The D-104 Microphone from Astatic was the Gold Standard for microphones dating back to the 1930's. The D-104 AKA the Lollipop was huge and had an air of dominance. It typically had a crystal cartridge and the wonderful Grip to Talk stand. Later during the CB craze the power microphone version with the built in preamp in the base was the choice of the 10-4 Good Buddy crowd.
Now days electret microphones have all but replaced most of old standards like the D-104 and the Shure 444.
[Excerpt from Whackypeedia resource is as follows: An electret microphone whose diaphragm forms a capacitor (historically-termed a condenser) that incorporates an electret. The electret's permanent electric dipole provides a constant charge Q on the capacitor. Sound waves move the diaphragm, changing the capacitance C, which produces a corresponding voltage change across the capacitor of ΔV =
QΔC.[1]
The electret's constant charge eliminates the need for the polarizing power supply required for non-electret condenser microphones, though a preamplifier is typically incorporated to boost the audio voltage signal.]
The electret elements are sensitive, very cheap and plentiful. I once bought six elements for $1. But the problem is that you must supply a low voltage to the element and add a pre-amp stage to make it operate. With the cheap elements homebrewing a station mic is often a fairly straight forward task.
One of my SSB transceiver projects was to take a transceiver board from an EA QRP club project and rework it to operate on 20M. My build only used a portion of their board. The EA QRP Club Called their board kit -- The Pilgrim. Mine was called the Paesano (friend in Italian) and was published as an article in the G-QRP Club SPRAT.
The original EA QRP board employing NE602's used an Electret microphone with no mic pre-amp on their PC board. I always found the mic audio to sing like a 12-year-old shy male. What was needed was a basso profoundo sound.
This past week I fixed that problem by building and installing a pre-amp stage. I found a starter circuit on the internet which I modified by adding an emitter bypass cap and three terminal voltage regulator. The pre-amp is only powered on during transmit.
Back of Envelope Design
Mic Amp Board Lower Middle Center
It works well, and now my Paesano Microphone circuit has the cojones of an 18-year-old.
Using a D-104 with this rig could be done but it would tower over the relatively small size of this radio. I have made a few contacts with this rig and the signal reports qualify this for placement in the "good" category. Not spectacular but good!
Every build is a crap shoot -- the P3ST is a better radio and uses less devices. If you are hankering for an exciting summer project then drift over to the https://www.mostlydiyrf.com website and order up a P3ST.
Keep close tabs on Todd's website as he has some things in the early development stages that are sure exciting. Sign up for the newsletter as that is one sure way to get the latest "skinny". (That is a Navy term for the latest dope or scuttlebutt. One item has got the excitement level to the point where Mary Jo would wet her pants.)
73's
Pete N6QW