K2 Microphone Help Needed

[ke5ofo]

Hello,  I was given a K2 qrp rig with the SSB option over the weekend.  I got a chance to play with it a little bit with a K40 mag mount antenna and I am verry impressed with the receiver in this little raido.
   
  Now I want to get it on the air but unfortunatly it didn't come with a mic as the previous owner used it for PSK-31.  I rummaged around the shack and came up with a couple of options.
   
  1) Turner Plus 3 amplified desk mic
  2) Kenwood MC-50
  3) Motorola Mactrac compact palm mic HMN1056D
  4) Midland cb hand mic.
  5) Drake 1525EM hand mic from a Kenwood TR-7500.
   
  Now I know the Turner and Kenwood mics should work just fine once I wire up an adapter cable from thier 4 pin config to the 8 pin on the K2 but I would like a handheld mic for portable use.  Witch one of the hand mics I have listed would be best suited for SSB on the K2?  I am looking seriously at the Drake as I can use the same adaptor cable as the MC-50.  Also will I need to add the DC bias resistor to the audio line for these two mics?  When I build the adaptor cable I will have to add a switch to cut this dc bias out for using the Turner as it has its own 9v supply.
   
  Thanks
  Kerry
  KE5OFO
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[Don Ehrlich]

Kerry,

Go to the Elecraft site and download the manual for the K2 SSB adapter and
read it.  The situation is more complicated than you may expect and you need
to know about how to configure the jumper block inside the K2 and what types
of microphones work.

I can tell you one thing for sure.  Forget the MC50.  That is a dynamic mic
and it has pretty low output.  On the "H" high impedance output setting of
the mic (controlled by the connector orientation on the back of the mic) it
has a source impedance too high to drive the K2 and on the "L" low setting
the level is too low.

I don't know about the other mics .. maybe one of them can be made to work.

Don K7FJ

> Hello,  I was given a K2 qrp rig with the SSB option over the weekend.  I
> got a chance to play with it a little bit with a K40 mag mount antenna and
> I am verry impressed with the receiver in this little raido.
>
>  Now I want to get it on the air but unfortunatly it didn't come with a
> mic as the previous owner used it for PSK-31.  I rummaged around the shack
> and came up with a couple of options.
>
>  1) Turner Plus 3 amplified desk mic
>  2) Kenwood MC-50
>  3) Motorola Mactrac compact palm mic HMN1056D
>  4) Midland cb hand mic.
>  5) Drake 1525EM hand mic from a Kenwood TR-7500.
>
>  Now I know the Turner and Kenwood mics should work just fine once I wire
> up an adapter cable from thier 4 pin config to the 8 pin on the K2 but I
> would like a handheld mic for portable use.  Witch one of the hand mics I
> have listed would be best suited for SSB on the K2?  I am looking
> seriously at the Drake as I can use the same adaptor cable as the MC-50.
> Also will I need to add the DC bias resistor to the audio line for these
> two mics?  When I build the adaptor cable I will have to add a switch to
> cut this dc bias out for using the Turner as it has its own 9v supply.
>
>  Thanks
>  Kerry
>  KE5OFO

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[Bill Steffey NY9H]

whomever gave you the radio wired it for a particular mic
configuration ( elecraft/kenwood or Icom or ? )contact the
giver/builder and find out how he configured the mic
jumpers/connector. It will save a bunch of time .....

If he wired it for ICOM mics, as I did , just grab any icom hand mic.

bill



At 11:37 AM 4/7/2008, Don Ehrlich wrote:
>Kerry,
>
>Go to the Elecraft site and download the manual for the K2 SSB
>adapter and read it.  The situation is more complicated than you may
>expect and you need to know about h



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