Good deal. As far as the mic goes, get an Icom SM30 desk mic or similar. Pretty much same mic as the HM36 but in a desk mic form. Most any electrec condensor Icom mic wired for 8 pin will work. And yes the phantom mic is small!! More for a walkie talkie if you know what I mean. You can make the stock mic work a bit better by drilling the mic hole out a bit and also by pulling the sticker that says phantom or something on it. The one on the front. This opens up some holes in the mic allowing for your voice to enter the mic a bit better IMO.
As far as other mics, like I said, most any good Icom desk mic is going to sound good with it as long as it an electrec condensor mic wired for 8 pin Icom radio. At any rate glad to get some more feedback about these radios with all the new stuff coming out, they actually are one of the top dogs IMO! Especially for SSB use. And yes the filter is awesome. If you get a good eternal speaker you can crank the volume up and not distort the external speaker, as far as using the filter goes, it truly does work well and cuts a lot of crap out and yes it understand what you're saying about the quality of the sound. It makes a difference in the received signal and cleans it up for sure. At any rate, just some food for though on the stock mic. The mods shown below worked well for me and seemed to help with the audio. And it doesn't have bad audio out of the stock mic, it's just the darn thing is made for a 3yr old LOL!! Even Yeti Comm LTD. stated that he argued about the mic with the actual producer of the radio. Most end up getting aftermarket mics anyway is what is funny. Even with other radios. Only couple radios I have ever used the stock mic on were a Uniden pc68, magnum 257hp, and the older cobra coffin mic. The rest of my mics were all bought without radios and I've a few. All mobile hand held mics. At any rate, check out the Icom line of mics for that radio. Someone ordered an SM30 desk mic I think or was talking about it. I am pretty sure like I said, I think that most of the Icom mics sound good with the radio. I have used an Icom HM36, an HM12, and one of the knock off mics as well as various other mics, and found that the HM36 seemed to work the best. This is the made in Japan one. I just saved a search for them on eBay and when a used one popped up I got a message and bid on it to win it. No one else even bid on it TBH. I got very lucky, and I only spent about $27 or so shipped for it and it works great.
All the Mumbo Jumbo aside. Save your money up and get a good desk mic if that is what you want!! Or try to find an HM36 made in Japan mic. I'd venture to say someone here may have one they will part with. Not me, but maybe someone else. Or like I said, save up and get a good Icom desk mic like the SM-30. Even Eham reviews give it a 4.9 out of 5, and that is with a few reviews anyways. Yes they are a bit expensive, but you're getting a good mic for sure from the looks and reviews. I might save up and get one now looking more at them. Wouldn't mind trying one on my Icom 746. At any rate, enjoy that radio and try the mods I mentioned. You can always place the sticker back if you feel it doesn't do anything. Drilling the mic hole is about a must IMO. Hard to see the pin hole!!
