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Reviews For: Kenwood MC-90

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Kenwood MC-90
Reviews: 22MSRP: conversion 190 GB pounds
Description:
Dedicated microphone for Kenwood DSP tranceivers.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
13224.6
KF9MA Rating: 2006-02-25
Perfect match to the 2000 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Not only is this a great looking mic (a darker shade compared to the MC-60A) it is a perfect match to the DSP in the Kenwood TS2000. The weak FM audio doesn't exist on the 2000, you just turn the FM MIC GAIN (menu #41)up to HIGH as stated in the manual. I've had great reports on FM using the MC-90.
On SSB the wide response of the MC-90 works well with the audio settings of the 2000. The mic itself has a 3 way EQ switch on the bottom.
The mike also comes with 2 heads that have different tonal characteristics, one for rag chew and one for DX.
Not seperate cartridges, as in some mikes, but 2 separate "shells" that screw on the end.
I wasn't sure this would make a difference, but it really does.
Another positive is that the MC-90 has a Cannon XLR connector instead of the old 12 pin on the MC 60. This way you can use other mics on the base or use the MC 90 mic with a regular mic cable.
Negatives? None so far.
GI0ZGB Rating: 2002-05-09
HQ DSP MIC Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my MC-90 to use with my TS-870 and it worked superbly well on SSB and a non-starter on F.M. due to the deliberate lack of sensitivity by design. So I had the idea of building a small amplifier which fitted internally giving about 20db boost without any noticable degrading of quality. It worked well on all modes but was still too quiet for comfortable F.M. use having to close talk to stop stations with no volume control whinging about quiet audio. Works extremely well into Behringer EQ or similar quality unit with or without amplification. Has small three position switch to subtly filter Kenwood selected voice frequencies, use an EQ instead for a tailored response. Considering the basic specification and the fact that it's only useful on SSB, it's difficult to justify the expense, but when you've got a TL-922 roaring away in the background or a noisier XYL threatening divorce proceedings that's where it pays dividends. It truly compliments the DSP machine giving beautiful audio with the unwanted extraneous sounds drastically attenuated and completly removed when using an EQ noise gate.