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write your own review of the Astatic D-104.
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KA2OVK
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 7, 2009 07:27
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W2ENY NEW Hi-Fi ELEMENT REPLACEMENT IS GREAT!!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I had a couple D104s laying around and as you all know, fidelity is shrill and isn't good at all.
This guy has an electret replacement that brings the mic alive! I use on my Icom 756 and played with the bass and treble settings - now it looks great AND sounds great!
Well worth the $ - I resold the old elements so I actually made money buying this!
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3rys4/D104Replacement/
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W8AAZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 21, 2009 13:44
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Watch the used ones!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I am putting up a warning for people buying old used D 104 mics. They certainly perform as advertised when terminated with the correct load. Only the amplified version should be used with low or medium input impedances though. The warning is that for some reason, alot of used ones have holes poked in the diaphrams. Like someone poked something thru the grille, or even looking like they were intentionally poked. Also apparently some folks wanted to take them apart and play with the guts, you find crushed, dented and messed with aluminum diaphrams in used ones. I think the CBers were probably the worst for doing this. Beware a used one that looks OK outside may just have been messed up inside. So buyer beware on used ones! I have seen this too much.
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KB1OOX
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Rating: 4/5
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May 20, 2008 18:30
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good mic
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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i can rember the first time i saw a D-104 it was back in 1973 when the old man got in to cb's . he got a brownning golden eagle markII and it had the d-104.it was his baby.both the radio and the mic.now i have them both.. the radio is set up i dont use it much .. but the d-104 i use with my ts820s.. it.s not a hi-fi but i get good reports with.. i switch back and forth with the d-104 and my turner plus 3 and the mc50.. and it looks good ...
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W9ZXT
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 21, 2008 17:55
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COOL!!!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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You can cut the cord and put this in your living room and have people ask you "THAT IS COOL, WHAT IS IT"? The thing for me is, I use my D-104's on the AIR. Try it!! They are nothing but "COOL" on and off the air!!
W9ZXT
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KC0GSB
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 19, 2007 21:23
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A Classic
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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What more can be said about a microphone that has lasted this long. It isn't the best for fidelity, or doesn't have the punch of a Turner plus 3, but it does communicate, and do it well. The versions without the amp are hard to beat for running a tube boat anchor. I have eight of them, including the Golden Eagle. My favorite one is non amplified with a chrome 10DA head. It has a step down transformer in the head and runs my FT-920 easily with good audio reports. I have modified the amps in some of mine to help with the "tinny" sound on SSB. On others I have replaced the ceramic element with a crystal one. I suppose in my mind's eye the D-104 looks like a ham microphone is supposed to look. Another thing I like to do is replace the bottom felt with blue, green, or red felt, and replace the black silkscreen with a white one. I have re-painted my non-chrome models with metallic silver and several layers of clear coat. They look great after this. All in all, it's hard not to give this microphone a 5. The venerable D-104 is a part of amateur radio history. It played a major role in giving us clear audio back in the day. I know that many ham's now use studio type microphones (me too) and nice headsets, but every time I see a ham shack photo I always see a D-104 in the background. As it should be.
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KB1OKL
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 25, 2007 16:42
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classic looking, great sounding Mic
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I bought mine a few months ago at a ham fest. I run it straight into a DX-100 and get many good audio reports, it looks cool and with the base it stays put. I think my heading says it all. What more can I say?
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K4KYV
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 31, 2007 13:50
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Classic D-104
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have used one for several decades, but only the original version feeding the grid of a tube directly, without the "power mic" amplifier add-on.
With a 10 meg grid resistor, it has fairly good bass response, but I still get better average audio quality reports by mixing the output of the D-104 with an Electro-voice dynamic, using a homebrew 2-channel audio mixer.
I have several of the original versions, made between 1933 and 1937. The head is 1" thick, as opposed to the post-1937 head which is 13/16" thick. The nameplate is metal, and riveted on, and the place of manufacture is Youngstown, OH. Two of my originals come with eyelets for shock-mounting, suspended in a ring with springs or lacing cord, like the old double-button carbon mics. One of mine is spring mounted in a ring. The one I use on the air is mounted on a microphone boom, and I have a ring for mounting the third one as soon as I finish restoring it.
