[Milsurplus] SIMPLE Carbon Microphone Substitute.

[Dave Jackson]

Wayne:

 

The ones I’m think about are from the Motrac mobile units and later series .  Do a search for “Motorola Motrac microphone” and you will see several.  They usually had the round 4 pin Amphenol connector although there are some different connectors.  They first came with case metal cases and changed over to plastic.  (I used to work on way radios for the various police and fire departments.  The deputies were disappointed with the plastic cased microphone because they couldn’t whack an unruly suspect and knock him out (or at least get his attention!)

 

The original carbon mics were cast metal and used from about mid-1930s until the Motrac series came out in the 60s.  They are the ones you see in the old police movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s and were used with practically every mobile configuration.

 

The “portable” radios used different microphones and I don’t remember if they were carbon or dynamic.  They likely were because they used the standard 4 pin mic connector and I doubt Motorola would use a configuration the operator could inadvertently grab the wrong mic and put a radio out of commission.

 

At any rate, it is worth a try as they are plentiful and cheap. You  can find boxes full of them at most Ham Fests.   All that could happen is that it wouldn’t work.

 

(p.s.:  The GE microphones were dynamic mics and won’t work.  The key way is offset between the Motorola and GE mics to prevent the operator from using the wrong mic)

 

Dave, WA4OBJ

 

From: hwhall at compuserve.com [mailto:hwhall at compuserve.com] 
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2016 5:07 PM
To: cjack93907 at razzolink.com; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] SIMPLE Carbon Microphone Substitute.

 

>microphone from a Motorola 2-way radio 


I have a couple of Motorola mikes from some sort of portable belt-clipped transmitters, perhaps railroad used items.  Are those similar to what you were thinking of?  Their mike buttons are marked Roanwell RN-1, which is the same as a generic N-1, the button used in those old switchboard operator headsets (think of the Lilly Tomlin telephone operator skit).

Wayne
WB4OGM

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Jackson <cjack93907 at razzolink.com>
To: 'David Stinson' <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>; COURYHOUSE <COURYHOUSE at aol.com>; kgordon2006 <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
Cc: milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sat, May 28, 2016 3:51 pm
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] SIMPLE Carbon Microphone Substitute.

Dave:

Have you considered using a microphone from a Motorola 2-way radio?
Originally they were carbon mics (the old round, cast microphone)in the 30s
- 60s. Motorola converted in the 60's to a dynamic mic element with a
preamp inside. It was interchangeable with the carbon mics.

Not an ideal configuration but maybe a way to start.

Dave J. WA4OBJ

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/milsurplus/attachments/20160528/a535a0e9/attachment.html>