I had the occassion to take apart the hand held mic that Elecraft carries (MH-2?) and was really shocked at what I found inside.
Now as a mostly CW guy I really don't have a good appreciation of sound quality, but I'm finding this thread very interesting. Tom WB2QDG ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2004 8:22 pm Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Microphone for K2 > I must not have been clear. it is not "another option" -- it's > precisely the > Plantronics headset I noted I had seen at Fry's Electronics. So > everything > that applies to making a cell phone headset work applies equally > to > making the PC headset work. > > The point is that these headsets differ only in 1) the quality of > the headset > and mic elements; 2) Physical comfort; 3) the connector(s) on the > end. All > of the Plantronics headsets have noise cancelling mics. Bill, > NY9H, has > observed that these capsules (and the capsules used in the VERY > expensive ham mics) sell for half a dollar or less without the > name of the > very expensive ham mic marketing company on them. > > Another point. Plantronics is an old line telecommunications > company. > The "Altec Lansing" NAME was purchased at least a decade ago, is > applied to cheap junk from the far east, and sold. There is no > connection > (other than this sale of the name) between the company using the > name > and the company that MADE the name a household word for high > quality > audio. In spite of its pedigree, I'll bet your headset works a > treat on the K2! > > What can be very tricky to get to work is a headset with an inline > PTT > switch sold to work with a ham talkie. In essence, you have to do > major > surgery on what is a very delicate (and cheap) switch with very > tiny and > delicate wiring to either disable it or rewire it to work with a > radio for which > it was not intended. I bought one of these new at a hamfest. VERY > bad > idea. > > Jim Brown K9YC > > --Original Message Text--- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 19:08:31 EDT > > Another option may be to use a PC microphone/headset that are > available in the market > at very low prices. I use an Altec Lansing AHS-201 headset > electret boom microphone > with a single earpiece with my K2. As the headset is terminated in > the standard 2 x > 3.5mm stereo jacks I made up the necessary connectors and a PTT in > a small plastic > box with two leads out for the K2, 8 pin mic connector and a > 3.5mm stereo plug for the > headphone connector. A foot switch could be added if desired for > PTT. The +5V bias > voltage is already available at P1 on the K2 Front Panel board. > All it takes is a suitable > resistor to provide the bias voltage needed from the +5V on P1 pin > 6 to the designated > AF pin or pin 1 on the K2/KSB2 side. There is already a 2.2uF > isolating capacitor, C34 > on the KSB2 I/P, so no other isolation is required with the > standard K2/KSB2. The bias > voltage needed for the Altec Lansing AHS-201 does not seem > critical. I used a single > AA 1.5V dry cell in tests and with that was able to overdrive the > K2 in the microphone > high setting. > > An added advantage with this particular headset is the microphone > is noise cancelling > for use in noisy situations and the earpiece seems to work well > with the K2 giving a > good RX audio level. I had built the setup originally to use with > a Yaesu VHF/UHF > mobile and it was pleasing to find that it worked very well with > the K2. Trying it out was > easy as I already used the Yaesu standard for the K2 8 pin > microphone connector. The > Altec Lansing AHS-201 should be retailed from about $10 in the > USA. The obsolete > AHS-15 should also work well at an even cheaper price if still > available. > Bob, G3VVT > K2 #4168 > > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
