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Reviews For: Heil ICM

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Heil ICM
Reviews: 85MSRP: 89.99
Description:
New high performance electret mike for ICOM older transceivers
Product is in production
More Info: http://info@heilsound.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
34.7854.6
AD4DZ Rating: 2014-09-13
Good mic, works great. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was using the ICOM SM-30 on my ICOM 7100 and was continually getting reports of a metallic, rattling sound and then it started sticking and I couldn't unkey. I decided to try the Heil ICM and I really like it. I have it mounted on the Heil base and like that I can use the base ptt or the soft touch button on the mic. Very happy with this mic.
W4ATK Rating: 2014-01-09
Just Died Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My Heil ICM just quit. No audio. PTT works fine. Mic is about 1 year old. Plugged the hand mic in that came with my IC-9100 and everything flies, so it has to be the ICM. Very disappointing.
N4JTE Rating: 2013-06-24
Great audio, lousy ptt Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Fantastic audio reports always on 751a and 718,
HOWEVER: I have just ordered my 6th icm due to the same faulty ptt switch problem, I hate footswithes so I just give them away !
I mentioned this to Heil at Dayton 2 years ago and he said he would look into it, guess he ain't had time yet.
Bob
N4JTE

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Earlier 4-star review posted by N4JTE on 2007-10-08

I have used the ICM since it was first available for my 751A and always receive excellent unsolicitated audio reports. But I am now on my fourth ICM, the hand switch has failed on everyone so far, gave away 2 to fellow hams with footswitches, destroyed one trying to fix it and my newest one, about one year old, is showing the same problem.
Bob N4JTE
N0JR Rating: 2012-12-21
Good sound, weak construction Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have owned two of these. After about a year the ground connection in the hardwired mic cable went bad. Thought this was probably an aberration, since I had never had any problems with Bob's plug-in mic cables in the past. When the second one developed the same problem after about the same length of time it became clear the problem was no aberration. Be prepared to treat the ICM mic cord with much TLC. I have since gone to the Icom SM-50, which I consider a better mic in ALL respects.
W2NJU Rating: 2011-09-03
This mic rocks! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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.
LA9BM Rating: 2011-08-17
A lot of nice audio reports Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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.
KE6TDT Rating: 2011-06-07
First impressions Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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
M3VZQ Rating: 2010-07-25
LOVELY MICROPHONE Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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 ~~
N7SCC Rating: 2010-07-13
Just a great Mic for Icom!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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!
K1WTX Rating: 2010-06-03
Nice dx punch Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
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