A few questions about mixers.

[KB1PXU]

Well I actually talked to Bob last week about program 36 and asked him some questions. I have a Heil Dynamic mike and I run an ICOM 746 pro which has phantom power at the mike. What I did prior to purchasing a mixer was used Heils XLR cable from the mike to the radio. It has a built in capacitor in the cable to block the phantom power. LAst Saturday I bought a Mackie 802-VLZ3 along with one additional XLR cord. I choose a Mogami brand hoping for the shielding. I run the Mogami from the mike to the board and run Heil's XLR from the board into the mike input of the radio. No special cables needed. I choose the Mackie over the Beringer because I had an XLR out which I could choose for MIC or line level out. My Mike input need MIC leve inputs so as not to be over powered.

Since last weekend I have received some really great audio reports. Easy to set-up and has made a big difference. I also run full legal through an Alpha amplifier. You can never be 100% RFI safe. Take a look at this article A Ham's Guide to RFI, Ferrites, Baluns, and Audio Interfacing
by Jim Brown K9YC
Audio Systems Group, Inc.
http://audiosystemsgroup.com

I have since orderd some snap-on Fair-Rite ferrittes #0431177081 and 0431177081. There is a specific section in the Brown article that talks about RFI in the shack with microphones. I haven't noticed any but it is cheap insurance.

Hope this helps -

73, de Will KB1PXU

[J85K]

Some mixers, have separate phantom power switches for each of their channel inputs. This is nice, since you can just allow phantom power to go to a single channel of choice, instead of them all at once. My personal preference is to never use phantom power on dynamic mics, even if the experts and other manufacturers say it is perfectly harmless to do so. I find that the phantom power does affect the dynamic mic and/or it's sound overall for the negative. Plus, this is important if you or someone else decides to use a ribbon mic instead; phantom power and ribbon mics do not mix, a very deadly combination for that type of mic. 73s de KC8RLU.

I use a Mackie Onyx 1220 mixer with independent phantom power to each of the XLR equipped channels; and I agree with your comment on dynamic microphones.

Kumar_J85K