Electrovoice Microphone

[Scipio Kid]

Back with another mic again.

Found a great deal on an Electro Voice Lo Z 622 desktop mic. It has a 3 pin plug on it like you see in public address systems at most schools and churches. I saw a couple posts on HAM sites that say it's a good mic but I'm wondering what the guru's here think of it paired with my Washington base and if it's even feasible to convert to the Uniden 5 pin without major surgery.

Any input would be most appreciated.

[MDYoungblood]

I believe your in luck, the wiring is very simple just google the mic and a PDF of it comes up, wiring and all. Neat mic, it is a hi-z so the sound might be tinny on a Washington. I'll give you the wiring if you can't figure it out for yourself but try first.

3's

Greg

[MDYoungblood]

Oops, 622 is lo-z, should sound fine.

3's

Greg

[Scipio Kid]

Thanks a million MD,
I'm gettin' it! I'll let you all know how it works and how I like it.

[pabxone]

I'm almost certain some versions of Tram base stations came out from the factory with a Tram badged version of that same microphone ?

Unless it was a Japanese copy ?

[Scipio Kid]

I couldn't get out to get it yet but the pics show it's tagged Electrovoice, Buchanan, Michigan. My worry was the three prong plug it has vs. the 5 prong jack on my Washington. I googled it like MD suggested and it looks like an easy re-wire and, for what pics are worth, it looks brand new. So I'll have to decide if it's worth 30 bucks when I get there.

[MDYoungblood]

That mic has a open during receive audio wire as well as a grounded during receive and the other wires in the cord are for switching, mics like that were used in public address systems, etc., the more and more these factories, old schools, etc. are using cell phones or low wattage radio systems, the more these mics will be appearing on the internet. The schematic is pretty straight forward, the Washington needs a separate audio ground and switching ground. If you need help wiring it up just ask, let me know if the colors in the cord are the same as the schematic.

3's

Greg

[Scipio Kid]

Thanks Greg,
I finally picked it up last night and took the 3 prong plug apart. There were two wires, a black and a clear, inside a shield, wired to a 3 prong plug. The other wires, blue, yellow and orange were cut off so, I'm assuming they weren't using the key at all, just a mic, on all the time. I got the schematic you mentioned too but it's a little confusing. Figured I could work it out as I got into it. But ... I went through my box of parts, gizmos & junk and I don't have a 5 pin plug to wire it up to, unless I vandalize the mic I'm using now. Don't want to do that so I ordered some 5 pins and when they come in. I'll be back with more dumb questions.

On the plus side, the thing looks almost new and seems to be very high quality. The key switch barely depresses to talk and if you press and slide it just to the right it locks for bucket-mouthing. Although I haven't used it, this feature seems a whole lot better than the two button locks I've had on other desktop mics. Well, I've only had a couple, but both tended to hang up when locked. The base at our old shop was only a block from the biggest truck stop in Salt Lake. More than once, our foreman would leave his desk thinking he'd unlocked the mic, but it'd hang up, leaving it keyed, sometimes for hours, once over a weekend, so everyone was hearing whatever was going on in our front office blaring over everything else. We ticked off a lot of truck drivers when that happened. That was in the day of 'Uncle Charlie' and we got in trouble a time or two, even had an agent come in and tell us to watch it once. I asked him if he used a range finder to zero-in on us and he said, "heck no, I just looked around for the biggest antenna and drove straight here". He turned out to be a nice guy but we got a warning not to let it happen again or we'd get fined. Ahhhh ... the good ol' days. (Or was it the day old goods? Hard to remember.)

Oh well, this mic is far more professional than any I've ever used, looking forward to actually using it ... someday.

[MDYoungblood]

Wiring isn't that hard, first strip back enough of the jacket to expose all the wires, just enough that it will fit inside the plug without crunching up the wires. Strip and tin the ends of the wires. It looks like the wires that were used in the mic makes your job half way done, they are the audio wires. The pinout for the Washington is;
1 - audio
2 - audio ground
3 - receive
4 - switching ground
5 - transmit

So wiring the mic to the Washington would be;
1 - white (clear) or black or both (try the white first)
2 - shield
3 - blue
4 - yellow
5 - orange

The audio switching may need to play with because I don't know what the mic was used for in the past and could have been modified, the black wire is open at receive and the white is closed all the time

3's

Greg

[Scipio Kid]

Thanks Greg!
I really appreciate your time in getting that info for me. It sounds easy to match up 5 wires to 5 others but it isn't ... I think if you're a math whiz, you'll figure there're about a million different combinations. (Well maybe only a hundred thousand, but it's still a lot.)

I'm pretty sure we're looking at the same wiring schematic, the colors match but the red and green are switched as are the black and white. And the jumper is intact. It looks like it was used as a public address mic. The shield, the clear and the black were the only wires hooked up in the 3 prong plug and I assume it was always on when plugged in. So I think I need to cut the jumper to allow the key switch to work. I'd think the switched color coded wires negate each other since the incoming (to the switch) and outgoing pairs are both switched. I'll try it like this and see what happens. I don't have the 5 pin jack yet but I think I can set it up without shorting everything all to heck.

Thanks again.

P.S. Skip booming out of western Canada this afternoon on 38 LSB. Was talking back and forth to Alberta, B.C., Washington, Oregon,(even some clown in Idaho!) and so was some other guy from the Salt Lake area. (I'm about 20 miles south) I couldn't hear him (Salt Lake) at all but I could sure hear everyone up north.

[Scipio Kid]

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, these guys know stuff ... uhhh, well that's sort of close to what I've said before. Greg nailed it first shot! He didn't even see a picture of what I had and he still got it right! I jury-rigged the hook up since I don't yet have the 5 pin, and tried it just like you said. Everything worked except ... no modulation. But I was already figuring the "clear" wire might be the shield and the shield wire more of a system ground so I hooked the clear up as the shield and got perfection. I have my Washington set up a foot from my Galaxy on different antennas. Usually, if I have them both on and transmit either, I get lots of feedback. I had the new mic sitting to the left of the Galaxy about 2' when I tried it and the sound quality coming through the Galaxy was perfect with no feedback at all. (It's a noise cancelling mic.) Turned up the volume on the Galaxy and it just got louder and clearer, no distortion or feedback whatsoever but great voice quality, even more amazing if you've heard my voice. I put the original mic back in the Washington and had all kinds of squeelin'. No more skip here tonight so I couldn't try it out on someone else but ... I'm thrilled with the result!

Thanks again Greg and CBRT for expert advise, experience and real, tangible problem solving!!!