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Reviews For: Heil PR 781 Microphone

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Heil PR 781 Microphone
Reviews: 100MSRP: 199.
Description:
Professional quality dynamic cardioid microphone for amateur radio that is specifically designed for use with most makes of Elite transceivers of Kenwood, Yaesu, Ten Tec and iCOM.
Product is in production
More Info: https://heilhamradio.com/products/pr-781-2/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001004.8
KX2T Rating: 2022-04-03
Good MIc but Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this mic since 2007 when my wife gave it to me as an Xmas gift, this is a very broad range dynamic mic and unless you have there Icom mic cable with the DC blocking cap installed it doesn't play well with older Icom radio's. The 781 with a little bit of modification will work better with many rigs.
As far as the mod its easy, just unscrew the three small Philips heads holding the front of the mic cover onto its casing then remove that front grill and aluminum tube. With the foam covered extension showing wrap 3M electrical tape over the sides of the foam holding the element in front almost to were the mic element is. BTW this helps the mic become even more unidirectional but your midrange will have a pleasant boost over the bass end of the spectrum. This mode is kinda like what we used to do with the Kenwood mic the MC50&60 which had the same overpowering bass but no midrange AKA the old toilet Paper Tube trick. This mod makes the 781 sound great and I use this mic with my FTDX101 and also the FTDX10.
I feel Heil has also went down the path of chasing these ESSB guys and has forgotten his past, my old trusty HM10 still lives at a buddies QTH that I bought back in the late eighties or early nineties, That mic put him on the map and the newer mics leave the DXers behind a little, long live that HC5 element!
BTW the ESSB guys are mostly using some great mics like EV RE20 and RE27's but then they EQ the crap out of them and sound like the old CB power mics of years ago!
If you own a Icom buy the Boom/Headset Pro with the IC element that works outstanding on Icom rigs. Funny Heil made the 781 for the Icom 781 and I just don't see how the two fit.
W9JTC Rating: 2022-04-03
Awesome Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is by far the best microphone I have ever used!! I currently use it with my ICOM IC-7300. I do run an inexpensive mixer to bring the audio up. This is not the fault of the mic. This way I don't have to turn up the mic gain and use compression on the radio. I get great audio reports with this and will probably have this mic till it dies or I do!!! It is that good. It is overkill for HF probably but makes more sense than the PR-40 IMO.
VE3AKV Rating: 2022-01-31
Great addition to any station. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've used a bucketful of different mics over the years, Heil iCM, Heil Pro Set with an HC-5, Shure, Astatic, Sennheiser, etc.

I recently had the opportunity to acquire a PR781 "pre-loved" from a local so I ponied up the cash.

The PR781 is built like a tank, very solid indeed. The 2K to 3K bump in frequency response is easy to deal with... even without the W2IHY EQ/NG I have in line. I'm getting unsolicited comments about my great audio...smooth sound and yet, still be heard and understood through QRN. This is a great product.

73
VE3AKV
WB0OAF Rating: 2021-11-23
You can USE it on ICOMs - But it needs help! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Missing Midrange, too much Bottom end..I use it on my ICOM 7600 and the PRO-3 at times.

Remember how you can CUP you Hand by your ears for better hearing?? I tried it on the MIC with a Plastic MEOW MIX can, never looked back.

Go see my pictures on Q R Z ! Easy to do....It turns it into a real MIC!!

Increases the Midrange by 8 db! Better Articulation all the way around, now it's a real mic.......Roger that?

TIP: Listen to your own Transmit Audio on a second receiver with headphones, you can adjust your Transmit audio exactly the way you want it then. That's what the MONITOR button it for on your radio in case you don't know.......This is the right way to do it. If you ask people how you sound, their radio Bandwidth is all differant, hence you'll get a million differant answers. Set your 2nd receiver to WIDE BANDWIDTH, listen to yourself, then return it to normal.

No EQ is needed! Save your money.

73-WB0OAF

"Old Apple Farmer"
N9CHM Rating: 2020-05-14
Excellent audio with FLEX 6000 radios Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the PR781 to use on my FLEX radios (6500 & 6600M) after hearing others using it with their FLEX radios. Outstanding audio, I get unsolicited "great audio" reports. Here are the settings on I use for both radios. Voice characteristics are different from person to person, but this will get you in the ballpark. I run low cut at 100 and high cut at 3000 for rag chew SSB with DX proc, but some may like NOR proc with their voice.

FLEX EQ settings:
60=-7
120=-5
250=-3
500=-2
1K=7
2K=8
4K=6
8K=4
N4MJG Rating: 2020-05-13
awesome micorphone Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I really love microphone I use it on my yasue ft 847 it has awesome sounding on my ft 847 I bought the shock mount to go with it ! great microphone I brought from my friend of my !

n4mjg
been hamming since 2001
W4HWD Rating: 2020-05-13
It's solid and sound great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Now that I have a rig that has all that EQ stuff in it (Elecraft K3s) I wanted to try one of those fat studio mics. Not wanting to splurge for the PR40 or an RE20, and after hearing solid reviews I chose a PR-781.

I'm not into ESSB, but you don't have to be to get high quality audio from a good rig/mic combo. My current mic is a Heil Proset IC, which sounds really good on the air. I got the PR-781 to see of there was any difference.

There was.

My audio is considerably more "well rounded" even with the same EQ settings. I don't have a broadcast announcer voice, but this mic reproduces the voice I do have more faithfully than any other mic I have tried.

I don't have shock mounts or swing arms, and I refuse to pay $80 for a Heil desktop base, so for $30 I bought an Atlas DS7E desktop stand. No PTT, but I use a footswitch so don't need one. If you're looking for a desktop stand look at the Atlas - it's real nice!

Overall the PR-781 is a winner. We'll see how it holds up over time.

K4FX Rating: 2020-01-30
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned several Heil microphones over the years and never had a bad one. The PR781 is no exception, Excellent audio, smooth, rich and full. The design is a beautiful addition to any shack. Very well made microphone.
AC7FD Rating: 2019-02-28
Awesome microphone Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I love this microphone because it is so universal.
I built a switch box and can connect all microphones to all transceivers and this one is my favorite for general rag chewing. It is not my first choice for contesting and to crack the pile-up. I also use it to record voice for videos and podcasts.
Currently it my everyday microphone on a IC-7610 and works very well on this radio.
W0BNE Rating: 2018-12-13
The Best! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I had been running an IC-756ProIII (still have it) with a Heil Gold Elite mic. Always got good audio reports. I was fortunate enough to get an IC-7610 and switched the mic to that rig. Audio reports were sounds fine, it's ok, good, etc. That didn't sound good enough for me, so I purchased the PR-781 and found a group that allowed me to tweak the audio settings until they all agreed...don't change a thing, sounds incredible! That's what I wanted to hear and I imagine what most all of us want to hear. Couldn't be more happy!