the very high (appx 0.5 megohm) impedance of its crystal
>element to the lower impedance most current Ham rigs want.
>
>My mic is 'homebrew' - using an inexpensive (< $5 USD) electret element
>mounted in a hand mic enclosure that originally contained a cheap dynamic
>element. The electret element has a frequency response far, far greater than
>the K2 needs: from about 30 Hz to about 16 kHz. The transmitted bandwidth is
>controlled entirely by the K2's SSB module filter.
>
>People tell me it sounds excellent on the air.
>
>Ron AC7AC
>
>
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