Mike, you are brilliant, if they do not know how to wire a turned (or any other for that mater) they will never be able to wire anything. The only way to learn is to do it themselves, it is not that difficult. If you can learn to solder, you can do things like this.
I use the turner plus three its a great microphone especially on ssb with its speech compression. And its very well made the ptt mechanism is the best built to last.
I have restored a Turner + 3. Had it professionally powder coated with the original finish. Replaced the power cord, all capacitors. It has a very good original element. As for the Super Sidekick, never heard that mic sound good on any radio including mine. Tube or solid state. They always sound hollow. But I have heard them sound good with a capacitor mod.
Interesting video. I have both Turner +3B and a SSK. I repaired the +3B many times in the past 30 years even replaced the FETs but it is still doing the job. Considering I bought it secondhand it is a great mike. Have also purchased a SSK 10 years ago but although it is like brand new and shining I didn't like the output and it was more sensitive for RFI. I really didn't knew the SSK has no compressor inside. I never opened it but I really want to do it know. If it has the same circuit as your example I will sell it immidiatly.
I think its really confusing for the new guys in the hobby. Their accustomed to modern radios with electronic switching and when they get their first classic rig the relay switching it really throws them for a loop.
Been using Turner +3 mics since they were released. I've had a good number of other mics, including the d104 and the 575 M6. I've always gone back to the +3. I've used them on radios from Radio Shack to the Yaesu 757 GTX2. Currently, I'm using a +3 on my Ranger SS-158 EDX and the audio is second to none!
+MikesRadioRepair very odd thing. my +3 doesn't sound good on ssb (uniden madison) but works well on AM. I've tried it in all different levels as far as rigs mic gain and mics volume control but gets horrible ssb reports. As I mentioned on AM with the same madison it gets"sounds nice" reports. I'm assuming since it work well on AM the mics cartridge is good. Might I be wrong? if a mic sounds good in a particular mode why not on all? especially on SSB where the +3's are supposed to shine. What you say?
You've gotta be careful about over modulating. I know if mine is up too high I'm told that I am fuzzy and muffled. My radio has been cranked, but with my mic gain on the panel of radio turned down a bit, and my +3 control set 9 o'clock everyone says I am golden. I never run mine past the 9 oclock position on AM or SSB.
I think I got a good one. It's a Turner Plus Three with gray hammertone finish over all except the label which is blue background white letters "TURNER" on the left side and silver background with black letters "PLUS THREE" on the right. Circuit board is the 3 transistors + 1 FET as well as the switch(electronic/relay). Going to hook it up with my Cobra 132 most likely. Stamped with INSP 286. Can't seem to find any date references on it Most of the print on the bottom plate is worn off.
I live in the area where the Astatic factory was, everyone and their brother had Silver eagles and every other model you could think of, but I always liked the Turner microphones more, especially the super sidekick, it was loud and clean. They just looked nice too. I quit the cb radio scene probably 20 years ago, but I bet there still isn't anything that comes close to these microphones, especially with all of the Chinese piezoelectric microphones that seem to come standard with most of the radios being sold these days. In fact, I would be curious to know if radio microphones these days have decent audio.
Actually., one of the other BIGGEST differences between the "+3" and the "SideKick"., is the fact that the "+3" contains a ceramic microphone cartridge., as where the "SideKick" contains an ordinary magnetic (aka: dynamic) microphone cartridge.! (as can be seen in that the circuit board in the "SideKick" has a small impedance matching transformer at its rear end) >>> Ceramic cartridges (as what's in a D104 "Lollipop" and most other Astatic brand mics) will almost always have MUCH greater high-frequency response as compared to magnetic / dynamic cartridges.!! >> Bottom-line., the "SideKick" is NOT as "crispy" sounding as the "+3" microphone.!!! >>> Courtesy of Eric Klein., of Klein Communications
Great video Mike! The turners are one of my favorite desk mics as well, I think I have around 8 between the different versions. And you're correct, the caps in the mics always get overlooked! I've heard alot of good stuff about you on a Facebook radio page I belong to. How does one get in contact with you for some repair work? Do you also work on tube type gear?
i have a wilson trucker power mic and cant find anywhere online for the wiring to the plug can you help it has a 4 hole plug with 5 wires red, yellow, blue ,black and the common
Question what are the purpose of the capacitors are they used as filters I have a super side kick . On my Galaxy DX 2517 but it's very basey are there anything I can do. About it to a limite some of the base thank you.
