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write your own review of the Heil ICM.
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W2NJU
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 3, 2011 21:46
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This mic rocks!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bob Heil personally recommended the ICM for my Icom IC-208H and IC-V8000 rigs. The first if the vhf/uhf rig and the second VHF only. During a recent simplex qso, I dropped transmitter power to minimum and listened to my audio on my HT. There were more low frequencies in there than I would get from the Icom stock mic and I gained several dB loudness. I just finished a qso on my club repeater and the fellow I was talking to said, "You've got SOME audio there, Very loud and crisp." Is it "hi-fi" audio? No. It's good communications grade audio. I don't think you can get that ballsy AM audio with or allotted FM bandwidth. But if you have an Icom FM transceiver, the Heil ICM will indeed make it sing.
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LA9BM
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 17, 2011 13:45
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A lot of nice audio reports
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bob Heil himself recommend the HEIL iCM to my IC-7000. Spend some time testing different SSB TBW. By 300 - 2700 Hz, I got the best audio report. Quite often in QSO, I am told that the audio is very good. Never received so many comments on my audio. At the same time, I had to reduce the mic gain to 15% by 25% COMP. This seems to be the optimum setup for this rig and microphone.
The HEIL iCM looks nice in good color.
Highly recomend the iCm to the IC-7000 and probably also to other ICOM rigs.
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KE6TDT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 7, 2011 21:35
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First impressions
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Operating a Non-Pro ICOM-746, no amplifier with an elevated, roof mounted HF6Vx Butternut vertical.Purchased the ICM from HRO Anaheim, CA and have used the ICM for 1 day now.
The finish on the microphone is top shelf and comes with a wind screen cover and a pig tail for a foot switch if desired. Fabricated my own boom from a desk lamp boom and works outstanding and swings out of the way with ease.
The only thing lacking was the mic clip which holds the mic to the boom. It did not seem to hold well so I replaced it with a new $3. clip from the local music store, which works perfect and is very secure.
Tuned up on a dummy load and listened on a second receiver, set the tone at 10, the compression at about 10 o'clock and set the rigs mic gain at about 9 o'clock or about 1/4 open. The mic seems to drive the audio very well at only 1/4 open on the gain. First reports were unsolicited and mentioned the audio was very good.
The mic also has a soft touch push to talk button on the mic, but I purchased the Heil HS-3 foot switch for about $24, which I have not hooked up yet.
I have been using VOX and the mic seems to responds very well to the non-pro 746 VOX controls.
First impression so far is this seems to be a very good product with very good audio.
In approximately 1 year I will again review this product at this site.
Dan
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M3VZQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 25, 2010 05:59
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LOVELY MICROPHONE
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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THIS IS A VERY NICE MICROPHONE AND WORKS WELL ON MY ICOM IC-737A WITH GOOD AUDIO REPORTS - ONLY DOWN SIDE TO HEIL IS THE EXPENSE INVOLVED IN BUYING MIC THEN HAVING TO PAY OUT FOR ALL THE EXTRAS SUCH AS BOOM/PTT SWITCHES/LEADS ETC AND SO ON THIS ALL ADDS UP AND CAN BE PRETTY EXPENSIVE IN THE LONG RUN - WELL HERE IN THE UK IT CAN BE - LOVELY MIC THOUGH WITH A NICE FINISH TO IT LOOKS GREAT ~~ M3VZQ ~~
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WV7G
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 13, 2010 01:58
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Just a great Mic for Icom!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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All I can say is: "If you own a Icom HF, You need this Micophone"! this is a very professional mic and it is worth alot more. It is very well built- very solid-- including the solid sheilded jacketed cable and 8-pin plug; And then using the VOX on my IC-718...it was like a dream! Oh yeah, if you don'tuse VOX, the "soft touch" PTT button on the side of the mic is very solid off/on. it outperformed the PTT on the Icom handheld mic and Icom desk mics. The mic is way far ahead of any other mic I've used-- Icom and otherwise!! I ordered a mic stand/base and with it being in use almost 2 days now-- I've usedit on the 2-meter/HF Stateside and Australia... the results are out standing. I will give another report further down the road. This is the mic to have in your station. After having the Icom handheld mic for the IC-718 and having purchased the Icom SM-8 mic; Heil Sound has it right with this mic for the (early) Icom HF units. I researched for the best mic and even sent a e-mail to Bob Heil asking for his expert opinion for the Icom HF and best operating mic -- Chip Margelli of Heil Sound answered me-- and confirmed that the Heil iCM mic was the one for the IC-718. This mic can be used on the newest Icom HF units(756/pro) as well,(check it out first) but my research was for the IC-718. My HF signal strength output(as indicated); has increased 5 to 10 watts and stations are coming back to me like never before. The quality of received signal reports are outstanding and like another reviewer said, "stations are coming back... working me!" I've also used the HSTA-iM cable for the iCM to interface with my Icom V-8000(2 meter). All I can say is wow! This is the mic. Comes with a "mic clip"; attached cable with 8-pin Icom female; wind sock; I was calling CQ in 10 minutes. The best "deal" I found was from Cheapham.com(Frank was very nice-took my order over the phone!)-- including a extendable(8-13in) mic stand and solid base, my total purchase including shipping was less than US$150 dollars. What a deal! Thank You very much Bob Heil for your research and design of the iCM mic. This is a professional looking and professional operating mic! I will certainly purchase from Heil Sound, Inc. and CheapHam.com again!
