homebrew mics/keyers/and w2ihy 8 band eq

[johnny9]

recieved the 8 band eq from w2ihy.com monday and got the night eagle mic sounding better then ever per reports i get..

this lead me to wanting to play more searching for that "top shelf"sound we all love to hear..
so next i used the d104 head from an old amplified desk mic..
it is just the head attached to and xlr conector and cord..took me a while to get it figured out but now the reports im getting may very well be better then the night eagle..heres a pic of the d104 head im using now while im waiting to run out and get some parts to finish it..i have a old morse code keyer im using to key the mic..

 

[johnny9]

so i couldnt get no sleep last night so was up late tossing ideas around for more mics since i have 3 diffrent mic hook ups on the eq..
so i came across and old coleman ink pen/flashlight combo my mother inlaw got me 25 yrs ago..never used it so figured time has come to use it for something more usable.
the pen/light is all brass with plastic sleeve in the inside so i began tearing it up and drilling some stuff out..
i kept every part in tac and use it all except the ink cartridge .
drilled the tip to fit a rca cord.
drilled the clear lens with a hole to talk thru.
drilled back side of reflector to firmly hold the electret element.
the electret element im using on this one came from a 10 yr old bellsouth cordless home phone and looks just like the element in my sadelta echo master so maybe i will be on to something
its finished now and will get new pics later..

 

[johnny9]

that didnt take too long so i started another mic project.
instead of just having a cool mack bulldog keyer for my mics i figured it eeded a boom taylored for me
so,i had read where a guy took a cheap panasonic headset for a home phone and used the mic in a project of his own..in the end the guy said it was actually a better mic then his 2-300.00 heil mic and he stopped using the heil mic..he said the elements looked the same too"prob all from bangladesh :blush: "haha

so i ordered this same headset to see for myself..it was 8 bucks shipped on ebay iirc,,maybe was amazon?
so hears what i came up with so far but already changed the way i was thinkng.
but for now heres the first idea i had.

 

[johnny9]

think i decided against the last mic using the ear piece of the headset.
i like the teloscoping antenna idea better.
drilled a small hole in bottom to feed the wire.
ran the rca cord with braid and shield thru with no problems.
will end up deleting the plastic tip of the mic thats in these pics.
this will work great for me at night when in the recliner and on the computer i can have the mic in front of me easly and just have to key it to talk..
it can go in and out and left and right..
i really like this idea so if for some reason the cheap mic sucks i will put a good quality mic in there..
and of course the top of the mic boom will have a small american flag on the end when i find one..will be like raising the flag every morning

 

[johnny9]

so far i am getting great reports this morning from the ink pin/flashlight mic..
i "think "the audio quality is better than the night eagle d104 and the other 2 ive used..including the sedelta echo master,and the dl104 head in hi z mode.

the element is from a bellsouth 900mhz cordless phone..it has a "HD" on the side of the electret element and has more bass than the others so maybe the hd is for high def

i am keeping the mic clipped to my necklace and reports say it dont matter if i turn my head left or right the audio is still the same..
didnt take me long to realize these electret elements dont work w/out power and thankfully the w2ihy eq has a power jumper for all 3 mic out plugs.
im using this mic on the 2 wire rca plug also.
busting thru dx with 100 watts is fun .

im logging all my setting ,,a few for each mic,so i can go back in a wek or so and record all the different mics"hopefully" so i can decide what sounds best.

anyone no?can i hook a al recorder to the phone jack of my ex to get recordings??????**Jump_im**

 

[johnny9]

well finished up the loose ends on the mics..still need to get parts to finish the d104 head/hand mic tho.
the bulldog/keyer turned out great..spent a lil time making a 1/2 thick aluminum block today then dremeled out the shape of the antenna threaded post so it would swivel real nice,and polished it and got back togather..will def be looking for another cordless phone mic for this as the panasonic headset the guy said was better than a 300.00 heil must have been smokin some good stuff,as it is crap unless 1 inch away from your mouth at all times..i dont like that at all.

the ink pen mic has 4-5 people a day ask what im talking on..when i tell them they think im full of it..by far the best mic in my shack and smokes the d104,s on dx..and love the fact it picks up the same 6 inches away from my face..

 

[johnny9]

took the old crystal element out of the d104 head an replaced it with a vtec 5.8ghz cordless phone mic and this electret seems to have a lil more deepness and bass to it than the bellsouth electret.
sounds superb.
i will be riggin a cord today to record the differences on a old cell phone for now..
i got a new element from a construction grade "yellow and black" motorola/nextel flip phone that looks promising..and will try to stop my new mic addiction after this one.