Is there a turner desk mic that has an 8 pin IC in the circuit board? Because I bought one around 30 years ago and the name plate says turner ssk, though I was still new on cb I believed it was. But just recently, a friend of mine gave me a side kick which I'm aware now that it's original with its stock condition since the one I bought was repainted silver. I openned both bottom covers to compare, then that is when I saw the big difference in cicuitry because of that 8 pin IC, also mine have three paddle switch inside and it doesn't have the electronic/relay switch even the bottom cover doesn't have a hole for that purpose. Please enlighten me coz I'm puzzled.
check this out i have a super sidekick and it has no switch under the bottom plus the inside of it looks like the lafayette you have in the video..sounds great too on FM and SSB
From the radios and mic's I have worked on over the years the brown stripe microphones were for the MK3 radios and the orange stripe were for the MK4 radios. MK3 microphones had the 2 pin plug and the MK4 microphones had the 4 pin plug. In every brown and orange stripe I have worked on they both had the exact same circuit board with the exact same component's. The only real difference was the wiring.
Mike, I need the wiring (in the base) for a 776 Browning mic. It was wired for a 2 pin (MKIII_?) the old cord was only 2 wires and shield, so I replaced it with a new 6 wire cord. I need to know where the different color wires from the board, and cord are connected to. I don't know if someone has moved around the wires to work on the MKIII, because it did not have a battery or a way to get the 5 volts(I think) from the radio. Thanks in advance, 21
hi not sure if this is still current but i have a turner ss i believe but have three switches PTT and yellow white blue black and red and shield any help would be appreciated
figure 3 (@4:26) shows the battery somehow not making contact on the positive end. I have the same print. What's the correct path to ground for it during transmit?
Richard Burwell CMOS in what, the microphone? There are no CMOS IC'S in any Turner microphones. There is a 1/4 watt audio amp IC in the Super Sidekick.
hi mike. 71/72 eh.. we same age :-) on my astatic D104-m6b i went inside the mic ran a jumper from the blue wire to the shield darn thing anoying when i wire one to a standard 4 or 5 pin cobra radio. also my m6b has a yellow wire in the cord kinda confused as to that since it's not used its red-white-black-shield-yellow anyhow on mic's hiel-/-turner-/-astatic in that order, all other is inferior far as standard stock mic, it varies some better then others it's hard to say what's good what's not good.
If it looks like a Turner then that's probably who made it. To remove the front half of the head that has the microphone element you pry out the little aluminum disc on the back of the mic head. There is a Philips head screw behind it. Removing the element is another story. It is crimped into the bracket that holds the head on. It is very difficult to remove.
@@mikesradiorepair thanks Mike, my Lafayette had a problem with the microphone, it's not the pcb, but ... thank you very much for the quick answer, have a good night
Does anybody know if the plus three b has the same sound compression in it or is it just the plus three that has it? Anybody that can help a brother out would be greatly appreciated
Hey Mike, I know this video was about plus 3s but I have a Turner plus 2 SSB transistorized and I am having a hard time finding the proper mic plug wiring for my Cobra 2000 GTL. I am finding a few different ways online and don't know what to believe. Could you please give us the proper wiring for a Turner +2 SSB transistorized to a 5 Pin Cobra 2000 GTL?
Hi Mike. I really enjoyed this video. I have one question regarding the Lafayette "Range Boost" version of the +3. Any turner mics I've wired the black wire is TX and the red is RX. My Lafayette Range Boost the red is TX and black is RX, (like Astatic). I checked the wiring and all looks to be original and untouched. Have You noticed this color switching on Your Range Boost? Perhaps Turner did this so the Lafayette brand was to be a little different??? Thanks
Hi Mike, got a Turner +3 and it sounds awesome on my TS590SG ; what i would like to solve is getting rid of that popping sound it makes when keying on transmit. I did it slowly, the TX led goes on quietly, it's when the mic plates go in contact that the sound appears ; maybe some leads are not well connected especially ground related? If you happen to have a thought on that, please get back to me. Thanks Mike, 73 de Chris KP733
You might try adjusting (bending) the switch contact arms. Turner microphones have 2 to 3 sets of separate switches. There is kind of a "timing" to it. Since all three switches are operated simultaneously when you press the PTT bar they can actuate at slightly different times. You might try adjusting them so it switch that controls RX/TX switching happens last. That way the audio line will be connected slightly before it goes into transmit. Different radios often require adjusting the switches to operate in a different contact sequence to prevent things like this. You may have to play with it to find the right combination.
I can't find a schematic anywhere that shows how to wire the switch for "Electronic/Relay". I've looked at all the schematics online and none show how the switch is wired.
www.mods.dk/ Copy I have from there shows both electronic and relay wiring. Basically for electronic the red wire(in the mic) is grounded for receive and the black wire is grounded for transmit. Exactly which pin on the connector is what is up to the radio you have. And you might find the schematics for your radio also at that site.
