Review on Microphone Low Mid Mobile Radios by Keri Lloyd

I purchased this Radio Research microphone for the Icom706IIG to replace the original Icom HM118TN which literally fell apart after a million miles of mobile use. The new mic was shipped from RR the same day and I received it two days later. This is a FAST service. As the owner of multiple Icom setups for over 35 years I know pretty well the ins and outs of Icom mics and know that some of them have 'low audio output' as others have reported here and I knew the meds and this one Price per microphone. The factory microphone from Icom was of course right! This mic works great on the 706IIG with good audio output on HF and VHF/UHF AFTER you take it apart (7 small screws) and REMOVE the rubber plug in the mic body that covers the electret mic and reassemble it. Enlarging the tiny hole that supplies sound to the electret also helped. Little effort for a truly reliable, durable microphone that should last for years to come in the field. Speculation that the plug was installed by Icom for noise cancellation, as this microphone should probably fit a variety of commercially available mobile and marine radios for various services. This is a no frills microphone, no up/down buttons, no DTMF keypad, just a cheap (for Icom) microphone that with my very small "modification" works great on 706 models. Remember that the 706 has a mic gain control. Settings you can easily customize to suit your specific voice and mic style. You do NOT have to eat this mic to get decent performance. The coiled cable is long enough to avoid pulling on the RJ45 connector. Caution: Be careful when unplugging the mic as this jack is now a standard RJ45 jack with a small plastic clip that was first on the original HM118. (Fixed along the way with a 3ft Cat 5 cable and a Lowes Hardware RJ45 extension cord flossed to a broken connector!) edit! 01/28/18 The best audio contributions were on HF. VHF messages aren't as brilliant, but acceptable. I'll check everything else and report back. Let's leave the stars alone for now.