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Reviews For: Shure 514B Microphone

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Shure 514B Microphone
Reviews: 2MSRP: 84.42
Description:
The Shure 514B is a low impedance, dynamic, handheld microphone designed for paging and public address systems It provides clear, natural voice response and high intelligibility.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.shure.com/microphones/models/514b.asp
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
VR2XMQ Rating: 2008-02-24
1st Choice for SSB Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This microphone has been around the shack for ages and is used with my Ten Tec Argosy II and gets great audio reports.

Steve, VR2XMQ / VR10XMQ
N1KSN Rating: 2006-04-24
Good choice for QRP SSB Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got a version of this microphone for $25 from All Electronics several months ago, with no particular application in mind. Just seemed like a good price. Since then I built an Elecraft K2 and decided to use this mic for the K2 SSB option.

The mic had been built with a strange wiring arrangement because it was for some 3rd party equipment, but after reversing the PTT leaf spring and doing a bit of rewiring, I had everything to the Shure 514B spec. (It isn't a knock-off, it says "Shure" on the inside.) After installing an 8-pin connector to match the K2, I made a call on 40 meters with about 8 watts power. I quickly had a contact from central PA, and with it a good audio report.

As I was still twiddling with the K2's BFO frequencies, I made more trial contacts, including a 20 meter QSO with a ham living 2 miles away who knows my voice. I got good to great audio reports all round, while using 2:1 or 3:1 compression. One ham who knows me and was listening in without my knowledge later told me the audio was "outstanding."

Since this mic is made for paging and similar systems, the frequency response of this mic emphasizes the higher voice frequencies to maximize intelligibility. (We all know what a bad paging system sounds like!) This is just what I want when running QRP SSB. I don't want to waste power transmitting voice frequencies that aren't needed to communicate. I've checked into 80 meter nets in the evening and have surprised the other stations with my 8-10 watts of power. I give some credit for this to the mic.

If you like to use low power on SSB and clear understandability is your primary concern, you might want to consider this mic. An added bonus is that it's quite rugged, an advantage in the field, where I plan on taking my K2 every chance I get.