What Is The Best Base Station Microphone?

[Chief_River]

Now I will admit before this even goes anywhere, that the comments to follow can and probably will be subjective. But what I'm looking for is a pattern. One mic that will stand out. So the question is, what is the best base station microphone made? Also, what do you use and why? Or maybe you're not using what you believe the best mic is, but give your opinion as to why.

I just bought two Astatic D-104 Silver Eagles on ebay. I bought the first one because it was in mint condition but the cord must have had a lot of different plugs soldered onto it because it was shortened all the way up to the coils. So I bought another Silver Eagle that had a virtually brand new cord on it and I switched the cords. Actually I just unsoldered the two wires coming from the top to the board and switched the entire board which was a lot easier to solder. But I do wonder, is there a better base mic than the old lolly pop stand by?

The only way anyone learns is to ask.

[Slyguy]

In my opinion. For a plug and play 11m rig, you cant beat the old lollypop D104.

[tim2]

Turner plus 3, is real nice on sideband ..

[tenderfoot]

I'm partial to D104's because I have 9 of them but the mic I use and like the best is Astatic 10 da.

[North Texas Mudduck]

Good ole D-104
part i hate is the nagging lady in the background of the people that use them
good for picking up the barking dog and washing machine and kids screaming
if someone knew how to adjust them properly then i might like them
but most run them wide open

mic gain on radio 3/4 ways open and turn the d-104 control about a 1/4 turn open
anymore and here comes the kids and dogs and old lady yelling go to the store before they close

[jessejamesdallas]

D 104...."But" with one of these installed.

eBay link removed by Slyguy

Gives the Mic a little cleaner sound.

[MDYoungblood]

JJD, you are so right, that kit in a D104 sounds great. There are a couple different kits so make sure you get the right one for your model mic.

3's

Greg

[bo248]

Simply put no one mike matchs up best with every radio out there. You need to consider what mode your going to use it on, the tone of your voice, amount of background noise and so on. For the average joe a D-104 will more then do.

[420Snowman]

Studio mic running into an eq with built in compressor, then into pro tools, then into the radio! Great "radio station" audio but lots involved!!! Lol


Snowman

[108dt206]

Ham international big puncher. But I think your more liable to find a piece of rocking horse sh#t than a big puncher!

[Chief_River]

D 104...."But" with one of these installed.

eBay link removed by Slyguy

Gives the Mic a little cleaner sound.

I kind of figured the good ole D-104 would be the most mentioned.

I also have seen those so called upgrades for the D-104, but my house is quiet. I have no wife, no dog or anything else that I have to worry about as far as background noise. So to me, I kind of like how sensitive the old D-104's are.

I was going to sell the second D-104 I picked up but, it's in pretty nice shape too so I think I'll just hang on to it since they don't make them anymore.

---

Thursday, 17 January 2013, 17:35 PM

Ham international big puncher. But I think your more liable to find a piece of rocking horse sh#t than a big puncher!

Had to look that one up...

[108dt206]

D 104...."But" with one of these installed.

[Please login or register to view this link]

Gives the Mic a little cleaner sound.

I kind of figured the good ole D-104 would be the most mentioned.

I also have seen those so called upgrades for the D-104, but my house is quiet. I have no wife, no dog or anything else that I have to worry about as far as background noise. So to me, I kind of like how sensitive the old D-104's are.

I was going to sell the second D-104 I picked up but, it's in pretty nice shape too so I think I'll just hang on to it since they don't make them anymore.

---

Thursday, 17 January 2013, 17:35 PM

Ham international big puncher. But I think your more liable to find a piece of rocking horse sh#t than a big puncher!

Had to look that one up...

Awesome pick up on the big puncher. It could pick up a mouse **Censored**!!!

[jessejamesdallas]

D 104...."But" with one of these installed.

eBay link removed by Slyguy

Gives the Mic a little cleaner sound.

I kind of figured the good ole D-104 would be the most mentioned.

