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Reviews For: Astatic D-104

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Astatic D-104
Reviews: 70MSRP: 90.
Description:
The Liliypop Mike
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.astatic.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00704.7
N2DTS Rating: 2017-11-02
been great for 35 years! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Works great into about a 2 to 4 meg resistance, depending on how much bass you want.
Nice mid range peak in response, high end rolls off quickly which is great for wide open AM rigs that would pass 10 KHz audio, the D104 will not pass much above 5000 Hz.
Every one sounds slightly different, the ones with the preamp are poor I think, the unamplified D104 will not work into a low impedance radio (solid state), it will sound shrill with no low end at all.
The higher the resistance, the greater the low frequencies, some run as high as 10 meg.

No longer made, prices for a clean one are going up...
K1VCT Rating: 2017-03-05
Great audio reports Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I always liked the look of the D-104. Something very cool and retro looking. I had the opportunity to get one in nice shape (cosmetically) for a reasonable price, had the cash, so said... hey, what the heck.

The mic I received has a plain old "G" stand. That is, a SPDT switch in the "chicken choker" and two two wires (plus old fashioned braid)in the cord. The inked stamping in side the base reads 10-58. That, coupled with 2 cloth covered wires and fiber cord surrounded by litz wire in its stock cable, make me think the base (at least) is from 1958, as the stamping suggests.

I had no idea if the mic would work, but I wired it up for my ICOM IC-7200 with a 4 wire cord, keeping the "audio ground" and "PTT ground" separate, which meant a minor revision the D-104 base wiring. I used a Sprague "Orange Drop" .1mfd capacitor to block the DC on pin 1 of the mic connection.

Things are pretty tight in the 8 pin shell, so I removed pin 2 (+8v) completely from the plug's housing, preventing any potential for future smoke creation.

After a bit of testing to make sure the mic's switch still worked, I plugged it in, tuned up on 40m, and joined the only ragchew I could find in the middle of an ARRL contest weekend.

"GREAT AUDIO" was the response. Later, another QSO with two locals confirmed solid readable audio, with a bit of the high end the D-104 is noted for.

Here's what I learned, and was unable to find with reasonable certainty elsewhere on the 'net.

1. Keep the PTT and audio grounds separate. That may involve getting the plug at the top of the base off (easy, 1 screw) and snipping a wire to ground on its "solder" side of the pins.

2. Bob Heil is perhaps too conservative regarding how the IC-7200, and maybe other "low gain" ICOM radios will perform with the stock Astatic D-104 element. Mine has plenty of gain. Gain set a 55 with the "comp" setting of 4 on the IC-7200 works fine, according to reports. And that's with the mic at a comfortable distance away, on the desktop.

3. In this particular case, impedance be damned, it works, but I can't say why. I'm assuming the IC-7200's mic-gain control has enough latitude to make it work.

4. Reports of hum, noise, scratchiness, buzz, rasp, or any other nasty audio artifacts were non existent. Other than the perfect call of "that mic of yours sounds exactly like a D-104!", and the aforementioned traditional D-104 weighting in the high mid-range, nobody had anything negative to report.

So there you have it. The marriage of an Astatic D-104 oldie to a more modern ICOM IC-7200. What I read on the net suggests some jumping through hoops, but the worst of it was soldering the wires into the 8 pin plug.

My "normal" mic had been the stock "JAPAN" marked HM-36, which has now been put away, but kept on the "reserved" list.

And one last item. I can't imagine the Heil 5.1 element "upgrade" being any worse with the IC-7200 (even though its not Heil's best ICM element).

Hopefully some of this will be useful to another HAM down the road....
KB1BC Rating: 2013-09-06
D-104 Easily Modernized Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked up a D-104 with T-UG8 Stand which was in very good shape 3 days ago off of local craigslist and then ordered W2ENY's HiFi Electret MIC Element upgrade kit (Just Google it). Removed the original mic element and old coiled cable, then soldered in the new element and rewired a black CAT-5 network cable for use with my IC-706MKII. The upgrade was fast and easy and most of the time was spent cleaning up the chrome parts when reassembling. Now I am using a classic microphone that sounds awesome and also matches the impedance requirements of my modern transceiver. Total cost for me was $73 which is way cheaper than the cost of an ICom desk microphone. If you can find a D-104 with good chrome on the head and neck stem and a working switch it is a perfect candidate for this easy upgrade.
WW4Q Rating: 2013-08-01
D-104 ESSB Time Owned: more than 12 months.
ESSB.... yes!

