Radio and Electronics Cookbook

79

A simple desk microphone

Introduction

A hand-held transceiver is usually the first type used by most novices. It is ideal when used out of doors, in the shack or mobile. However, using one in the shack with an outside aerial is not the best of solutions.

This article describes the design of a desk microphone which can be used either for transceivers using a common microphone and push-to-talk (PTT) line, or for those using a separate PTT line.

It is a simple design, using the barrels of two plastic pens, the lid of an old coffee jar, and the plastic sheath of a DIN plug.

Construction

The end caps and the ink tubes should be removed from two ball-point pens, leaving only the two plastic shells. One of them is used for the vertical microphone ...