I also have seen those so called upgrades for the D-104, but my house is quiet. I have no wife, no dog or anything else that I have to worry about as far as background noise. So to me, I kind of like how sensitive the old D-104's are.

I was going to sell the second D-104 I picked up but, it's in pretty nice shape too so I think I'll just hang on to it since they don't make them anymore.

---

Thursday, 17 January 2013, 17:35 PM

Ham international big puncher. But I think your more liable to find a piece of rocking horse sh#t than a big puncher!

Had to look that one up...

The up-grade I had listed before the link was deleted, was for a Mic element up-grade (or rather replacement up-grade) it doesn't necessarily make the Mic any quieter, just cleaner sounding...not as "tinny" sounding... I don't think any of the sponsors here sell this particular element, the only place I have seen them is on eBay...If interested get on eBay and do a search for replacement Mic elements for the D 104...It's a little square looking thing that replaces the original element...(be sure to look for the one that fit's the D 104 you have, because there are several different versions of the D 104, and the elements are different)

[RBR762]

hey Jessejamesdallas-you should know better than to paste a link to a vendor outside of this forum.
You should direct them to Dodgen250 who sells defective products and then say's he didn't answer your emails because he never recieved them even though ebay say's he got all of them.
just my 2cents-I bet this doesn't post very long
Robert

[Eskimo_Pie]

Depends on the radio.

HR2510 Either an Astatic M575M6B, Astatic D104M6B, or Turner +3
TRC 457 Either a Turner +2 SSB Transistorized, or an old school hand held Realistic Power mic (the brown one, I think the same as a Cobra CA-51, that takes the infamous 7.0 volt battery)

Uniden President AX144 an Astatic RD104E Road Devil or a RK 56 (the older Turner by Telex version)

And finally, My next to brand new Cobra 140 GTL, an Astatic Minuteman II, a RK 56, or the CA-51 Cobra power mic.

The Turners' are base mics and have their advantages, I can use them hands free on long QSOs, but a few of my more modern hand held mics sound better than the turner, AND.....hands down, my favorite is the 575M6B.....as they say, "You can have it when you pry it out my cold dead hands......"
Just my 2¢
73s

Greg

[CHOPPERDAVE]

I'm using an old Turner Expander 500 desk mic on my General Stonewall Jackson and have tried that mic on different radios.
Everyone tells me that mic is my best sounding mic no matter what radio I use it on,
I like it because it has an adjustable head, a built in modulation meter a battery checker and a TONE control.
Next best mic would be either the Turner Plus 3 desk mic or the Turner Super sidekick, then the D-104 lollipop.
I've also heard guys using the Astatic 575 m6b hand helds with the tone control, they sound awesome on certain radios, such as the Galaxys.
If you cant find a Astatic 575 m6b, its easy to convert an Astatic D104 m6b to sound like one, theres a simple Mod on the internet for that.
I've done it to all my D104 m6b mics
heres a pic of my Turner Expander 500
[Please login or register to view this link]

[Road Warrior]

Turner plus 3 and Turner plus 3b worked best on every radio I tried them on and matched
my voice best.

Some of my friends run modified D-104's which sound decent to me also.
But not stock D-104's which sound very tinny to me...

[jessejamesdallas]

I'm using an old Turner Expander 500 desk mic on my General Stonewall Jackson and have tried that mic on different radios.
Everyone tells me that mic is my best sounding mic no matter what radio I use it on,
I like it because it has an adjustable head, a built in modulation meter a battery checker and a TONE control.
Next best mic would be either the Turner Plus 3 desk mic or the Turner Super sidekick, then the D-104 lollipop.
I've also heard guys using the Astatic 575 m6b hand helds with the tone control, they sound awesome on certain radios, such as the Galaxys.
If you cant find a Astatic 575 m6b, its easy to convert an Astatic D104 m6b to sound like one, theres a simple Mod on the internet for that.
I've done it to all my D104 m6b mics
heres a pic of my Turner Expander 500

Actually, that's a "Euro Expander 500" which is a knock-off of the Turner version...I have one of those also, and switch back and forth with my D 104...The Euro version most say don't sound as good as the original Turner, but I have had nothing but good reports with mine...

