View Full Version : Siamese Twin D-104's
k4kyv
03-01-2008, 11:57 PM
http://i5.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/db/a7/3ad0_1.JPG
http://cgi.ebay.com/D-104-double-headed-microphone_W0QQitemZ110226375469QQihZ001QQcategory Z48695QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayph otohosting
K1CJS
03-02-2008, 12:39 AM
I wonder if they got this by cutting a microphone in half only part way and then letting it grow..... :D
N3ATS
03-02-2008, 03:12 AM
That's unique.
KG4CGC
03-02-2008, 03:13 AM
Two Hams, one mic.
Now I know why stereo AM failed.
What is this infactuation that some guys have with D-104s ? ? ?
They don't sound all that great on old tube rigs, and sound absolutely horrible on transistorized ones ( if you can get them to work at all )
Emphasized highs, supressed lows, and many other "qualities" that make them so unique that a person knows almost immediately that someone is using one.
To sound so different from all the other mics out there means one of two things, either
1. ) This mic is the ONLY ONE with the proper sound and all the other mics are wrong
or
2. ) There must be something wrong with this microphone, or all the others would sound like it.
You take your choice. I think you know which number mine would be!
73, Jim
k4kyv
03-06-2008, 07:38 PM
Emphasized highs, supressed lows, and many other "qualities" that make them so unique that a person knows almost immediately that someone is using one.
Actually, they can sound quite good. First of all, you need an original D-104 with nothing but the microphone element inside, without that "power mike" element in the base. Those things are pure crap. Secondly, the resistive load on the mike element must be very high. The manufacturer recommends 5 megohms. Better still, use 10 megs. Anything lower will kill the low end.
The emphasised highs adds articulation, making the consonant sounds more understandable. The secret is to balance the presence rise with adequate lows as stated above.
The D-104 doesn't work well with solid state rigs because the microphone input impedance is more like 150 to 500 ohms. But better to build your own external high-impedance pre-amp than to use that built-in distortion-generator (oops! I meant amplifier) module.
WA6MHZ
03-06-2008, 07:42 PM
$130 minimum bid?????!!!!! They are SMOKING DOPE!!!!
W5HTW
03-06-2008, 08:57 PM
The infatuation with D-104s came in the 1970s when all those wanna be hams, who could barely figure out how to write "10-4" thought it would make them look like hams, even if they couldn't pass a test. The D-104 was a ham tradition, so it was a case of "If'n I kan't BE one of them thar hams, I kin at least look like one."
k4kyv
03-07-2008, 05:13 PM
The infatuation with D-104s came in the 1970s when all those wanna be hams, who could barely figure out how to write "10-4" thought it would make them look like hams, even if they couldn't pass a test. The D-104 was a ham tradition, so it was a case of "If'n I kan't BE one of them thar hams, I kin at least look like one."
And you could tell who they were because they pronounced it "dee ten-four" instead of "dee one oh four".
The D-104 microphone has been around since 1933. I have one of the first ones ever made, that is spring mounted inside a ring, just like the old double button carbon mics.
The case on the early ones was a full 1" thick. In 1937 they changed to the present-day thinner version. The early ones didn't have the plug-in head. They simply had a chrome plated bushing where the cord came out. It was internally threaded so that the mic could be mounted directly on a desk stand if the spring mount assembly was not used.
According to Astatic, an alternative is to use a two-conductor shielded mic cord, so that it feeds a balanced push-pull input instead of the more usual single ended. The internal element has a balanced output; there are no "hot" and "ground" terminals. Either terminal can be grounded.
KJ5XX
03-10-2008, 10:18 PM
[QUOTE=AG3Y;1151557]What is this infactuation that some guys have with D-104s ? ? ?
They don't sound all that great on old tube rigs, and sound absolutely horrible on transistorized ones ( if you can get them to work at all )
Emphasized highs, supressed lows, and many other "qualities" that make them so unique that a person knows almost immediately that someone is using one.
END QUOTE
Yeah, I guess you're right, if you try to hook up an un-modified D-104 (either a UG8 or T-UG8/UG9), it's going to sound exactly as you describe.
But your statements suggest that either you're just not that familiar with mic impedance or the D-104 itself, and your statement about "if you can get them to work at all" seems to add credence to that thought. But "emphasized highs" c'mon, give me a break - if you're talkiing about someone that just slapped one on their solid state rig then YES, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO GET, but doing so would mean that the person that did it did so not realizing that this is a VERY high impedance mic - something on the order of 10m ohm. So don't criticize the mic because there are some uninformed hams that don't know what the impedance requirements of their rig or the mic they're using.
If it wasn't a great communications mic then why do you think guys are still paying over $100 for a mic that orginally only sold for pocket change by today's standards.....and yes, I'm aware that you can find them for a lot less than that (and by virtue of that they are an awesome deal for a BROADCAST QUALITY mic if the ham is willing to spend about $5 to modify it).
Don't think Bob Heil would invest the time or money to make a conversion kit for a tinny sounding old mic with "emphasized highs and supressed lows".
I have not taken advantage of Bob's kit, but I have built a simple single JFET preamp for mine and get the same kind of "awesome audio" reports as I did back when I used to have my Kenwood TS-520S.