[Elecraft] My KX3 desk microphone project

[dyarnes]

Gary and all,

Whoa! Gary!  Don’t get your knickers in a knot.  Jim was NOT making a “personal statement”, as you suggest.  He was, however, making a definitive comment based on knowledge and experience.  That’s all!  It would make no sense for him to make some “wishy-washy” critique of your effort when he knows you are heading off in the wrong direction.  That could be just as confusing.  Of all the people on this reflector, Jim is possibly the most qualified to opine on your effort.  Apparently some of what you were trying to accomplish, and suggesting to others, could be seriously misleading as to the actual result!  I wouldn’t have known any better, nor would a lot of others, but Jim does, and said so.  In effect, all he said is “you are wrong”, but he certainly did not do so in terminology to which you should take offense.  

I suspect what may have hurt your feelings was just learning that what you thought was a good idea really wasn’t!  Heck, we’ve all done that, and me probably more than others.  Just be grateful that someone was around, who has appropriate expertise, to prevent your error from becoming an even bigger one!  

If you are happy with your direction, that’s fine.  However, if what you suggest is inconsistent with the physics of the process, folks need to know that as well.  That’s a big part of the “beauty” of this reflector.  There is a lot of real expertise out there, and I benefit from it regularly.  However, if I say something, and I’m on thin ice in doing so, I need to be prepared to be called on it.  I don’t want to go down a road that has a dead end, and I certainly don’t want to lead others down that same road!  All too often folks tend to take what they read as “gospel” and run with it, so oversight is critical!  If we didn’t have people like Jim Brown participating on this reflector I wouldn’t learn much, and I’d probably be off beating my head against the wall on a regular basis!

Overall, I think you have a very nice project in process.  “Rolling your own” microphone is a good thing, and can be very satisfying as a project.  I’ve had a lot of fun doing some of that, and using relatively cheap electret elements to revive old microphone housings, etc.  For a few dollars you can duplicate, if not improve on, the results you would get from expensive commercial alternatives.  

Dave W7AQK