Adapting ham mics to audio world.

[audiomatt]

Hi all, my name is Matt. I record bands and I see a ton of ham mics on ebay. I'm interested in trying them but they all have ham connectors. has anyone ever made an adapter to XLR or quarter inch?



I found a list of ham radio pinouts here. Could I just confirm that going from Mic to tip and ground to sleeve will give me a "normal" mic signal?
http://64.233.169.132/search?q=cache:NiOn7rJXVA0J:www.coffeepower.net/ham/pin_ham.htm+ham+radio+pinouts&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[David]

I'm no expert but...

Microphones made specifically for amateur radio emphasise clarity of speech over all else. As such, they're interested in frequencies below (finger in the air here) 6kHz and readability is more important than linearity. This is demonstrated by the Heil Goldline range that are available with a variety of inserts to suit different types of voices (presumably through emphasis of certain frequencies).

While there may be specialist microphones made for specific recording niches (vocals, drums, strings) I would expect (again, I'm guessing) microphones targetted at the recording industry to be more broadband in terms of frequency response and more linear given that the mixing desk will have all the EQ adjustments neccesary to bring out the best in whatever's being recorded.

You also need to take into account that amateur radio mics may be developed to different electrical standards and physically adapting them to XLR or 1/4 inch fittings may be only half the job.

But like I said, I'm no expert.