Power Mikes Yes or No?

The only power mic I have ever liked is RF Limited 2018 extreme, the only reason I bought it was to boost the audio on a Bearcat 880, but after reading an article titled CB Myths, he stated that power mics are useless unless the modulation limiter has been removed, so I dont know if it increased audio or not, I eventually found that the 880 had a amc adustment and I was able to turn up modulation with that, still the 2018 mic sounds really good as a replacement for a cheap stock mic. As far as other brands the Cobra is a POS , the Astatic D 104 is tinny sounding, and the Astatic Road Devil has a very cheap PTT mechanism and makes a scratching noise when you key up unless you almost squeeze it hard, not worth it. I agree with Neverready, it seems to defeat the purpose of using a power mic, if you have to turn down the mic gain on the radio jyst to use one, just my 2 cents.

 

If anybody happens to be at the same truck stop by chance I will give you the D104 and Road Devil, no charge, if you would like to give them a try. And let me add I do own a Magnum Omegaforce radio and stock mic is a power mic that is powered by the radio itself, and it sounds really good, and it is also compatible with the 6 pin hookup on my Bearcat 980 and sounds really good on it.

 

On a president hr2510 A power Mike almost seems necessary, but on the high-level modulated radios it's not necessary.
I used a handheld D104 on a President Grant back in 1987 and I had to keep the gain on the microphone almost all the way down and I ran the mic gain on the radio wide open and it worked very well until I needed to replace my 7 volt battery which was very difficult to find

 

Well I guess a good rule of thumb ( this is by no means scientific ) would be that if the radio mic gain needs to be turned down in order to use a power mic then the modulation is probably good enough that a power mic is not necessary. When I first used a power mic on the Bearcat 880 it was necessary to have mic gain on radio wide open and modulation set at 50% on mic, but once modulation was increased internally on radio I couldnt run mic gain wide open so that told me a power mic wasnt neede d anymore. I agree Rabbi if modulation level is good on radio power mic is not needed.

 

If the audio is weak with the microphone gain knob all the way open that's about the only time you would ever need a power microphone.

 

And trust me the audio is weak OTB on the Bearcat 880 until it is turned up. I will hear drivers asking for a radio check and I can barely hear them, and ask them what kind of radio, and sure enough they just bought a 880 in the Loves on sale for $79.99, now dont get me wrong that is a good price and the 880 is a decent radio, it just needs a modulation adjustment or a good power mic. Strange the 980 and new PC 78LTD have good modulation stock.