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Reviews For: Yaesu MH31

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Yaesu MH31
Reviews: 25MSRP: 41 Euro
Description:
Original Handeld Mic
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.funktechnik-dathe.de/mikro.php?zubehoer
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00252.9
W8GTX Rating: 2021-02-03
Great design, terrible dynamic element Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I like the feel and shape of the mic, very much so. But, that dynamic element leaves plenty on the table with that muffled sound. Install an electret element as there are several plans on the NET for performing this, or purchase W2ENY's kit. Either way, you won't be sorry. Makes a nice difference in the frequency response
HL1ZIX Rating: 2020-05-26
A solid mic, if you EQ properly Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The MH-31b can sound decent with the proper settings. On Yaesu FTDX 3000 (and similar radios), please try the following settings for the compressed mic menus, which are 159 to 176 on the FTDX3000:

P-EQ1 FREQ 200 (adjust the low bass freq center point in Hz. You may prefer 300 here)
P-EQ1 Level -15 (adjust how much you add/subtract from low bass setting)
P-EQ1 BWTH 1 (adjust the bandwidth area covered by low bass frequency peak)
P-EQ2 FREQ 1500 (adjust mids frequency center point in Hz)
P-EQ2 Level 1 (adjust how much you add/subtract from the mid setting)
P-EQ2 BWTH 1 (adjust the bandwidth covered by mids frequency peak)
P-EQ3 FREQ 2100 (adjust the highs freq center point in Hz)
P-EQ3 LEVEL 3 (adjust how much you add/subtract from the highs setting)
P-EQ3 BWTH 5 (adjust the bandwidth covered by the high freq peak)

For the Yaesu FT-891, you can try the above settings, or try these.... I would try the same settings as the FTDX3000, first, but if those don't work out for you, try these, below. I love the sound of these, below, but they cause my FTDX3000 to flake on TX and make a dirty signal, with the compression not being able to activate within the ALC range. These settings seemed excellent with my FT-891, but I no longer have the radio to test the cleaner FTDX3000 settings I came up with, above. Try both, and see what you think. As for EQ, notice that Yaesu FT-891 gives you 2 EQ lists. One is for compression when on (menu 15-10), and the other when off (15-04). I roll-off all lows below 200 or 300Hz. This is very important Also, I leave Compression (PRC in quick menu, set to my preference, between 25 to 50) on all of the time. I find that for DX, I want the compression around 10 to 15%, max. For local stuff, around 5-10% (or less) is fine. These settings ONLY work if you are using compression (PRC highlighted):

P-EQ1 FREQ 300 (adjust the low bass freq center point in Hz -- you may prefer 200)
P-EQ1 Level -15 (adjust how much you add/subtract from low bass setting)
P-EQ1 BWTH 8 (adjust the bandwidth area covered by low bass frequency peak)
P-EQ2 FREQ 1300 (adjust mids frequency center point in Hz)
P-EQ2 Level 8 (adjust how much you add/subtract from the mid setting)
P-EQ2 BWTH 8 (adjust the bandwidth covered by mids frequency peak)
P-EQ3 FREQ 2300 (adjust the highs freq center point in Hz)
P-EQ3 LEVEL 10 (adjust how much you add/subtract from the highs setting)
P-EQ3 BWTH 8 (adjust the bandwidth covered by the high freq peak)

A key is to keep your ALC in the middle range, or below, when possible. This can differ on certain Yaesu radios. For the FT-891, try to keep the ALC at 1/3 of the scale, because that radio becomes quite dirty on TX, when the ALC exceeds the middle range. You can achieve decent compression, even at these lower ALC levels. The FTDX3000, on the other hand, is a different beast. Aim for the 50% mark on the ALC. When you need to get your compression up, you can aim to exceed this, but be sure to still stay in the range of the ALC, or your TX signal will become too dirty. With the proper settings for the MH-31b, you can make this happen. With the wrong EQ settings, you can create what sounds like a good signal (to you), but it will be too dirty.

There is also a 1 / 2 switch on the back of the mic. Setting 1 adds a bit fuller sound, while setting 2 is a bass cut. Play with this, and see what you like.

The MH-31b can sound pretty cruddy without EQ. But with EQ, it's a decent mic. A big fault, however, is the extra metal weight added inside of the mic. This weight is purely to make it feel more substantial, and leads to element damage, due to a heavier thud when dropped.

HL1ZIX / KE0EYJ TheStingyHam Blog
AC0MG Rating: 2019-05-13
Watch for imitations Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My MH-31 got intermittent for my Yaesu FT-847. Ordered a new one from ebay. There are a lot of them out there for around $20-25. If you look carefully, the word Yaesu does not appear on the photos of the microphones. I think these are even poorer quality than the originals. The mold they come from is identical. Original and copy both made in China. The copy audio quality is abysmal. Buyer Beware.
SV1WS Rating: 2017-10-06
sv1ws Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This mic have 184OM on mic element and is
very difficult to work well with resistance and
capacitors in parallel and series. No solved the
problem

































































































KD7WPJ Rating: 2017-09-20
Defective Time Owned: more than 12 months.
MH-31 came with FT-817ND. A lot of correspondents complained about audio quality. Some of them mentioned about RFI or bad ground. Finally, microphone stopped work at all. DC resistance is still OK (around 600 Ohm), but no audio at all.
W2RS Rating: 2017-09-15
Works well with Orion II Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have several mics that I use with the Ten-Tec Orion II, including the MH-31.

What I like about the MH-31 is that it is virtually immune to RF, which is an issue here on some bands where I am using an end-fed antenna.

With the Orion II, Position 2 sounds better than Position 1. However, as some reviewers have mentioned, it still has a muddy bass sound. The cure for this is simple: switch to Position 1 and adjust the TX EQ in the Orion II to -14 dB. Good, clear SSB audio.
KD2JF Rating: 2017-08-21
Poor audio quality Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This Mic came with my FT-847 two decades ago and It came with my FTDX-1200 a year ago. Very poor audio quality on SSB and only OK on FM. The bad thing is it comes with many Yaesu radios and unless the owner tries different mikes he will never realize the true audio quality of his transceiver. Its a shame Yaesu makes great radios and saddles them with this mic.
GM1SXX Rating: 2016-07-02
Horrible! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The MH-31 stock mic that comes with the FT817 does the radio no favours at all. On SSB it's muddy, muffled and unpleasant. I'd give it a zero, except that it does have some redeeming features... it's fairly ergonomic. I'm going to take that well-trodden path that many others have walked,.... rip out the dynamic mic capsule and replace it with an electret type. I was always convinced the mic was lousy, but having recently tried the 817 with a cheap electret mic instead, I now *know* the muffled dull audio really is all down to the MH-31.
K4DES Rating: 2016-03-09
UGH! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This horrible microphone uses phone cabling to connect it to the radio. It has never worked right, been back to the factory with no audio for repairs. Cable connections are the weak link.
M0HDX Rating: 2015-05-08
Works with MKV Field Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Yaesu MH-31 microphone works great with my yaesu ft-1000mkv field, Not a single day goes by without someone saying how well the two go together and my audio sounds great. I tried the heil goldline, pr-20,various headsets and a uher but always went back to the MH-31 microphone because it sounded so much better.After spending some time messing around with the internal eq in the mkv i finally got it sounding how i wanted with nice rounded audio that is punchy and clear.