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Reviews For: W2IHY Dual Band Equalizer/Noise Gate

Category: Audio Accessories for Transmitter & Receiver

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Review Summary For : W2IHY Dual Band Equalizer/Noise Gate
Reviews: 35MSRP: 144.99 assembled or 109.99 kit
Description:
2 Band Audio Equalizer and Noise Gate
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.w2ihy.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00355
N9FG Rating: 2002-06-19
A winner! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Have had the equalizer with noise gate for a couple of weeks. I'm using it on my 756Pro2 and Kenwood D700A - getting very good audio reports with a Heil GM-4. W2IHY was very helpful and offered some good suggestions on how to configure my equipment.
WB8RLZ Rating: 2002-06-18
GREAT BUY Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I BOUGHT THE 2 BAND EQ AT THE DAYTON HAMFEST (2002) I HAD CHECKED HERE FOR COMMENTS ON THE PRODUCT... I READ ALL THE ONES ON THE 8 BAND EQ AND WAS IMPRESSED WITH THEIR LOYALITY TO JULIUS..
WHEN I GOT HOME I OPENED THE KIT AND FOUND THAT 2 PARTS WERE MISSING. MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS, WELL I GET TO SEE HOW JULIUS GOT HIS REPUTATION. I E-MAILED HIM WITH THE PROBLEM...ABOUT 4 HOURS LATER I GOT A E-MAIL FROM JULIUS SAYING THE PARTS WERE IN THE MAIL AND HE WAS SORRY FOR THE MISHAP..
I GOT THE PARTS A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER AND I WAS ON THE AIR IN ABOUT 20 MINUTES... I AM USING A NEW ICOM IC-718. I MISSED USING THE HEIL MIKE I HAD BECAUSE OF LOW OUTPUT. THE W2IHY GIVES ME ENOUGH CLEAN GAIN TO PUT THE CONTROLS ON THE RADIO AT MID RANGE...THE NOISE GATE WORKS GREAT..
THE BOARD IS OF EXCELLENT QUALITY AND THE SLIDE POTS ARE HI QUALITY ALSO, NICE SMOOTH OPERATION. ABSOLUTLY NO RF PROBLEMS..(EVEN AT 1KW)
DON'T TELL JULIUS, BUT WITH THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT AND HIS GREAT SERVICE HE COULD CHARGE ALOT MORE...

JIM / WB8RLZ
W0PPK Rating: 2001-11-11
Top Notch Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Does not get any better! The quality and performance are incredible.

In this day and age is reassuring to find people that still care about quality and service.

73's Bob
KE1EH Rating: 2001-11-10
WONDERFUL ACCESSORY Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my 2 band EQ from Julius in June of 1996 and has worked perfectly up until three weeks ago when the power cube went south on me and (assuming, we're not really sure) caused a cap to go short. I returned the unit to Julius for repair,which he did the day he received it. He personally called me that evening to let me know what he found!! (Julius you could make a fortune doing seminars on customer service/relations!). As I've had the unit for such a long time, it was past its warranty (When was the last time you bought something in ham radio with a three year warranty?) He charged me next to nothing for the repairs. Turn around time was five days from when I sent it out till I got it back---WOW!!. Now I ask, is that service-or what!? As for the unit it's self, what a great toy. I can use any mic I want and make it sound great. I have my unit marked for two settings, rag chew and dxing. It only takes a second to change from one to the outher, and the noise gate make the vox so smoooth. If I could give the product and the service a ten, I would. It was money well spent!
AD6MJ Rating: 2001-04-25
Great Product, Great Support Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The W2IHY EQ/Noise Gate is great. I have an Icom IC-730, and saw the ads for Bob Heil's new HM-i microphone. I have been wanting something that would improve the audio quality a bit over the stock hand mike. Unfortunately, the HM-i does not have enough output for the 730. As Bob explained, the 730 does not have an internal mic amp and I would need something between the mike and the rig. Bob had suggested a Behringer unit but it would not provide the proper phantom voltage for the HM-i. I had read several comments about the W2IHY eq's and thought one might work well for me.

So, I emailed Julius and explained my situation. He was very nice and actually tried his eq with a Heil HM-i. After he told me it worked great I ordered one. I did not really see the need for the eight band unit and went with the 2 band unit. It sounds GREAT!!! The unit provides plenty of gain to drive the 730 and the Bass and Treble adjustments allowed me to tailor the audio to my voice and rig.

Installation was very straightforward and the instructions written clearly. I monitor transmit audio with a second receiver and it is amazing the difference it makes. With the EQ bypassed it still performs as a preamp. The Heil mike sounds good in bypass, but with the eq set it sounds great. The noise gate feature works excellent. My operating environment is not all that noisy, but what background noise there was went away after adjusting the noise gate. The delay adjustment makes it sound very smooth, and improved vox operation. I have had no problems with rf getting into my audio either. On air reports have been great. I really like my 730 but it's audio wasn't the greatest. Now it sounds outstanding.

The unit has an eight pin mike input(600 ohm) that can be switched for Kenwood, Icom or Yaesu mikes. There is also an RCA mike input if you want to try something different. There is also an RCA connection tied to the PTT for use with a footswitch etc. I plan to try out the RCA connectors for a sound card input for digital.Of course, with an attenuator. Julius has plug-n-play cables available to connect the eq to the radio.
In short, Julius has a fine product and is a geat guy. Thanks!!!