[Elecraft] New Heil HM10 XD Microphone - Poor Design?

[Tony]

All:

I purchased the new Heil HM-10 dual element microphone thinking it would 
perform as well as my old HM-10 which has the HC4 and HC5 mic elements. 
Unfortunately, that's not the case and reason seems to be the way the 
new mic was designed.

The mic elements are at a 45 degree angle and placed much further away 
from the windscreen compared to the old mic. The result is that the new 
mic requires near maximum gain (maximum with some rigs) to set the ALC 
properly, even when you're up close to the mic.

By comparison, the early HM-10 faces it's elements forward and close to 
the windscreen so the mic requires A LOT less gain which results in much 
better overall performance.

The elements on the new HM-10 have individual windscreens as well and 
that seems to add further restriction. The HC4 / HC5 elements on the old 
mic have no additional windscreens.

The good news is that Heil did a great job duplicating the HC4 / HC5 
frequency response so the new elements produce the great articulation 
the old elements are known for. The problem with the new mic (as I see 
it) is it's physical design.

Has anyone else compared the new HM-10 XD to the old HM-10 with their 
K3S or any other transceivers?

Tony -K2MO