Astatic 878DM

[RickC.]

I just bought an Astatic AST-878DM new off Ebay. My reason for trying this mic is there doesn't seem to be a good fix for the annoying switch noise in my aging Kenwood MC-50, and I want a desk mic for my old TS-520. The plan is to build a small switchbox to switch it between the Kenwood and my IC-718, most likely with an attenuator in the audio line going to the 520.

Current mic is the MC-50 on the Kenwood and a Heil ICM on the Icom. I've used several studio/stage mics with both and that was fun to play with, but I like the idea of a single mic for both, and I've gotten tired of having a boom in front of my face.

Anyone use this mic? Comments?

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Mr Clean]

Great mics! I just got off my radio using mine about 5 mins ago. Loud and clear with less background noise than the D104. Tell me what you think after using it for awhile. The gain knob on the bottom is backwards compared to most mics. Counter clockwise makes it louder. You will love it but I will have to say it doesnt look as good as a D104. The first run had a squeeling problem so I hope its not one of those. Had to send my first one back. New ones work great!

 

[RickC.]

I went ahead and wired it for the Kenwood since it came wired for Cobra/Uniden CBs and could not be used with either radio as it was. I did get an old Cobra 25 out of the attic and tested it first.

Recording audio off the air, this mic works very well with the Kenwood. It's more articulate than the MC-50 but is not tinnny.

I wired up an adapter for the 8 pin Icom. This mic does sound better than the Heil ICM to me, but even with the gain turned all the way up on the mic (it's only up about a third of the way to drive the Kenwood to the same level as the MC-50), I still have to run the mic gain at 100 and use the compressor all the time, which is what I was trying to get away from on the Icom. This surprised me, as the simple preamp circuit I built for my re-made D-104 using a Radio Shack condenser has plenty of headroom with the Icom, this one does not.

But it does have more clarity than either of the mics I'm currently using (which would be expected with a ceramic element), and has better bass response than a D-104 M6 I have.

The only thing I can say I don't like about it is that it's too short. I don't like having to hunker down over the desk to talk, and even the MC-50 can be tilted up so that you don't have to do that so much. Being omnidirectional, it also picks up more fan noise from the amp than any other mic I've used, but that's not a deal-breaker.

At this point I'm leaning towards dedicating the 878 to the Kenwood and keep looking for a better solution for the Icom, and that's mostly due to the fact that the Icom is used a lot more, and I don't like bending down to talk. Astatic has a good-sounding mic here, it's too bad they didn't make it with adjustable height, a la Shure 444.

This mic does sound very good on AM with the Icom, though.

Rick

 

[190]

I gave my son in law a 878dm i had aquired in a radio deal and he is useing it on a 2950dx. it sounds fantastic. i never would of guessed. best sounding mic hes had on there. it dont even sound like the same radio. although they are kinda plastic like i will give them a .

 

[RickC.]

UPDATE--

Used it on 20 meters this evening with both radios. Barefoot it was fine. Switch on the SB-200 and RF was all IN that thing. I could mess with it put ferrite beads all over the place, but this is brand new and I paid a brand new price for it, so I'm gonna try to get my money back.

Astatic, if you're listening-- Make this thing of metal, shield/bypass it better, and make it about 3" taller.

A pretty good CB mic, but not for serious amateur use.


Rick

 

[Mr Clean]

I use mine in front of a SB200 and a Wizard Built with 0 squeeling problems. I love the way they sound but my only complaint is they look a tad bit cheap. Work great in my opinion.

 

[RickC.]

Mr. Clean,

Yeah, I could probably find a cure for it if I really wanted to, the local hamfest is next weekend and I'm sure there will be some ferrite beads floating around there somewhere. But it bugs me that this is the only one of the half dozen or so mics I have at my disposal that has this issue (and that includes the arrangement with the Behringer mixer with all that cable out there). So given that, it's going back as soon as a big project at work is over and I'm not tied up during business hours.


Rick