• 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!

stock mikes

well, time to update my stock mikes elements is the higher the impedance the better response and clearer sound.
Nope. It's about the frequency response range of the element, the cardioide pattern of the element and the microphone.


But more importantly it's about how high you have the mic gain up on the radio than the mic used. The vast majority are just way too high. On my ham gear I rarely have mic gain above 30%. I've received great audio and people asking me what mic I'm using on my President McKinley and they're shocked when I tell them it's the stock mic. I just wind it down 2 bars from max on the mic gain setting. Basically once you've increased mic gain so that on SSB you're getting the maximum power out of the radio anything more than that is just going to introduce distortion and make you hard to understand. It won't actually make you louder. What people say is loudness on received audio is actually distortion.

The other day I was listening to an Italian station trying to call DX. Even though he was 20 over to me I couldn't make out his callsign because all it was was overdriven, over-compressed rubbish and of course he was compounding it by shouting louder when the DX station said he couldn't understand him.

Get a proper peak hold power meter, turn the mic gain down to zero. Key up, start talking, increase the mic gain. When the power meter stops going up that's the point where your mic gain needs to be set.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shadetree Mechanic
Nope. It's about the frequency response range of the element, the cardioide pattern of the element and the microphone.


But more importantly it's about how high you have the mic gain up on the radio than the mic used. The vast majority are just way too high. On my ham gear I rarely have mic gain above 30%. I've received great audio and people asking me what mic I'm using on my President McKinley and they're shocked when I tell them it's the stock mic. I just wind it down 2 bars from max on the mic gain setting. Basically once you've increased mic gain so that on SSB you're getting the maximum power out of the radio anything more than that is just going to introduce distortion and make you hard to understand. It won't actually make you louder. What people say is loudness on received audio is actually distortion.

The other day I was listening to an Italian station trying to call DX. Even though he was 20 over to me I couldn't make out his callsign because all it was was overdriven, over-compressed rubbish and of course he was compounding it by shouting louder when the DX station said he couldn't understand him.

Get a proper peak hold power meter, turn the mic gain down to zero. Key up, start talking, increase the mic gain. When the power meter stops going up that's the point where your mic gain needs to be set.
all my cobra radios have the mod to increase audio by changing resistor or capacitors and it clearly says power mikes will sound bad with this mod it is supposed to make stock mike sound like an amplified mike it's not the radio it's me LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: Switch Kit
I think those electret elements sound damned good ? I believe they have been around for many decades ? Sadeltas , Extremes , echo type mics right ? So I could do this mod to a 148/Grant like the cobra 2000 ? just 8 volt source going through a 4.7k resistor to the audio pin inside the radio ? then adding the cap inside the mic on the electret capsule ? or am I missing something ? .........Would I guess to say radios like the Quad 6 , McKinley's , Strikers have already done this mod in there radios from the get go ? Those darn stock mic's sound damned good on those radios . thanks Switch
 
  • Like
Reactions: Enterprise312ok
i have the UG-8 non amplified i install it in there it's a 4 pin and i use the 5-pin to 4 adapter when using on 2000 gtl so far sounds good
 
  • Like
Reactions: Switch Kit

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.