Vibroplex® subsidiary INRAD announces a new line of microphones and related accessories for Amateur Radio, to debut next weekend at the Dayton Hamvention. Statement about the new line: INRAD, a division of Vibroplex® LLC, enters our 34th year of offering quality accessories for the active Amateur Radio enthusiast. From our beginnings as Fox-Tango many years ago offering aftermarket crystal filters, we have designed and marketed many transceiver modification kits, crystal and mechanical filters and other items over the decades. Today, we use our expertise to offer a new line of desk microphones and accessories for everyday Amateur Radio operation. The current line consists of 5 desk microphones, each with a dynamic element unique to the specific model, table stand with microphone clip, and adapters for connection to Kenwood, Elecraft, Yaesu, 8 pin Ten-Tec, FlexRadio, modular Yaesu and modern 8 pin Icom transceivers. Hand and footswitches for PTT operation also available. Headsets with boom microphones and communications grade headphones to be released later in 2017 by INRAD. The INRAD microphone line will be available for purchase for the first time at the 2017 Dayton Hamvention on May 19-21. See the Vibroplex® / INRAD booth at 1607-1609 in building 1. Web link: http://vibroplex.com/contents/en-us/d9155.html See our full page advertisement on page 123 of the June 2017 issue of QST Magazine. 73 Scott Robbins W4PA
Desk mics, hand switches attached to the microphone, and foot switches suck. A far better solution is to mount the microphone on a boom stand, and use a PTT hand switch attached to the end of a cord, or perhaps a wireless hand switch that works like a remote (only problem, that's too easy to misplace). The M-FS looks like a good idea, except that the cords on the M series microphone adaptors shown in the photos look too short to be practical. Here's my PTT hand switch, made from a stereo headphone extension cord and a high-quality a.c. line cord switch. I have used this one for decades. A desk mic gets in the way, and it's a matter of when, not if, it will inevitably be knocked off the table and crash to the floor. A foot switch limits mobility in the sitting position, and may be awkward to use. A CB-style hand mic/built-in T-R switch attached to a spiral cord may be OK for mobile operation, but is a nuisance when operating a fixed station, particularly for long periods of time. The microphone should be positioned to about eye level, so that the operator is compelled to look up and tilt the head slightly back to talk into it. The mic should never be placed so that the operator has to crouch over the table and lean the head forward while talking; this squeezes the larynx and compresses the chest cavity thus impeding voice quality, but few desk stands are tall enough to hold the microphone in the optimum position, and tend to cause the operator to look down while talking. Try it yourself: speak a phrase sitting up straight in a chair with the head tilted back just a little, and then try speaking the same phrase while leaning forward in the chair with the neck bent down. Which is more comfortable? If someone else is in the room, ask them which position gives you a more pleasing and resonant voice.
