• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
  • Click here to find out how to win free radios from Retevis!

Art ZDirect Passive DI box

Sonwatcher

Active Member
Apr 6, 2005
3,413
25
48
Colorado
I was having some problems using my EQ and condensor mic with my Yaesu. The problem was I was sending a line level signal into the radio. The EQ doesn't convert to mic level. Several people told me I had to buy an Ibox from W2IHY to remedy the problem. I did some searching and found this product. It changes from line level to mic level, filters RF, a low pass filter, has up to -40db attenuation, ground lift (to eliminate hum and groundloop noise) and phase shift. I hooked it up and it works great ! :) The Ibox sells for around $79. I spent $22.95 on the Art ZDirect and it worked !

I ran my mic into my preamp, then from my preamp to my EQ. From the EQ into the Art ZDirect then to the Yaesu mic input.

sonwatcher-albums-my-shack-other-meanderings-picture1812-art2.jpg


The output uses an XLR connection. I used a Heil XLR to a Yaesu 8pin cable to the radio.

sonwatcher-albums-my-shack-other-meanderings-picture1813-art1.jpg


They also make one with an XLR input. They have several different products. They are known for their tube preamps.
 

I have a couple of DI boxes that I am going to use to bring sound out of my 10/11 meter radio into my computer.

But the ART unit is far superior to what I have. And for that price, that is a great bang-for-buck deal. Great find!
 
I find the products from W2IHY tend to be a little overstated. Usually there is a much cheaper and equally good alternative to them if someone has a little knowledge of audio circuits and/or a half decent junque box. Note: all my electronic parts etc are junque to me as they are of a higher quality than the junk that the wife thinks they are hence the spelling. :D

Along this same note I too had to solve some levels and balanced/unbalanced issues when trying out a Seinheisser MD-421 with my Kenwood TS-820S. VERY much to my surprise and GREAT delight a few weeks ago I found a few little things stashed away in a Rough-Tote left over from my broadcasting days. It seems that I forgot to separate a few company items from my personal stuff and ended up with some products from Radio Design Labs. :oops: I found four STA-1's and two STM-2's hiding in the bottom as well as several Hammond 804, 812, 842 and 850 series matching transformers along with three Altec Lansing 1588B preamps. Balanced, unbalanced, high Z , low Z, high level, low level problems are no longer an issue for me with either the radio or computer interfacing. :D

Sorry to bragg but, man, what a find! (Look up the prices and you will know what I mean) ;)

http://www.rdlnet.com/pdf/Data_Sheets/sta-1.pdf


http://www.rdlnet.com/pdf/Data_Sheets/stm-2.pdf


http://www.altecpro.com/pdfs/vintag.../signalProcessing/1588B Signal Processing.pdf
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    EVAN/Crawdad :love: ...runna pile-up on 6m SSB(y) W4AXW in the air
    +1
  • @ Crawdad:
    One of the few times my tiny station gets heard on 6m!:D
  • @ Galanary:
    anyone out here familiar with the Icom IC-7300 mods
  • @ Crawdad:
    7300 very nice radio, what's to hack?