Friday, February 25, 2022

Inexpensive but very nice desk mic for the Kenwood TS-480

 I love a good bargain.  I especially enjoy a bargain that works well, and saves me a great deal of money in my ham life.  Recently, I took a chance on purchasing a $33 (38,000 Korean Won) microphone from China off of the website Aliexpress, and it turned out to be a great find.

Note that the TS480 is not listed, but if it lists for these radios, the PTT works.


Even though my Kenwood TS-480-SAT is an aging radio, I have come to enjoy using it.  The remote head and minimalist overall size (originally mean for the car) works well as a discreet desk rig.  Now, normally I run a Yaesu FTDX3000, which is surely a better radio, but the TS-480-SAT is certainly no slouch.  The Kenwood's main function is as my 100w QRO portable rig, but I sometimes fire it up on the desktop, when I just want to try something new.  The only issue was that the Kenwood stock hand mic (although a decent mic) makes a little handling noise, and requires hanging to keep it from falling off of my desk.  I really wanted a desktop microphone to use at home for it, so that I wouldn't destroy the stock hand-held (I've already damaged two Yaesu MH31b mics by dropping them).  

I Like Stock Mics

After playing around with several different microphones, I've always found myself gravitating back toward the stock mics sold by the radio companies themselves.  They may not always produce a smooth, boomy AM-like sound, but they do provide excellent results in terms of raw communications, and the cables are usually better. Also, they tend to keep their value, so if you buy a good used one, you don't lose much.  You might even get it all back, or make a few dollars.  Being a "stingy ham", I'm certainly in favor of a high resale price, should I part with a piece of equipment!  Of course, buying a mic branded by the same company as my radio is often quite expensive.  You do get more resale on the back end of the sale, but you still have to "cry once" when you pay for it, initially.  Such prices are even worse when you are a ham living in a country like Korea, where shipping can become expensive.  Good used Kenwood desk mics tend to disappear within minutes of being sold on the Korean used ham sites.  They are quite popular, and have held or gone up in value, in recent years.  So "the stingy ham" was itching for a cheaper way...

Taking a Chance on the OPPXUN


Enter the OPPXUN desk mic.  This same mic is actually sold under a few different names on Aliexpress (I assume they are likely the same mic re-branded).   It is also sold in a Yaesu model, so Yaesu users might want to look into it.  I found the OPPXUN to be the cheapest at the time of purchase, so I went with it.  You'll note that the radios listed as working with this mic are NOT HF radios.  They're all VHF/UHF, as I understand.  Even still, the plug is identical, so no adapter is needed to fit a TS-480 radio.  Not being on the list of approved radios for this mic was the chance I took. I felt reasonably comfortable in purchasing this mic, however, as I learned from N0AKF that his Kenwood KMC-9C mic (which this Chinese mic is a copy of) worked very well on his TS-480. In fact, he preferred if over the hand mic.  I wrote to him, and he put me at ease with the idea of the Chinese OPPXUN mic at least having a chance at working, given that it serves the same Kenwood VHF/UHF radios.  I don't believe the left button has any usable function for the TS-480, but the right button works perfectly as the PTT, without any cheap clunking or clicking noise that my hand mic suffers from.  There is a felt/rubber base pad on it, which keeps it from moving around.  You can leave it on a desk, or hold it in the hand and press the top part of the button, for operation.  My preferred method is to leave it setting there, and grab it when I need it, lifting it to my mouth.  It works either way.  The mic is a smidge omni (meaning that it's not fully what I would call 100% Cardioid in pattern), If your shack is very noisy, I'd suggest going with something a bit more toward super-cardioid in pattern.  That said, it works well.

The Verdict

The mic was ordered just over three weeks ago, around February 4.  The seller sat on the order until the last moment before Aliexpress automatically cancelled the shipment, but did eventually send it.  Korea is close to China, so I was able to receive it barely a week after it was shipped.  I couldn't wait to plug it in. I noticed that the mic was well-built, and had a decent amount of weight to it (which is to say it's not thin and light). 


Upon plugging it in and testing my RX via WebSDR around Asia/Pacific, I was rewarded!  The sound is very good (typical good/high quality electret sound).  From the TS-480's widest 2.4 TX audio bandwidth and flat EQ, to the tighter 2.0 bandwidth and HB2 TX filter setting, the mic sounds excellent enough.  I prefer its versatility over the stock Kenwood mic.  I enjoy using it either with or without compression.  I don't notice a single RF-related problem, so it seems to be shielded well.  Highly recommended!  My only suggestion would be to purchase a cable extension for RJ45, which has a straight-through pin configuration (the coiled cord is a little short, and only good for 2 to 3 feet, comfortably).  

Back side of the mic

Audio Test as follows.  Receiver was a KiwiSDR receiver at BM2KVV in Taiwan (about 1,550 miles away), set to RX at a bandwidth of 2600Hz, giving it a little extra than my radio could generate. I was transmitting at the stock bandwidths available on the TS-480SAT, which included 2400 and 2000Hz.  Antenna was a 2-el homebrew 20m yagi at about 60 to 70 feet in the sky, on top of my building.


