[Elecraft] [K3] Mic Experimentation with Kenwood MC-60

[George A. Thornton]

I have a Kenwood MC-60, I bought it new about a year ago for use with an
older Kenwood 930s.  It has been used lightly and is in good condition.

I just tried it on my K3, it works fine for me with the mic preamp off
and the K3 set for FP L.

I am driving it with mic gain set at about 23, compression high 20's.
Audio sounds fine when I test transmit and use the monitor feature to
hear myself.

During transmit, I am getting strong power out.

This mic has not been modified and the pinouts are as delivered from the
factory.

There is an on-off button on the mic, leave that off.  There seems to be
no difference whether setting the mic for 50 or 500 ohms.  

You do need to speak close to the mic when transmitting, it is designed
for that kind of use.

Maybe there is something wrong with the mic you are using.





-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Phil Hystad
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 8:02 PM
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: [Elecraft] [K3] Mic Experimentation with Kenwood MC-60

So, I asked a question late last night but no responses.  So, either no
one cares or maybe I got lost in the noise.  But, that is OK -- I will
try again.

I am confused and mystified by a mic that I borrowed from a friend to
try out with the K3.  It is a Kenwood MC-60 and I think it is fairly new
and I only have a day or two to play with this so I want to make use of
that time.

I am discovering that I don't understand all there is about microphones
and the K3.  For example, when you use the MENU to set the Mic to
something like FP.L or FP.H, what is the true meaning of the L and H.  I
know that the document says Low gain and High gain but how am I to
interpret this.  Does H mean that the mic has high gain or does it mean
that it needs high gain.

This MC-60 mic has a preamplifier on it and when this amp is off, I have
trouble getting the ALC meter to measure anything.  I do the test of
speaking normally into the mic but with the mic gain set to 60 I have to
either shout or speak VERY CLOSELY to the mic to make the ALC meter move
at all.  This does not seem right.  I get the same behavior whether the
mic setting is FP.L or FP.H.  By the way, Bias is set off as I believe
it should be with a dynamic mic.

Now, I have done some tests on-air with a few friends and they say my
audio sounds OK.  Right now, I have the compression either zero or very
low and I am forgetting which audio report I got with which setting.
But, the compression setting didn't seem to make a whole lot of
difference.

Also, another question --- this mic has a preamp and I am wondering if
there is wisdom in using the preamp versus the mic gain set to a high
value on the K3.

And, lastly -- I checked the history of some discussion on Kenwood mics
and the K3 and I see there is some discussion about the pin wiring of
whether pin 5 is used or pin 6 for something or other.  I was under the
impression that the K3 was using the Kenwood mic wiring so what is this
question on pin 5 versus pin 6?

Yes, when it comes to microphones I do not know very much.  I am about
90 percent CW so I obviously do not care about audio too much but I do
want things to sound OK without over driving the K3.

73, phil, K7PEH


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