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Author Topic: Heil not the company it used to be!  (Read 862 times)

KX2T

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Heil not the company it used to be!
« on: January 20, 2022, 06:47:58 AM »

Heil is not the company it used to be and it looks like its turning into another cooperate rat trap! Many years ago back in the nineties when Bod was bring his mics and headset to market and the proverbial HC4 and HC5 element ruled the bands as far as the DX guys and contesting crews were concerned I was one of the early users of his products. In fact I repaired a pair of his headset/boom mic that I had owne3d for better than 20 years and gave it to a good friend and about three years ago bought another ProSet IC to use with some Icom radio's which worked great for the Icom's but sucked wind on an Yaesu rigs.
I recently bought a FTDX101D and tries to wire it up and it kind of worked but sounded very poor with or without the EQ in the radio, no mater what I did it just could not sound good at all. I love the headphone part and even replaced the earpads with some brain waves perforated memory foam earpads which make them very comfy for long hours of use. I called Heil and was told that they could replace the element with something called the HC6 element which I had tried already on an earlier FTDX3000 I had owned and it was kind of flat sounding no matter how you adjusted it but I had to ship the headphones to Heil then pay them shipping both ways  on something they used to sell directly to the customer. Replacing the mic element is for me very simple task but they would Not sell me the element.
I get the felling that Bob is no longer involved with his company and to be honest the newer products are more designed for the ESSB guys than the DXer's and contesters which put Heil Sound on the map as far as ham radio is concerned. Even the PR781 I have owned for many years I needed to modify the surroundings of the element to make it more unidirectional and increase the midrange response cause before I did that it too sounded very flat plus the midrange was dull.
It seems that Heil is not the same company it once was, there headset headphone part is very good but there mic elements have taken a step backwards IMO.   
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K1FBI

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2022, 08:05:50 AM »

Let’s see if I got this right. You bought an IC mic which is specifically designed for ICom and it works great. However it does not work well with Yaesu which it wasn’t designed for and the Company sucks now?
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K1VSK

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2022, 09:00:06 AM »

I always wonder what value subjective reviews have. Running any small business has many challenges these days. Its difficult to tell when we see these “this restaurant sucks” reviews as though everyone isn’t facing increased prices, increased wages, decreased staff, decreased supply availability, inability to find talent, etc…
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AE9DX

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2022, 09:28:51 AM »

After reading the initial post, I just felt I had to comment. That being said, everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion. However, I've been using Bob Heil's products as long as I've been in Amateur radio which is many years to say the least. I've never experienced any problems with his products and the one time I had a question, (not a problem) Bob himself answered it. What more can you ask? I currently have two of the 781 and two of the HM-12 mikes in daily use at my station. They all provide good service and do what they are advertised to do. Trying to make a mike designed to work with one brand of radio work with another is not having reasonable expectations. I think that some people forget that this is radio communication, not HI-FI concert sound. Just my two cents!
73 to all.
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AE0Q

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2022, 09:40:59 AM »

bought another ProSet IC to use with some Icom radio's which worked great for the Icom's but sucked wind on an Yaesu rigs.

I don't see how trying to use a microphone, designed specifically for Icom radios, with a Yaesu makes Heil a poor company.

I recently got parts to replace the ear cushions and foam parts for two ProSet-5 headsets that I have had for 21 years.  That seems like pretty good customer support.  All the info I needed was on their web site.
 
Glenn AE0Q
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N2SR

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2022, 09:50:32 AM »

I've got a Heil pro set for sale - wired for Yaesu. 

Contact me off line.

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WY4J

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2022, 09:53:46 AM »

I beg to differ, If you would like to use a Heil microphone with two different brand radios, just ask I had an Icom 746Pro and a Kenwood 830s. I called Bob and asked him what mike he would recommend for both radios. Bob suggested an HM-10 and he was absolutely correct. Bob even go on 20 meters and helped me adjust it. Of course it got raving reviews but what else can be said when the microphone designer personally adjusts your microphone. Sold the Icom and replaced with a TS590SG and the same microphone still gets raving audio reviews with this rig. You could have called the man. Bob Heil is not that difficult to find and he would have been more than happy to have provided excellent advice.
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GRUMPY2021

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2022, 10:27:16 AM »

Not sure if I'm reading this correctly.   You have a headset that is over 20 years old that was made for Icom radios and you're mad because it doesn't work with Yaesu products and expect Heil to send you parts for a 20 year old headset and are pissy they want you to spend $25 to send them the headset and THEY are the bad company?   

I feel bad for Heil in the fact that given most people's attention span no bigger than a gnat not getting beyond the first paragraph.   I could say so much more but I'll try to take the high road.   This should be labeled as misinformation.
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AE0Q

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2022, 11:15:21 AM »

the fact that given most people's attention span no bigger than a gnat not getting beyond the first paragraph.