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K1WTX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 3, 2010 06:08
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Nice dx punch
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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A friend let me try his Heil ICM for a weekend and after the first few contacts, I had to have one! On my Icom IC-736, the improvement over the standard hand mike is huge. Instead of hearing "the K1 station .... again, again", my call is almost always heard the first time. When you run with 100 watts and wire antennas, any extra help is great and the ICM works for me when the going gets tough.
Jerry, K1WTX
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W5CPT
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 25, 2009 09:09
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Best you can buy
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought mine for my IC-756 (non Pro) and it works just fine. I moved from the desk top to the shelf above the desk and even from 12" away from my mouth I get good audio reports.
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K3DAV
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Rating: 2/5
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Feb 25, 2009 00:18
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A disappointment for a Heil.
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I have had a Heil GM studio mike with an older radio and have gotten many good compliments on it. Since Heil is considered a high quality standard product, I decided to get the Heil iCM for my new Icom 706MK2G. Wow was I disappointed. I had to turn the mic gain on the radio, all the way up, and still keep within 1 inch of the mic to have almost normal audio. It had no umph to drive the power on SSB.
I thought maybe I got a defective mic. I returned it to heil and he sent me a brand new one. Same exact results. All of the Heil mics are great top quality products, except the iCM.
If you want a good quality mic for your Icom radio, here is what you do. Go to Radio Shack and order a (270-0090). It is a tiny electret condenser mic element just perfect for Icom radios. This element operates best with 4.5VDC. But this element works with 2 to 10VDC and works great with the 5VDC Icom puts on the mic audio wire. It has 20Hz to 15KHz frequency response, (Much better than Heil's iCM), and it is more sensetive than Heil's iCM. It is so small, you can mount it next to another mic element in any microphone.
When I first tried out the RS element on the air, I was told to back off the mic or turn it down. Once I got it set right, everyone told me it sounded very clean, clear and natural. And it has enough gain for SSB. Only $6.95 at your local Radio Shack.
Send me an email, and I will be happy to return a spec sheet on the mic element.
k3dav@msn.com
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KI4CRA
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 24, 2009 21:23
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sO FAR SO GOOD.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Only a first impression, I've only had this mic for 2 weeks to go with my 756Pro. I've had some really great comments on my audio using this mic using only the basic settings called for by Bob Heil on his website. So we;ll give another review in a couple of months to see where are then.
73 de Mark
AI4HO
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W7DDD
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 16, 2009 13:47
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Excellent
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I use this mike on my 756 Pro3. I picked it after listening for hours at the various mic samples you can download from the Heil site. I didn't care what it cost. To my ear, it had the best sound. So, I bought it and have been very pleased. It sounds good when I monitor it, I get great audio reports, and most important of all, to people who know me in person, they say it is perfect - it sounds like me! That's what counts, in the end.
While considering options, I sent a question to Heil, and Bob answered right away himself. We had several back and forths. I know my questions were dumb, but he never let it show. Not like the donkeys on this site that give out zeros, but don't have a name or call sign!
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