[CQ-Contest] Cheap Alternative

[Garry & Yelena]

There was a message after yours which talked about carving the RS holder
to fit the element.

Were people ordering the clamshell from the Heil Pro or the old BM10?

Bob Heil is a funny sort of guy. My take on this is that the number of
people who will actually do this RS/Heil thing is probably
minimal--certainly not a huge number. If he just pretends not to notice,
he still sells the element and the plastic part--at good markup. So all
he is doing is ticking off people whom he might want to come back to him
for his next new product. 

One reason there won't be a huge move to the RS unit is that it is not
effortless. Those who obtain the RS set must convert the mic element to
have Heil performance, and  will carve the holder if they have to. Also,
if one's radio does not have a miniature stereo jack--most don't-- one
must either use an adaptor--unreliable--or replace the plug. And, if one
does not already have a Heil adaptor to convert to the  mic jack (among
its several functions), whose wiring is manufacturer-specific, one must
either purchase one from Heil, or install an appropriate mic plug. This
is a lot of work to save a few bucks (net)--some will do it as a project
or to save those few bucks, and some won't. So I think it's dumb for
Heil to play this game.

I have both the RS and the Heil Pro. Because I have a Heil adaptor for
the Heil Pro, I need only deal with the earphone plug, and the Heil
element. I have several elements from A/B on-the-air comparisons I did a
few years ago to see if a Heil purchase was worth it--it was. So far, I
don't see the reported advantage in the RS headphone frequency response,
which allows through all the high-frequency hiss and DSP artifacts, and
which I find annoying and tiring. The earpads are soft, but not as large
as those on the Heil, so my ears are not as comfortably covered. (And I
do not have particularly large ears.)

Bottom line is that I am not yet convinced that this is the Ultimate
Solution, but in fairness I need to do the mic element conversion and
then do some serious operating with both units.

Scott A. Lehman N9AG wrote:
> 
> > Scott:
> > I was not sure why one had to buy the holder from Heil. I bought one of
> > the RS sets, but have not yet done the mic element swap. Is it that the
> > cavity in the RS boom mic is not large enough?
> >
> > Garry
> 
> Garry,
>     As I said, it was not I who was the "orderer" of these, but the
> original thread said to use Heil holders.  W2CE sent a note that
> said the original RS holder would work if massaged gently enough.
> I'll be at my friend's place tomorrow and I'll take a look at the situation
> and let you know.
> 
> 73, Scott

-- 
Garry Shapiro, NI6T
160 meters: not a band, but an obsession


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