Oops, you didn't get through the first paragraph, there...

He wrote "about three years ago bought another ProSet IC to use with some Icom radio's which worked great for the Icom's but sucked wind on an Yaesu rigs."
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W9WQA

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2022, 03:13:09 PM »

most guys i hear sound 'normal", all pretty much as i would expect,not hi,lo, flat or sharp.
pretty hard to describe "normal",maybe just ez to listen to.

there ARE  others that dont sound right. id guess the've been trying non stock mics or messing with default settings.  usually bassy.

or 'jimmy" got to then one night on 7250. and he sounds "hissy", the worst !!

how much can you do in 3 khz bandwidth?


i have never bought a mic,  reports say i sound good, or more important, ok. 15 different rigs.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2022, 03:30:43 PM by W9WQA »
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KX2T

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2022, 03:20:48 PM »

Wow it amazes me how many hams just don't read the full post, is it Ebonics or some kind of other reading class that people in forums take and not read all the specifics. Up until last year or somewhere between 2019 and 2020 Heil did sell replacement parts for almost all there Boom Headsets including the mic elements so this post is not to knock Mr. Heil but the folks that have taken over his company as of recently and will not sell you the customer these parts. My best bet is to find an old ProSet boom headset and even if its just for parts take the mic element out of that cause its only two wires to solder to the element which I have done many times in my past.
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K1FBI

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2022, 03:26:15 PM »

Wow it amazes me how many hams just don't read the full post, is it Ebonics or some kind of other reading class that people in forums take and not read all the specifics. Up until last year or somewhere between 2019 and 2020 Heil did sell replacement parts for almost all there Boom Headsets including the mic elements so this post is not to knock Mr. Heil but the folks that have taken over his company as of recently and will not sell you the customer these parts. My best bet is to find an old ProSet boom headset and even if its just for parts take the mic element out of that cause its only two wires to solder to the element which I have done many times in my past.
"Ebonics"❓
So now you hate Black People and Heil Products...what is wrong with you?

Maybe you should start your own microphone company and show Heil how it is done.....jeeesh
« Last Edit: January 20, 2022, 03:28:36 PM by K1FBI »
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WA8NVW

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2022, 07:01:30 PM »

Somewhat surprised that nobody here mentioned that Heil mics and headsets labeled with an "I" suffix have electret elements that require DC bias voltage, while Yaesu and Kenwood use dynamic elements that need a DC blocking capacitor.  In short, the headset with an "I" suffix is NOT interchangeable between Icom and Yaesu radios that happen to use the same type of front panel mic connector.
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W9WQA

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2022, 08:46:30 PM »

so these fancy mic makers all buy the same elements by the pound from an element maker and tell you how great their mic case makes it sound...???
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KX2T

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Re: Heil not the company it used to be!
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2022, 04:53:31 AM »

Like I said hams do not read the post the so commonly blast apart, FBI gets something out of this post that is negative at every turn and more than likely has had his ticket for maybe at best 5 years!
Now by the way on Heil's site they say it can be used with other manufacturers rigs not JUST ICOM but for some reason if you call there SC department they will tell you even if you apply the 5VDC coming out of the FTDX101D it will not sound right at all and this is correct cause I did the appropriate wiring using a blocking cap with resistor and no mater how you adjusted it it sounded like crap, it was like a tone deaf sound that nobody who I have talked with for over 50 years said it sounded even close to my voice but oddly enough it did work with a FTDX10 I had before I bought the 101D.
For some reason the mic preamp in the 101D is different than the Ten or other Yaesu rigs that applies 5VDC out from the mic connector just for that use of electret condenser mics.
First off Bob Heil is no longer at his company running the show, he is home and I hope he is conformably retired but this post is more about the people who now run Heil and it has changed, they will no longer sell you parts for the boom headsets so you can fix little things yourself. Back in 2018 I completely rebuilt a Boom headset pair including replacing the earphone parts, wiring and earpads but gave it away to a good friend since I had that headset since 1995 and I figured since back then I ran the Icom rigs the Proset IC worked great in which they did on most Icoms  but only some Yaesu rigs.
I also tried buying like one ham posted some cheap mic element on e bay but none of them sounded especially decent even after some acoustic padding inside the booms plastic surround.
Heil Sounds new cooperate policy is they will not sell parts like they used to, maybe cause some hams don't have the patients to work with fine wiring inside the headset or boom or they are afraid someone might catch onto there cooperate secret mic elements but I have no idea but they no longer have the great customer service as what they had just a few years back when Bob was still at the helm.
To the newbie who claims I hate certain things well this may be your opinion but I do not hate but dislike the way the new Heil company has become but have used there products before for over 10 plus years and using the term ebonics was making fun of you not even reading the whole post from the beginning which it seems many do not!
 
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