[Elecraft] Heil Handi Mic

[Solosko, Robert B (Bob)]

Hello All,

	There seems to be differing opinions about whether the Heil HM-4
and HM-5 provide enough output to properly drive the K2. Looking through
the HRO catalog, I found that Heil now has several electret mikes
(HM-iC, iCM, etc.) which they say gives higher output, but they also say
these work only for ICOM radios... Does anyone have experience with
these mikes? Do they solve the low drive problem for the K2?... And why
are they "only for ICOM radios"? And one final question: are they likely
to work better than the mike that I'm using that I put together using a
$3 Radio Shack electret replacement element (plenty of drive, but
mediocre audio reports)?

	Thanks.

Bob W1SRB

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ron D'Eau Claire
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 6:54 PM
To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Heil Handi Mic

Mike AI4NS wrote:

 I am using the Heil HM-5, and the audio is just fine according to
reports.
I didn't have to do anything special. I set SSb A menu to 2, and SSbB
menu to 3-1, And it works well for my voice.
Just another option.

---------------------

Excellent point Mike! The SSb A menu will switch in about 10 dB of
attenuation if it's set to 1! That's useful when an external mic preamp
to over-driving the K2 but will keep many mics from properly driving the
rig when connected without a preamp. 

Even so, I've noticed that several mics won't drive the K2 properly on
10 meters (where the TX gain is lowest) especially if I use any
compression.
That seems to be the experience of a great many operators. I use an
electret element that has an output of about -64 dB. It works FB once I
changed R14 to 5.6K. 

I considered an external preamp, but it seemed to me more efficient to
reduce the unnecessary loss at the mic input rather than add external
active components to make up for it.

Ron AC7AC  


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