[Icom] Icom I mike for the Icom rigs

Wed, 13 Mar 2002 09:10:01 -0500

Martin:
I have the same equipment you have, 756Pro,746, Heil
Goldline and Heil HM-i mic.

First, audio quality is truly in the ears of the hearer, it is so
subjective, it takes a long time to develop an ear for this audio quality
stuff.  So here is my opinion and experiences with Icom radios and Heil
mics.

The good news, the Goldline will drive my Pro to full output with mic
control at full gain, I run no compression (Wide No Comp). I had Treble at
+5 Bass at 0, audio sounded good.  The HC-5 and Wide element does not have
enough drive for the 746. Heil used to make an Icom in-line amp (I can not
find this amp on Heil website today) to rectify this low drive issue with
Icom radios.  I purchased this mic amp of his a few years ago an it did not
work well at all.  The audio would break up at random times even when using
a dummy load.  I talked to Bob Heil (the MAN) and he told me that this
distortion problem was apparent on many Icom radios and it was due to Icom's
poor quality control - yes he said this! I returned the mic amp for a refund
and purchased A&A Engineering mic amp/gate/compressor and it worked just
fine with my poor quality 756 (not Pro at that time).  I was using the Heil
head set with the HC-5 element.
Back to your question, I decided to try the HM-i Icom mic.  I copied my eham
review HM-i below.  I will tell you that I have gotten emails from others
saying that have had the same experience with the HM-i and were also
disappointed.  From the other Eham reviews you can see I was in the minority
with this opinion.  I returned the HM-i for a refund as well.

Today I run with the Goldline and a W2IHY 8 band equalizer with the 756Pro
and the audio sounds great.  You might look at the 3 band equalizer from
W2IHY to help drive the 746 or think about using a different mic with the
746.  All this mic amp, equalizer stuff starts to get expensive.
Have fun.
73, Sean - K3XT

My Eham HM-i review:
The HM-i Heil studio type microphone is made only for the Icom radio line.
Excellent fit and finish with dark gray/silver colors. On the mic is a PTT
button and a Narrow/Wide switch. The mic has high output and you will run
the mic gain in the 10 to 12 o'clock range. The audio output is not as good
as Heil's Goldline model. This HM-i mic does not have the upper end
articulation compared to the Goldline mic. Using FM mode the lack of
high-end audio content is very apparent, even with the microphone's Wide
setting. Selecting the Narrow range on the mic produces an unexpected
result. Rather than cutting off the lows (as I would have expected) this
switch setting cuts out even more highs and leaves you with very bassy mushy
sounding audio. Without exception, on air comments favored the Goldline mic
over the HM-i. In SSB mode the HM-i is better sounding than the Icom SM-8
microphone (smoother rounded sound in comparison). Make sure you put the
black foam bootie over the mic or you will get excessive popping/puffing
noises. Radios used were the Icom 756Pro and the Icom 746. The tone controls
in the Icom radios were set for optimum audio quality for each microphone in
the tests. HM-i -- not what I expected.

=================================

----- Original Message -----
From: "martyp" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 1980 10:53 PM
Subject: [Icom] Icom I mike for the Icom rigs

> Hello, I have an Icom 756Pro and a 746 with two Goldlie mikes. I am told
> that the new I-mike series has much better gain, as I have to turn my alc
> up almost all the way to get the proper parameters. Can anyone tell me if
> this new mike has significant more gain than the Goldlines that I allready
> have ? Thanks for the input. Take care and g-d bless and have fun. 73 es
g.b.
>
> Kindest regards,
> Martin Jay Pearlman, W3QK
>
>
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan W6OLD, [email protected]
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