[TenTec] The secret to GREAT audio -- only $3.79!

[Craig Roberts]

It's a story that's been told before, I'm sure -- but just in case...

My Argosy and I got on the air this afternoon with a new audio setup.  
During each of the three contacts I made -- two on 20 and one on 40 -- I 
received unsolicitied compliments on my audio quality.  The last one was 
from W1AW whose control operator -- Steve -- asked what radio I was 
using to achieve such smooth sounding speech.  I told him of my Argosy 
and then revealed my audio secret -- the special microphone I was employing.

Now, I'm an old broadcaster, so I have a "thing" about good audio.  
That's why I normally use a studio mike feeding a preamp/parametric 
equalizer/compressor/limiter device into a matching network into my 
transceiver.  But that's not what I was using today. Today it was just a 
mike -- and not my usual high-end broadcast instrument, either.  I had 
decided to rig up a hand held mike to free the rig from.the confines of 
the shack/studio, just in case I wanted to work the Argosy portable (a 
role it fits perfectly).  I didn't own a working hand held mike, but I 
did have the remains of  an old, plastic PA mike in my junkbox.  I have 
no idea where or when I acquired this thing -- or why.  No 
self-respecting CBer, even, would own this mike.  However, I cleaned it 
up and broke the thing open to see if it could be salvaged.  The dynamic 
element in it was not even worthy of a good telephone handset and, 
besides, sported a hole in the diaphragm.  So, I tossed it.

I then went to Radio Shack and purchased a $3.79 electret condenser 
element (the flat response, omnidirectional one), and a 6V alkaline 
photo battery.  Once home, I wired up the battery and mike element and 
mounted them inside the plastic microphone shell through the mike's 
rudimentary PTT switch.  Mounting the element itself  was -- 
accidentally -- very easy.  I had just thrown away an empty Soder-Wick 
dispenser -- y'know, the little plastic thingamabob that looks like a 
miniature yo-yo?  I cut the front half of the dispenser away and pushed 
the mike element into the "donut hole" in the center where the friction 
fit is perfect.  Then I  "friction fit" (jammed) this assembly into the 
space vacated by the original mike diaphragm in the plastic mike case, 
crammed the battery into another open space and reassembled the 
microphone. 

This is the device that earned me audio kudos from W1AW. 

Now, I realize that using a high end audio chain to feed a stock 2.4 KHz 
wide SSB transmitter is akin to plugging a garden hose into a fire 
hydrant, and that was very aptly demonstrated today.  The $3.79 Radio 
Shack element at least equaled the $5,000 studio gear in transmitted 
audio. It may even sound better.

73 and Happy New Year,

Craig
W3CRR