DIY Boom Mic Cable

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GW0PZZ
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DIY Boom Mic Cable

Post by GW0PZZ »

Hi all i intend to build a boom mic for my FT950 i have most of the items already, foot switch is from an old sawing machine, but i am wondering what mic cable to use for the MD 100 mic as that's what i'll be using, i want straight cable not the usual curly cable supplied with the mic. I am wondering if others on this forum have made there own boom mic set up, and in particular what Mic cable they used and where they bought it from. Unfortunately with the demises of Maplin's there is no locale Electronics store near my home so it will have to be bought on the internet, Projects were so much easier when you could just nip into maplins and see exactly what you wanted. Any advice or information would be great thanks in advance.
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ch25
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Re: DIY Boom Mic Cable

Post by ch25 »

Shielded cable. Canare starquad or similar. Check any music shop for quality mic cables.
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paulears
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Re: DIY Boom Mic Cable

Post by paulears »

It was also very easy to go into Maplins, get ripped off, and buy sub standard products alongs side the occasional gems.

Starquad is overkill for mic cable, unless the mic is balanced, and ordinary radio style mics are normally unbalanced. Starquad gives you however, quite a few spare cores, so could make it quite handy. You can buy all kinds by the metre from people like canford and Thomann in Germany - but it's often much cheaper to use something like CPC who sell made up cables that you simply chop the ends off - and they're VERY cheap and like Maplins but more products at cheaper prices and quick delivery.
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Re: DIY Boom Mic Cable

Post by Tim »

All you need for the cable is a CAT6 Ethernet cable from an old WiFi router, as long as it has 8 wires and they are all connected at the RJ45 plug ends then you're ready to go, cost you nothing. How do you intend to get the microphone to key via the foot switch?
satelitesid
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Re: DIY Boom Mic Cable

Post by satelitesid »

RJ45 is no good, as it is not shielded.
I would suggest you have a look at CPC https://cpc.farnell.com/cable-power/cpa ... dp/AV24084
Two leads will give you ample to connect mic to radio, and switch to radio.
A couple of 8 pin mic plugs, https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/av19 ... dp/AV19305 one for mic and one for radio, and you should have enough to go on.
I would consider using a 6.3mm jack plug and socket for the PTT switching, with a short tail coming out the mic plug on the radio.
Note CPC charge carriage on any order less that £8.00 so just make up to that amount with AA batteries or other consumables.

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slamjam
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Re: DIY Boom Mic Cable

Post by slamjam »

I recently bought one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BM800-Studio ... 0642.m3226
I'm sure you could adapt the kit to take the md-100 mic. You can't go wrong for the price, I use one with an old mixer I had kicking about as the mic requires phantom power. Everyone says it sounds nicer than my £250 Heil headset!
26DT871 - Ipswich UK
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