I also have a modern one with the thin head and taped-on nameplate and G-stand, but I don't like mounting the PTT switch on the mic stand. I prefer to hold the PTT switch in my lap, connected to the transmitter using the spiral cord removed from a hand mic. The switch is an old bakelite line-cord switch.
I understand that Astatic no longer supplies replacement cartridges, but requires you to send in the whole mic for factory replacement, and they charge you for the cartridge element and for installing it - more money than you usually pay for a whole good mic at a hamfest. Besides, I wouldn't trust them with one of my early versions, to return it with all the original parts and hardware intact.
I would recommend the D-104 for high-Z tube type equipment where the preamp is not necessary. It is not hi-fi, but is capable of very good audio quality if sufficient resistance is used for the grid-leak. The acoustical pre-emphasis, or "bump" in response allows transmission of the sibilance sounds to make the signal readable under less than ideal conditions.
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AI4WM
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 29, 2007 17:27
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One of the Best
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I guess this mic. really should rate 4.99. These are some of the best all-around microphones made. Through the years I've used these in PA, Broadcast and Communications work. I presently use one on my Yaesu FT-101ZD and it works great. Fine on the air audio reports. I have both an amplifed base and a non-amplified base.
These microphones have been around for a long time and are interchangeable on their non-amplified and amplified bases.
Although these are Hi-Z microphones the amplified base will work with a rig requiring Lo-Z or 600 Ohms.
These mics. on a non-amplified base may easily be converted to a preamp base with common ICs or a single transistor or two.
Quite a lot of these still in use and there seems to be plenty of information in the internet for the D-104. If you are searching for one keep your eyes open there are many out there. Just be careful to get one with a case that is not pitted. This often happens with older microphones from any manufacturer. Spare elements and other parts also show-up on sale at times also.
Time owned is listed for my present D-104
It's really too bad these are no longer manufactured. The amount of D-104s still in use and the age of many are a good testimony to the high quality of these microphones.
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KA3TGV
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 17, 2007 08:19
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These are nice.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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And sadly, no longer in production. They were USA made in Conneaut Ohio. Beware wary of microphones marketed to CBers as the 'Silver Salute'. I've had no experience with these but still feel it better to look for good used originals.
I have a few of the old originals or varying vintages and features. I don't have any of the prewar versions or anything newer than a mid-80's Silver Eagle.
The ones I like best were probably made in the 50's and 60's, with the hi-Z Rochelle salt microphone element and without the pre-amplifier in the TUG-9 base. An original D104 microphone, properly functioning and terminated, exhibits a pleasing midrange/upper midrange prescence rise along with a pretty decent sounding low end. Just the ticket for better than average communications quality audio with an older transmitter.
Astatic also made a version of the 'D104' with a piezoceramic microphone element in the D104C microphone head. This piezoceramic element is probably barium titanate, which withstands humidity and high temperature better than the Rochelle salts, at the cost of less output. Astatic also made a D10A head compatible with the G-stand/TUG-9 which I believe was a lo-Z dynamic microphone element.
D104s work best with the old transmitters and early transceivers that have vacuum tube microphone preamplifier stages suited to hi-Z input. These early D104's like to look into at least 10 kilOhms of resistance. The higher the input resistance, the better the bass reponse (to a point). With these early D104s (or any hi-Z crystal microphone) is it important to keep the microphone cable as short as possible. Using an excessive length of microphone cable diminishes the microphone's low frequency response.
Later on, with the conversion to solid-state, Astatic added a 'pre-amplifier' (really more of an impedance transformation device) to the TUG-9 base for compatibility with rigs having a lo-Z (500-600 Ohm) microphone input. I've never done much with my pre-amplified Silver Eagle but have seen conversion articles for the base-mounted preamplifier in QST and other places which lead me to believe there may be issues with the linearity of the preamplifier, current drain (battery life), or both.
Grab one while you still can. They are cool!
73
Doug
KA3TGV
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