Here's some pictures of my D 104 I use that I re-built, painted, and re-placed the original element with a HiFi element...Pictures aren't all that good and clear, they don't reflect the Pearl paint job very good...Guess I need to get some better pictures!


[Please login or register to view this link][Please login or register to view this link][Please login or register to view this link]

[Sporty Mike]

Well, well can there ever really be an answer to this question? It really comes down to the radio being used and your own VOICE.
Some people have a good broadcast quality voice and others, well they sound like they couldn't talk on the phone
IMO voice is just as important as the mic.
And yes, 90% of people using D-104s run them WAY too high, I have 2 Silver Eagles and a K Nighteagle, one of the Silver's has the hi first element in it and I run it barely a 1/4 way open with radio's gain at 12 o 'clock. Everyone says it sounds best and I heard a local gate of me using it on my Cobra 2K and I thought it sounded pretty good myself. Turner +3 and Turner Sidekicks are great also, especially on SSB. And as for hand mics the old Astatic 575s or the current RF Limited 577s sound great.


Mike
Sent from Sporty Mike's phone.

[TD126]

Unless you want to spend a lot of $$$ on new sound boards etc, depending on the RADIO you have I'd stay with one of these two....TURNER +3 ( I ran one of these for 30+ years and still use it on occasion) OR the D-104 with the NEW MODS in it from Grinch Radio. Dave and Catherine do a real good job rebuilding these mics and getting them to modern standards with new FETs and many other improvements that really do settle the audio and make this mike sound like a Studio Mike.

[CHOPPERDAVE]

Just thought I'd ad this,
Go out and buy up as many different desk mics as you can find, get a few people on a quiet channel and have each one of them hear each mic side by side, then go from there.
Also, later on in the future, you may be upgrading your radio so, that mic that sounded great on the radio your using now, might not sound as good on the next radio, at least you'll have a bunch of different mics to go thru and do more audio checks with.
I used this to make things easier and faster for a side by side comparison.
[Please login or register to view this link]
I can plug 5 different mics in at the same time and key up one after an other without having to unplug a mic then plug in the next one.
before i made this people would ask me to go back to one of the other mics again , then i had to unplug the one i had on the radio, and plug in the previous mic,too much plugging and unplugging.

[The Grinch]

@TD126

Thanks for the kind words. We have spent countless hours researching on how to get a clean, crisp, natural "studio like" sound from a D-104 and am glad to have found it. It is our pleasure to share it. Enjoy and have fun with it.

Catherine
0-niner-0 CH22

[chevy guy 72]

My opinion atleast you want to spend the money on cleaning up the noise in your mic you can get a noise canceling mic to hook up and would make a major difference but if you want something fancy like a silver eagle stand up mic than I would spend the money on something to block out the background noise

[bluemeanie]

Personally I have never liked the sound of a D104. I always thought they sounded "tinny" to me. Have run Turner products for years. My favorite is the Expander 500, have had one on this radio for 25 years and had the opportunity to pick up another one. Never played with EQ's or any of that stuff. Just plug it in and talk. Have had someone talk on the station while I was in the mobile,gives you some idea how things sound. OK OK which is better Ford Chevy Dodge blah blah blah. I love these posts need to go get popcorn like Doc said.

[MDYoungblood]

It depends on the radio, each model has its own audio circuitry so different mics sound different. The Turner mic sounds good because is gives the user a deeper sound which helps if you have a "treble" voice. D104's on some radios sound "tinny" because users turn them up and all you hear is the hash sound and background noise. Shure mics were brought into the CB market because they were ham microphones and had a quality sound. Now a days you have users with studio quality mics, Behringer and Heil microphone along with the studio equipment.

So to me the best mic for the station is the one you like and sounds the best. BTW I have and use several different D104's.

3's

Greg