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D104 mic

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Grant Youngman

Re: D104 mic

I purchased my first one in 1959 with the adapter for a standard mic stand -- couldn't afford the PTT stand in those days, and a DX-40 didn't have PTT anyway. Ultimately I had (and still have) several sitting on the shelf, including the boxed version Astatic sold just before the end of production -- never opened, waiting for a rainy day. The crystal elements will last a long time, too, if you don't leave them sitting out in the sun for the summer, don't store them in a sauna, and don't purchase the one you just saw fall off the tailgate of the pick-up truck onto the pavement :-)

The last radio I regularly used a D-104 (and sometimes 10DA) with was an IC-781. Maybe it's time to wire one of them up for the K3 :-)

Grant/NQ5T

On Jul 11, 2010, at 3:53 PM, Bob W7AVK wrote:

> Tom and Gang - The D104 is a lot older. It was the first product of
> the Astatic Corporation founded in 1934 and made in Youngstown, Ohio.

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Bob Nielsen-2

Re: D104 mic

I have had my D104 since 1953 (used with a Viking II). It fell off
the desk one day and I cringed and and looked inside to see that the
crystal element had become detached. Isent it to Astatic asking them
to give me an estimate for repair. The repaired mike came back by
return mail, no charge. I haven't used it for many years, but
someday....

Bob, N7XY

On Jul 11, 2010, at 2:23 PM, Grant Youngman wrote:

> I purchased my first one in 1959 with the adapter for a standard
> mic stand -- couldn't afford the PTT stand in those days, and a
> DX-40 didn't have PTT anyway. Ultimately I had (and still have)
> several sitting on the shelf, including the boxed version Astatic
> sold just before the end of production -- never opened, waiting for
> a rainy day. The crystal elements will last a long time, too, if
> you don't leave them sitting out in the sun for the summer, don't
> store them in a sauna, and don't purchase the one you just saw fall
> off the tailgate of the pick-up truck onto the pavement :-)
>
> The last radio I regularly used a D-104 (and sometimes 10DA) with
> was an IC-781. Maybe it's time to wire one of them up for the K3 :-)
>
> Grant/NQ5T
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2010, at 3:53 PM, Bob W7AVK wrote:
>
>> Tom and Gang - The D104 is a lot older. It was the first product of
>> the Astatic Corporation founded in 1934 and made in Youngstown, Ohio.
>
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Bob Stevens-2

Re: D104 mic

In reply to this post by Grant Youngman

The cartridge in mine went bad; too much West Texas heat I guess. But it
still looks good :-)

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Grant Youngman
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 9:38 PM
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] D104 mic

I know a lot of people do this. But once done, it's no longer a D-104 --
it's just one more HC-5 in a fancy housing. This is one case where it may
look like a duck, but doesn't necessarily sound like a duck. I recognize
some may consider that a plus :-)

I understand it, but it is a shame that Astatic can no longer economically
manufacture the original cartridge for something this venerable, if not
downright iconic ...

Grant/NQ5T

On Jul 10, 2010, at 10:41 AM, Bob Stevens wrote:

> I forgot to add that the element in the mic conversion is the HC5
>
>
>
> Heil makes a conversion kit for the D-104. I am using it and have had
great
> results.
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Don Wilhelm-4

Re: D104 mic

Bob,

Put a Heil HC-5 in it (Heil provides a kit) or put an electret element
in the D-104 head. It will work great again.

73,
Don W3FPR

Bob Stevens wrote:
> The cartridge in mine went bad; too much West Texas heat I guess. But it
> still looks good :-)
>
>
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P.B. Christensen

Re: D104 mic

> The cartridge in mine went bad; too much West Texas heat I guess. But it
> still looks good :-)

Mouser carries close replacements of the original Astatic crystal cartridge.
Less than $5 each, plenty in stock. I've used them as replacement
cartridges in my ca. 1936 D104 and Shure 70H.

http://tinyurl.com/2vjlqeh

Paul, W9AC

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David Pratt

Re: D104 mic

In reply to this post by Bob Stevens-2

Replacement crystal elements are available for $12 on ebay.com, Grant &
Bob. They are not the genuine article but they are a similar size and
the speech quality is indistinguishable from the original Astatic
version; I use one.

73 de David G4DMP

In a recent message, Bob Stevens <[hidden email]> wrote ...
>
>The cartridge in mine went bad; too much West Texas heat I guess. But it
>still looks good :-)
--
David G4DMP
Leeds, England, UK
------

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rlindzen

Re: D104 mic

In reply to this post by P.B. Christensen

Does anyone have experience with the amplified D104?

Dick, KA1SA, #911

At 10:45 PM 7/11/2010, Paul Christensen wrote:

> > The cartridge in mine went bad; too much West Texas heat I guess. But it
> > still looks good :-)
>
>Mouser carries close replacements of the original Astatic crystal cartridge.
>Less than $5 each, plenty in stock. I've used them as replacement
>cartridges in my ca. 1936 D104 and Shure 70H.
>
>http://tinyurl.com/2vjlqeh
>
>Paul, W9AC
>
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W8JI

Re: D104 mic

> Does anyone have experience with the amplified D104?
>
> Dick, KA1SA, #911

I cut those boards out of mine, except for the PTT switch mounting. I prefer
something more simple and easily controlled.

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Bill Steffey NY9H

Re: D104 mic 50 cent solution...

In reply to this post by rlindzen

I'd think that way to go would be to put a $ .50 electret capsule or
one swapped from an old telephone set ( you know the junkers) that
used an electret ,.,,,
set the bias on, tweak up the EQ IF preferred,,,and have a great
sounding d-104...

I put one in front of a dynamic cartridge in one of my old AKGs, not
acoustically correct but worked great for ssb... and had dual outputs
... one dynamic and one hot electret....
bill/3

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Jim Brown-10

Re: D104 mic 50 cent solution...

On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:22:06 -0400, Bill NY9H wrote:

>I'd think that way to go would be to put a $ .50 electret capsule or

It worked for Bob Heil!

73, Jim K9YC

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Mark - W5EZY

Re: D104 mic

In reply to this post by rlindzen

<quote author="Richard S. Lindzen">
Does anyone have experience with the amplified D104?

Dick, KA1SA, #911

Dick,

If you have a D104 with the original crystal element, you can build the below amplifier to interface with your K2/3. I did, and it worked great; had really good "punch" for dxing. I wired it to get power from the K2 for the amplifier circuit. Check out: http://members.cox.net/n4jk/d104.htm

Mark - W5EZY

rlindzen

Re: D104 mic

Thanks. This is what I was looking for. The D104 is a classy looking mic.

Dick

At 03:46 PM 7/12/2010, Mark - W5EZY wrote:

>Does anyone have experience with the amplified D104?
>
>Dick, KA1SA, #911
>
>
>Dick,
>
>If you have a D104 with the original crystal element, you can build the
>below amplifier to interface with your K2/3. I did, and it worked great;
>had really good "punch" for dxing. I wired it to get power from the K2 for
>the amplifier circuit. Check out: http://members.cox.net/n4jk/d104.htm
>
>Mark - W5EZY
>
>
>--
>View this message in context:
>http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/D104-mic-tp5276371p5284549.html
>Sent from the [K3] mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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Chris W7CTH

Re: D104 mic

In reply to this post by Mark - W5EZY

This link from W5EZY should make all the old D-104's come back to life.

Chris W7CTH