I have my Silver Eagle setup for Behringer MIC2200, EX3200, MDX2600, EAM/ESSB modified TS-940SAT. Mic works very very well!!!
KD8EZU Rating: 2012-03-27
A great communications microphone Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The D-104 range of mics were first and foremost communications grade microphones. Remember that fact and say it twice.

The were not design to be recording units,but for amateur\non-critical\radio use. In that role, and coupled correctly, the D-104 is a great communications microphone. Clean, CRISP, highly intelligible audio that makes each syllable perfectly understandable.

Larry King audio... nope.....ESSB audio...nope, but if you want that, spend a ton of money or use AM or FM. SSB was designed ( and works well ) to be an efficient, narrow bandwidth mode. The audio part of it was deemed acceptable ...and still is.

I have a D-104 Silver Eagle and turn the pre-amp to only two and the TS-440S's mic gain to about 4
and it works very well. The mike gets "OOHS and AHHS" from teenage or younger visitors to my shack because it looks "so retro " or so they tell me. I have no complaints on the build quality and many cab and dispatch services used these mics ( D-104's of any flavor ) for years with millions of key and unkey actions. I used to have a pager ( remember them?) and the ladies that would relay messages used a D-104 microphone at the transmitting end.

They always had crisp, CLEAN, and understandable audio.

Used D-104's ususally need to be relubricated, and it does not hurt to resolder all contacts.Adding a electret element to replace a working UNDAMAGED original element is pure folly, and there are those that have done it. Kind of like putting a Ferrari engine in a Corolla and then hoping somehow that it will be a Ferrari.

There is NOTHING wrong with the audio of a D-104 if one remembers what it was designed to do ,AND if it is not overdriven AND is electrically and mechanically working.

Most new hams, however, have no idea of the tonal design plan that was incorporated into this mic and think it should sound like a studio mike. Then again, even experienced hams still believe that somehow, someway, SSB can become and deliver AM or FM quality audio easily. Sorry folks but theres one word preventing that.......BANDWIDTH!!

All the best.
KX7P Rating: 2012-01-01
GOOD DX MIC FOR OLDER RADIOS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have found this to be a great microphone to use working DX. I've used several of these microphones on many different radios over the years. In my opinion, it's not the best microphone for casual ragchew, but it's not bad it's just not the best. I have found it works better with older tube HF radios. They are a little "hot" for the newer radios, but they work. It has sharper audio and seems to punch through for DX quite nicely. I've found putting on the DA-10 head works better for SSB. Tim, KX7P.
VA3MLV Rating: 2011-12-24
amplified 1 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the amplified 1 and it works good with my FT101ZD but very sensitive.
KB0HAE Rating: 2011-09-18
Cheap Junk!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
While these mics may have been good back in the all tube tranceiver days, most of the quality was lost in the early 70s. I have owned several of these junkers over the years. The originals were unamplified. When CB became popular, a lot of quality was dropped, and a cheap amp was added. The chicken choker was tiring to use for long QSOs. The base with the press-bar needed constant adjustments as the press-bar was made of cheap metal, and wouldn't hold its shape. Most used ones have been messed with or had holes poked in the mic element. CBers spread the rumor that poking a hole or 2 in the element would improve the output or the sound.

Just say no to these junkers!
KB8DNS Rating: 2010-09-15
The Best! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The first Astatics were created around 1933 and production finally stopped in 2001. Still on of the best mics! I have five and will buy more as I find them. One of the better ones came from a scrap iron pile and it cleaned up great! From 1975, date is usually under the base cover, it is an amplified TU stand with D104 head. The frequency response in perfect for SSB coms! I even had the lip tingle with my FT101EE!
K2OWK Rating: 2010-08-13
Finest microphone ever made Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this microphone off EBay for a very low price. The seller said he found it in the attic in a shoe box had no way to test it so he sold it to me as is. It arrived dirty, dusty, but had no rust. I turned it over and noticed it had a volume control in the base. I removed the base to discover the Astatic two transistor amplifier. The battery had been removed so the unit was in excellent condition. I took the microphone apart cleaned it. Replaced a foam piece on the back that had turned to chewing gum, and restored the microphone. It had the original Astatic cartridge. When I was done it looked like new. I installed a new nine volt battery. I connected it up to an audio amplifier and tested it. The audio was spactacular to say the least. I see why all the excellent reports on this microphone. It is a beauty in looks quility and sound, and to think it was designed in the 1930s. Wow!!!!