@@lochinvar00465 If you know the earth you can work out the others, if you touch the audio pin on the radio, it will usually buzz, then if you jump a wire (don't keep holding it on) it will either receive or transmit. Touching the wrong pin very quickly will not normally harm the radio. The earth pin will do nothing but be a ground for the RX/TX wires and ground for audio, it is the screened wire most of the time. You can take a short thin bit of wire and select a pin and hope it is earth, then touch the others to see if it goes to TX or RX if it only goes to one mode, it is the other pin that will be the earth, not the one you selected to use, so use the one you touched and check that pit to the one you took it off of, it will either TX or RX, one other pin will be either RX or TX, the remaining pin will be the audio from the mic. Now Mike will tell me you should not de it this way! EDIT: This is the connections on the CB mic input.
I get so tired of different mic pin configurations it drives me nuts to need a mic for a radio and have everything but what I need. So for example my President Lincoln is the only radio I own that has a 5 pin mic excluding Realistic 5 pin Din. So when I started using a Ten-Tec 715 Voice Processor I made sure to wire the the input to accept 4 pin Uniden so I can use any common mic from junk to high end that I might find at a truck stop in a pinch. Then on the output the Ten-Tec using 1/4 phono jack with Ten-Tec's unique and kind of stupid configuration so I wire a 1/4 inch phono jack to 5 pin President. So now I can use any 4 pin with my President Lincoln. If the Ten-Tec 715 is not active the signal just bypass's the electronics right tot he radio. I hate needing to wire a mic right this second but how many spares do you want to keep pre-wired for each radio. I like change and progress as long as it is serves a purpose besides making life difficult for the customer and increases profit margin in acc. sales. Long after a lot of these companies are gone we still have to deal with their stupidity. Like putting the clarifer control on the mic.Because mic's have such a long life cycle and never go bad. I mean everyone get's at least 15-20 years out of mic and mic cord with no issues! Often you have to change the mic adapter on the radio because you can not find the magical Unicorn mic connector to go with your NOS ultra rare fantastic radio. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil! Of course the only part missing from the NOS inthe box still in plastic radio will be the unique un-obtainium mic. Even when you get a standard like a RJ45 jack or 8 pin Universal connector it will have one wiring for Icom one for Kenwood one for Ten-Tec. It is a good thing computers are not like Radio's or the entire world would be screwed and nothing would be plug and play!
The yellow wire is only used in some rare applications. 99+% of the time its just cut off. It is connected inside the mic to another set of switch contacts and is connected to the shield in receive.
Mic cords and mic connectors have always been a pet-peeve of mine. To me radio's are like appliance and I expect at least that kind of easy intuitive use. Their is a reason why we only have so many light bulb sockets in America used for residential use versus commercial use. Their is a reason we have XLR plugs on modern mic's to the point that it is almost universal. Their was a reason everyone decided on 1/4 phono jacks for home audio equipment with a common wiring for all mono and stereo plugs even today with 3.5mm they are all wired the same. USB again common recognized standard I never have to rewire my USB port to use another brand of memory card or external device. The mic connector at the very least should have been made uniform a long time ago. I can not see anyone needing more than 8 pins on a mic especialy considering 1-2 pins could be used for digital signals or analog pulsed to control many different things.
+buckaroobonsi555 Its easy to need 12 or more pins on some older mobile radios that had all or most of the controls in the mic. And having extra wires in the mic cord is a good idea because you never know what it might be hooked up to so you may need that extra set of switch contacts in the mic for something. Phone plugs had nothing to do with audio (not really) to start with. Their called Phone plugs for a reason. They were used back in the day when you picked up your telephone and a operator asked you who and where you wanted to be connected. The operator used a Phone patch cord to connect the call. There were just a gazillion of them around and the audio/radio industry just picked up using them because they were readily available. XLR plugs are actually a nightmare. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 pin and more ways to wire them than you can shake two handfuls of sticks at.
Is it? I just know it get's old. The proprietary mic plugs that you can not even purchase any more is maddening! LOL Most people can not take some odd connector and chuck it in a lathe and turn it down. You are obviously a lot more patient than I am! LOL Good thing your the Tech! LOL
+buckaroobonsi555 The only reason I had to chuck the plug end into a lathe was to modify it to work in something it wasn't designed for, a antique adapter housing. What mic plug is not available? As far as I know their all still made. I purchased about 50 30º lock ring DIN 4 and 5 pins brand new just the other week. Switchcraft has been making them for decades and still does.
I have a vintage TURNER PLUS 3 mic I bought from Ebay. Photo at imgur.com/0fjB9Fj The seller said the TURNER is wired for 4 pin COBRA. I am trying to get the TURNER to work with my UNIDEN 980SSB radio which has a 6 pin connector on front face of radio. I connect the UNIDEN 6pin to 4pin adapter which came with the radio from the UNIDEN to the TURNER, but the TURNER doesn't work right. When I press the TX key, it changes the channel of the radio. I am a newbie to radios and I am trying to wire the TURNER so it will work with the UNIDEN 6pin to 4pin adapter, but I can't figure it out. Mike, can you help me out? Thanks for a great video.