Astatic Silver Eagle question

[jtrouter]

Hello
I have had MANY D104 microphones over the years but i have never had a Silver Eagle.
My understanding is that other than the push to talk they are the exact same thing.
Can anyone tell me what i am looking at in the picture? Is it a normal Silver Eagle?
Or is it a conversion of some type? I understand what the switches would do but
have never seen one. Please le me know what information you all can tell me.
Thank you.

 

[NightThumper]

I believe this is called a Special Edition Silver Eagle. It’s not a normal Silver K Eagle.

A regular Silver K Eagle has two types of end of transmission tone. The Special Edition has only one style tone.

ETS-End of Transmission Tone
20 db Pad
VOX=Voice activated Transmit

 

[nomadradio]

There is a relay in that mike. No other way to hold the radio keyed up while a roger beep plays out.

To make the battery last longer, they used a magnetic latching relay. A pulse of current pulls in the lever. The coil core is a permanent magnet, so it stays activated on that side until the "off" pulse feeds into it.

A conventional relay would continuously draw battery current the whole time the mike is keyed up. The latching relay draws only that short pulse when you key and when you unkey. Battery life is vastly improved.

Pretty clever, until the battery runs down while you're talking. If there isn't enough battery charge left, the mike will be stuck in transmit mode. Won't go back to the receive side until a fresh battery goes in and it gets unkeyed with the new battery.

A quirky fault, but easy to fix. As long as you have a spare battery.

73

 

[Rwb]

There is a relay in that mike. No other way to hold the radio keyed up while a roger beep plays out.

To make the battery last longer, they used a magnetic latching relay. A pulse of current pulls in the lever. The coil core is a permanent magnet, so it stays activated on that side until the "off" pulse feeds into it.

A conventional relay would continuously draw battery current the whole time the mike is keyed up. The latching relay draws only that short pulse when you key and when you unkey. Battery life is vastly improved.

Pretty clever, until the battery runs down while you're talking. If there isn't enough battery charge left, the mike will be stuck in transmit mode. Won't go back to the receive side until a fresh battery goes in and it gets unkeyed with the new battery.

A quirky fault, but easy to fix. As long as you have a spare battery.

73

nomad,is that in a way simular to the exciters used on alternators when people converted from generators in cars trucks and tractors?

 

[jtrouter]

nomad,is that in a way simular to the exciters used on alternators when people converted from generators in cars trucks and tractors?

I had never seen anything like this before, Too bad it was sold before i got all the answers about it. I would really like to find one for my collection. So the Silver K Eagle and the Silver K Eagle are the only versions that had this? So from now i am asking for pictures of the bottom of all silver eagles as im sure most owners are not aware.... And the hunt goes on. Thank you guys for the information.

 

[nomadradio]

Yep. The "K" Eagle models were the only ones to use a relay for keying the radio.

73

 

[DaveEbelII]

I had never seen anything like this before, Too bad it was sold before i got all the answers about it. I would really like to find one for my collection. So the Silver K Eagle and the Silver K Eagle are the only versions that had this? So from now i am asking for pictures of the bottom of all silver eagles as im sure most owners are not aware.... And the hunt goes on. Thank you guys for the information.

They were marketed as the "Silver eagle Plus" I've never seen another one yet .. I don't know if I'll ever turn mine loose .

 

[jtrouter]

They were marketed as the "Silver eagle Plus" I've never seen another one yet .. I don't know if I'll ever turn mine loose .

I did finally get a Silver K Eagle, I use it for all my AM talking. For Sideband i use a Super Sidekick.

 

[nomadradio]

Just keep a spare battery close at hand. If you get long winded at the end of the battery's life, you can end up with a mike that stays keyed and won't go back to receive side until a battery with sufficient "oomph" is installed. This is the dark side of using a pulse-operated latching relay.

73

 

[DaveEbelII]

I did finally get a Silver K Eagle, I use it for all my AM talking. For Sideband i use a Super Sidekick.

Yeah I don't side and to much . I do have an all black Turner +3B and a Turner cs3 un-amplified. Both in mint condition also.