[Kenwood] Re: Personal Opinion on mikes

[Fred Adsit]

All the hype about Heil mics. Look. He is an expert. Both my mic elements
can "cut sheet steel", but never has anyone but a wide-bandwidth AM
operator complained about my audio, and that is adding speech processing
to "level" the already shrill Heil output. It gets through.

I had a D-104 crystal mic and a Shure 444 magnetic mic in the old days and
loved both, but they must be matched to work with modern rigs and they
also sat on my desktop, and I prefer a headset, keeping the desk clear.

I am not sure I really am in love with Heil's wideband Gold microphone - a
signal that wide does not belong in 3KHz of allowable bandwidth, not in my
opinion. I work CW, and voice when I have to, basically. We are all
different. But if Mr. Heil gets nasty, you can bet somebody got his goat
by their attitude toward him from the get-go. You dish it out and sure, he
will dish it back if you have a chip on your shoulder or if you tell him
he makes junk, which he doesn't.

I have followed this man's mic design efforts from the time he appeared in
the ham radio market - my earphone/mic headset is one of the early ones,
still working great. Likewise the desk mic which is on a boom now, and has
a HM5/4 selector switch. No problems with anything but needing foam
earpiece replacements now and then. I use ones from Radio Shack.

I don't think I am wrong when I say that Ten-Tec was created by the owners
of Electro-Voice. I have had many Ten-Tec rigs in my day. I had one of
their cute little mics too. And nobody could hear me worth a hoot - I do
not have a decent antenna system and nor any outboard amplifier. Just the
5-100W rig.

Point is, I had to get a D-104 with mods for the Ten-Tec input to get out
well at all. I used the 104's cheapo "CB" processor to boost my signal as
well. THAT was a great mic arrangement at the time. Problem is, the old
mics are and were big and clumsy. The arrival of Heil boom mics and
headset/swing-arm mics was the beginning of a new era for me. They are not
made to sound like a broadcast station signal. They have SUPER
articulation, and if it bothers you or sounds like it is coming through a
cardboard tube, tough darts. Maybe it is your ears, or your desire to hear
everything but broadcast stereo. For that, tune to FM and have fun.

I moved radiograms on voice for decades using my Heil mics. Those require
highly copiable audio. Not one traffic op complained or asked for fills. I
have listened to my own audio on a separate receiver. I know what I sound
like, with and without the rig's compressor... and IMO, it is magic. As
for getting a mic with the elements installed badly, anybody can make a
mistake. I have had four ICOM VHF and Kenwood HF rigs with the mic
elements installed backwards in the hand mic cases. .. always wondered why
the dumb things had to be shouted into.

Time to get off my soapbox. Takes a lot to get me onto one.

73, Fred NY2V