UPDATE:  I wired up a patch cable to use this mic with my Yaesu FTDX3000, after selling my TS480SAT.  It works just fine, and actually does great with no EQ on it, but there is not really any bass available at wider than stock 2.4kHz settings. Just so you know...

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Rode Procaster Mic Settings For Yaesu FTDX3000




I recently purchased a Rode Procaster, and decided to try it out on my Yaesu FTDX3000. I am happy to report that this is an excellent microphone!  I am generally a DX'er and a long-distance (5,000 mile+) rag chewer, so the following settings make for a clean sound with a bit of bite (but not overly so), with about 0 to 5% compression.  For close-in rag chews, up the bandwidth at Menu #104 to something like 200-2800, or wider, and lower the numbers on the high end toward the default specs.  

Please note that a pop shield or sponge is an absolute necessity with the Procaster, unless you "talk across" the front of it, to control plosives.  It's not a very plosive-friendly microphone.  It is, however, as close as you are going to get to an Electrovoice RE20, at around half of the cost.  If you can't afford either of these two excellent mics, I suggest looking into the $25 Behringer XM8500, which is a steal, and also sounds excellent, with proper EQ'ing.  

So here are HL1ZIX's EQ settings from thestingyham blog, for the Rode Procaster, and the Yaesu FTDX3000.  You should note that I like to "eat the mic" with these settings, and get in so close I touch the sponge, to take advantage of the Procaster's "proximity effect".  This is partly why I cut the lows so much.  The proximity effect adds a lot of bass, which will overload your ALC if you don't trim it out.  The overall effect is, however, a very forward low-end sound:

168 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 1 FREQ 200
169 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 1 LEVEL -17  (you might prefer -15)
170 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 1 BWTH 2
171 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 2 FREQ 1500
172 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 2 LEVEL -3
173 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 2 BWTH 1
174 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 3 FREQ 2700
175 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 3 LEVEL 6
176 TX AUDIO P-PRMTRC EQ 3 BWTH 5

Incidentally, these aren't bad for the Yaesu MH31b stock hand mic, either.  I find this really great at the 300-2700 setting on Menu #104, for DX'ing, if you push it to the top of the ALC to get about 0 to 5% compression.  If you want a bit wider signal, change #104 to 200-2800.  Not having your radio tuned to a proper SWR level may affect the ALC.  If you like a really thin signal with more bite, change Menu #104 to 400-2600.

The settings above are with PROC (compression) enabled.  I have my COMP/PROC (menu item 177 to toggle from TX PWR, then turn the far left inside knob, next to MOX button) set to 45.  If you want to run these settings without compression, apply them to menu numbers 159 to 167, and turn PROC off. 

Of course, you might tweak the EQ FREQ (frequency) numbers a bit, per your voice.  But remember, little tweaks in the frequency are probably where you'd need to make a change, if any.  Once you start changing the LEVEL or BWTH (bandwidth), you might find you compression ability suffers, or you could overdrive the ALC.  My other Yaesu radios acted differently, but the FTDX3000 seemed especially finicky with wanting to overdrive the ALC.

My numbers seem to have angered at least one purist on QRZ.  These are settings for a DX sound, rather than a "dull, wet blanket" BBC sound.  The high frequency level and bandwidth of menu items 174 to 176 are set in this way to both create just enough high-end bite, which is good for DX comms,  I tested this remotely via WebSDR, from 3,000 and 5,000 miles.  If you choose to set those high frequencies to a lower level and bandwidth, you may find it difficult to achieve processing/compression of a useful level for DX (and that's OK, if a more smooth sound is your goal). 

These settings also allow you to drive the ALC to a higher level without exceeding it, and create about 2% to 5% compression at the top of the ALC scale (with my voice). Please set your Mic Gain level so that it does not exceed the limits.  You may find your FTDX3000 takes 5 or 10 minutes to "warm up" before the ALC acts properly.  I find mic levels reduce a bit, after a few minutes.  Check your levels often.

I have found that Yaesu's parametric settings are not the same for every radio.  The ALC and COMP can act differently on each rig.  Your radio might even differ at bit, so I suggest you listen via an SDR receiving station online, and make adjustments to your sound.  Always watch that ALC, and do not exceed it, lest your signal become "dirty".  Here is a map to Kiwi SDR sites, but you may have to search yourself, if their link changes:
 

Map of SDR Receivers


Lastly, I find the shock mount accessory for this mic prohibitively expensive.  This shock mount is cheap, but works really well.  If the link dies, just search to find a shock mount for a 48mm-54mm microphone.  The same model is sold by various sellers.  I have purchased from AliExpress for over 5 years, and had very good luck:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000491039037.html?spm=a2g0o.9042311.0.0.4d264c4dUTefd0



You can also find a sponge on AliExpress for cheap, and help stop the Plosive P-pops.  The mic is about the same size as the popular AT2020, so the same sponge fits:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001551880794.html?spm=a2g0o.9042311.0.0.27424c4dQXYelV


  


Shoot me a message, if you have any questions or comments...
HL1ZIX