Saturday, January 09, 2021

Elecraft MH3 Microphone cord frays

I like the Elecraft KX3 very much but unfortunately the MH3 microphone cord has spontaneously frayed for me. Looking around the internet I can see that I'm not alone.


The repair isn't impossible but it is rather fiddly. I wasn't able to re-use the strain relief and have replaced it with shrink wrap. Here's the colours of the wires for future reference.


I hope Elecraft can choose a different cord in the future so this doesn't happen.

Stephen, VK2BLQ, sent me this picture of a Chinese manufactured mic that came with a CRKits radio. It looks the same and has the same fraying. Perhaps Elecraft gets their mics from the same source?


3 comments:

John M. said...

I wonder is there is another microphone with a similar pinout, with a better strain relief.
I am not familiar with the elecraft products, but I would be surprised if there is no manufacturer that has a more rugged one.

Rod K said...

Hi Peter,
I wonder if you have found a replacement cord for the MH3 microphone? My MH3 is about 10 years old and just keeps fraying. Please let me know if you have found an a cord close to the diameter that has 4 conductors. Thank you.

73, Rod WA9GQT

Peter Marks said...

Hi Rod,

No, I just cut the cord a bit shorter and re-soldered it with heat shrink tubing.

73, Peter