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Astatic AST-878DM Base Mic
- Thread starter Mr Clean
- Start date
I have one. I was not overly impressed with it. I prefer an old school 1104c myself.
The 1104c was the best mic Astatic made. I currently have six of them.
AmericanEagle575
Supporting Sr. Member WDX-1863
Had one of these and still do, sitting up on the shelf,was not impressed,and replaced it with a Delta M2 ,a much better desk mic in my opinion!
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
The one I got needs a little more bass for AM, but is fine for SSB. The switch is scratchy, and now it sits in pieces on my work bench.....
Have you considered the DELTA M2? It has an AC adapter to eliminate the 9V battery.
AmericanEagle575
Supporting Sr. Member WDX-1863
I can say from Personal experience that the Delta M2 is a much better mic than the astatic 878,better built and better sounding imo,I have one hooked up to my Ranger and I get nothing but great reports from other operators,plus the ac adaptor is a Plus also( I use a 9 volt and got a month out it before I had to replace it!!
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
For $70 on Amazon, it is the cheapest base mic available. With a couple of tweaks, it is a great microphone. I know its a shame to buy something, and then have to work on it. Kind of like MFJ, I guess. But if you can find one used, all the better.
The first fix was the scratchy PTT switch that all the Barjan mics suffer from. No need to replace the switch. A solder blob on the audio pins on the switch keeps them connected all the time which doesn't hurt anything. The audio is switched by turning the mic amp on and off with the PTT, which it already does.
The audio is great for pileup breaking on sideband, but not much else. The solution is to put a capacitor across the audio wire and ground to tame the treble. On my Galaxy DX2547, 0.5 microfarads worked out perfect. Two polarized electrolytic capacitors tied together by the negative leads makes it non polarized. Two capacitors of 1 microfarads each makes 0.5 microfarads total. Your results may vary depending on what radio you use. Experiment by listening to yourself with another radio with no antenna and headphones. This could be put on a switch to change how you sound on the fly.
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The first fix was the scratchy PTT switch that all the Barjan mics suffer from. No need to replace the switch. A solder blob on the audio pins on the switch keeps them connected all the time which doesn't hurt anything. The audio is switched by turning the mic amp on and off with the PTT, which it already does.
The audio is great for pileup breaking on sideband, but not much else. The solution is to put a capacitor across the audio wire and ground to tame the treble. On my Galaxy DX2547, 0.5 microfarads worked out perfect. Two polarized electrolytic capacitors tied together by the negative leads makes it non polarized. Two capacitors of 1 microfarads each makes 0.5 microfarads total. Your results may vary depending on what radio you use. Experiment by listening to yourself with another radio with no antenna and headphones. This could be put on a switch to change how you sound on the fly.
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Hi all question.. I have an astatic 302 ast878dm.. Is there a way to put a condenser element in this? The original electric is dead amp is OK.. Can't seem to find a way to swith the power on to the condenser without it messing with the switching.. Direct power to the battery keeps the condenser powered on after you key up.. Battery died in a week
Thank You
Thank You
AmericanEagle575
Supporting Sr. Member WDX-1863
Just my opinion,but never liked how they used a tiny pot on the bottom for the Mic gain,I wonder if that could be modified to drill a small hole on top and have the variable Mic gain set up like the Turner 2 desk mic has, would be a neat little project to do I bet......
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
Might be able to take the shaft out of the pot and stick it in the top side and drill a hole in the top. Looks like it just snaps in there. I plan on redoing my high cut cap mod, it soaks up a lot of audio power doing it that way. Changing the cap values along the audio circuit is the real way to do it. I just need some confidence in handling the tiny SMD parts.
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
Might be able to put a micro toggle switch sticking out of the top to turn it on and off. I am not sure if there is an extra set of contacts on the ptt switch.
Here my two cents worth on the subject.
My astatic 878dm works great on all my radios but my remedy for squeelng echo mics after all available adjustments cannot solve the problem I have a long strand of copper electric cord with one end tied into a ground source from a multi plug power strip and then connect the other end directly to the the ground (-) side of the mics 9 volt battery and this has always fixed my squeelng problems tho it's mostly been used on handheld echo mics that are notorious for squeeling
My astatic 878dm works great on all my radios but my remedy for squeelng echo mics after all available adjustments cannot solve the problem I have a long strand of copper electric cord with one end tied into a ground source from a multi plug power strip and then connect the other end directly to the the ground (-) side of the mics 9 volt battery and this has always fixed my squeelng problems tho it's mostly been used on handheld echo mics that are notorious for squeeling
Hi ball the ptt are used I trod a couple different things ground switch using a small relay either dosent work or messes up ghee switching very strange
Woimdering about a small Toggle inside the mic under the ptt switch..