[Orion] Audio woes...no more!

[WB3LGC@aol.com]

My problem (back a few months) was similar, in the end.
 
My Orion goes back to August of last year.  I purchased a Heil  Goldline, I 
purchased Heil Wire, I purchased a XLR (4 pin) for the mike, and a 4  pin mike 
connector for the rig.
 
I wired as the manual said, except I used the second un-shielded wire for  
the PTT return, and not the mike shield (TT, doesn't show Heil Wire in the  
manual).
 
All was well, until I tried to "do" Kids Day back in January.  I got  POOR 
audio reports.  Yes, I knew, as I was listening with the monitor on a  set of 
earphones...  I went back to the headset for the event.  I  fixed the problem 
with the mike a few weeks ago.
 
I thought I might have had a shorted connection in the connectors.  I  knew 
the rig was ok, as the headset used the same HC-4 element and the headset  was 
working just fine.
 
I found, the case connection on the XLR connector (mike cable shield) that  
uses the clip to ground the mike case had worn the paint on the mike case such  
that it was NOW making a ground connection.  It had been floating (the mike  
case).  
 
So, why is this a problem?  The case should be grounded.  The  problem is the 
mike!  With all the hipe about balanced microphones, it  isn't.  Open it up 
at the XLR connector on the back of the Goldline and you  will find a wire from 
one of the microphone wires to the case of the  microphone.
 
I think the wire ground inside the mike caused a ground loop.  It  really 
doesn't matter what happened.  By removing the wire between the mike  pin and the 
case, I SOLVED the problem.
 
So the answer, modify the Goldline mike not the rig.  Use the good  Heil 
Wire. Make your own cables, it's worth it.
 
73, Steve WB3LGC
 
ps: I still like the HC-4 Headset.  For DX, I set transmit BW=2400,  Low 
Cutoff=300, SP=7, Mike =~40.  For chatting, I set a wider BW (3000) on  TX, SP=5, 
and mike gain more like 65.  I get "nice signal" comments from  contest 
stations, during the contest!  Beat that.  (I also made my own  adapter for the 
headset.)
 
 
 
In a message dated 4/14/2005 12:42:12 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
retire at means.net writes:

Lately I  posted that I was getting horrible audio reports with my  Orion.



I’m here to report that after carefully reading the  manual, with the help
and understanding of a couple guys, and the  assistance of Paul Clinton from
TenTec, my problem has been  solved.



I switched from a lesser quality mic to my Heil  Heritage, first of all, used
new HeilWire, and made sure that the ground  was not on the mic pin but on
the shell of the connector on both the XLR  connector to the mic as well as
on the radio and VIOLA!   Perfect  audio reports.  “best you’re ever sounded”
coming back to me  again.



So….I’m a very happy camper once again.  My main  love is still CW, and it’s
works superbly there, as you all know.  Now  it’s working well on ssb as
well.  



Please disregard my  previous post, and once again, RTFML (read the freekin’
manual,  Larry)



Larry, N0XB

Northfield,  MN