D-104 Replacement Element

[W7SOE]

Anyone know where to get one of these?

73

Rich

[flintstone mop]

Hi Rich
I hope I don't make too much of a fool of myself, but I think that Astatic makes repalcement cartridges for those. I bought one baout 7 yrs ago. Maybe there will be other responses here. Did you try E=Pay??? 

Fred

[W7SOE]

Yup. tried Astatic, they don't sell them.

Rich

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Roughly 64 different listings for D-104 on ebay with lowest price at $4.99 and up. Always seems to be an ample supply on ebay or at hamfests. Plus, you can always gut the old cartridge and put in some other type.

[K6IC]

There may be some still available from the successor to Astatic.

Last year (I think)  they stopped selling the replacement cartridge.  At that time they reserved some cartridges for their service department to use to repair D-104's sent for repair.  It might be possible that they may still have some for their use in servicing mics sent in.

They may have run out of these as well.

There were tons of them made,  lots aroung,  BUT fairly often the element has been hurt,  ssooooo,

Good Luck,     Vic  K6IC

[Jim, W5JO]

About a year ago I sent my D 104 head to Astatic and they replaced the cartridge for me.  They would not sell the cartridge direct, but specified I send the head to them.  They cleaned it and replaced the cartridge then mailed it back.

Call them to see what the current poliicy is 800-421-3161 for the sales dept.  Technical support is  440-593-1111 x212

They may have changed their policy, but it would be worth a try if you want to keep it original.  As I recall, my cost was about 45 dollars which included shipping back to me.

[ve6pg]

...I'LL LOOK INTO IT...SOMEONE IS SELLING A REPLACEMENT...CHEAP TOO,AS I RECALL...TIM..SK..

[k4kyv]

A few years ago I saw a Japanese-made clone of the D-104 at the Indianapolis hamfest.  I didn't buy it, and have no idea what the mic cartridge was like.  An excellent opportunity for some "after-market" manufacturer to produce a clone of the original cartridge.

[Ed KB1HVS]

A few years ago I saw a Japanese-made clone of the D-104 at the Indianapolis hamfest.  I didn't buy it, and have no idea what the mic cartridge was like.  An excellent opportunity for some "after-market" manufacturer to produce a clone of the original cartridge.

  I think I know what you saw. A buddy of mine had one. It had a dynamic element and was kinda crappy sounding. Just for slopbucket type of a mic. Stop sign shaped head.  I have bought a crystal replacement element off Epay and the reports Ive gotten were good. I think I payed 15 bucks for it.

[k4kyv]

A buddy of mine had one. It had a dynamic element and was kinda crappy sounding. Just for slopbucket type of a mic. Stop sign shaped head.  I have bought a crystal replacement element off Epay and the reports Ive gotten were good. I think I payed 15 bucks for it.

I have seen those at Dayton.  But the one I saw had a round head and looked identical to a standard D-104 on a G-stand.  The only way I could tell the difference was by the nameplate, which was not Astatic, and it said made in Japan.  Upon closer examination, I could see subtle differences, such as the style of the screw heads.

Only a genuine replacement cartridge (or clone thereof) will have the rising midrange characteristic that gives the D-104 the crisp, punchy quality.

D-104's can be made to sound quite good by working them into at least 5 megs of grid leak or load resistance and good, flat low frequency response in the mic preamp.

For years I have combined a D-104 with an Electrovoice dynamic mic, running them in phase using a 2-channel mixer.  This adds smooth bass to the mechanical pre-emphasis in  the upper midrange, and I often get "broadcast quality" reports, even when I run a sharp-cutoff 3400~  low-pass filter in the speech amp.

Hopefully, if Astatic has decided to discontinue selling replacement elements, someone will eventually put a good quality clone on the after-market.  That element is a unique component, and there are so many of those mics out there, that there will be a demand for replacement elements for decades to come.

I wonder if Astatic has actually stopped producing the replacement elements, or if this is a sales gimmick, supplying them only by having the customer send in the entire mic for factory replacement and the accompanying service charge.

Frankly, I wouldn't trust them to return either one of my pre-WW2, 1" thick heads, intact with all the original components except for the element.

And IMO, the built-in pre-amp in the CB "power mic" version is a piece of junk.  I wouldn't even consider using anything but the classic unamplified version working into a high-Z input.

[nq5t]

I wonder if Astatic has actually stopped producing the replacement elements, or if this is a sales gimmick, supplying them only by having the customer send in the entire mic for factory replacement and the accompanying service charge.

The word at the time of the announcement of the D-104 being discontinued was that the Rochelle salt crystal used in the element had become almost impossible to obtain (maybe just too expensive to obtain).

Why they decided to go to a "service" based replacement rather than just sell the elements wasn't clear, except if they hadn't done that and the quantity really is limited to stock-on-hand, we could well have ended up with no replacement source other than "Red Drape Auction" elements 

I hate to think of all the D-104's that are going to end up with some crummy (by comparison) Heil element stuck in them.  The original elements do go bad if they're not cared for -- heat, humidity, shock.  The last place to buy one to cannibalize an element out of is from the hood of a pickup at a hamfest on the second day in 100 deg. heat.  There's likely no useful element left in there :-)

I replaced the elements in several D-104 heads when Astatic  made the end of production announcement, and bought one of the special edition mics they were selling.  One way or the other, I plan to have a working D-104 with a good element until sometime just before rigor mortis starts to set in 

[k4kyv]

The word at the time of the announcement of the D-104 being discontinued was that the Rochelle salt crystal used in the element had become almost impossible to obtain (maybe just too expensive to obtain).

They used to also offer a "ceramic" version of the replacement element.  It looked identical to the crystal element, but supposedly used some sort of synthetic crystal material.  It had lower output than the original crystal, and the accoustical presence rise was less pronounced, but it made a better replacement than some cheapie xtal mic element shoehorned in the D-104 head.  The main selling point for the ceramic version was that it was resistant to heat and humidity.  I bought one, and still have it here somewhere, but I prefer the Rochelle salt version as long as I have one that works.

As a last resort, Astatic or an aftermarket manufacturer could offer these as replacements.

But I suspect that the "impossible to find" claim is bogus, just an excuse to justify the service job. After doing about 5 minutes of research on the web, it seems to me that Rochelle salt crystals would be pretty easy to manufacture.  Click any one of the following links to learn exactly what it is composed of:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/R/Rochelslt.asp
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0842135.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochelle_salt

A high school student demonstrated how to make her own, using common household items, as a science fair project:

http://www.seawhy.com/xlroch.html

Take a  look at Astatic's current product line, and I think that will give a clue to why they discontinued the elements:

http://www.astatic.com/cb/handhelds.htm

This website gives some interesting history of the microphone:

http://www.iccom.dk/Silver-story.htm

[kc2ifr]

To bad...........they sold out to the chicken band.....

[Jim, W5JO]

To bad...........they sold out to the chicken band.....

Yea but the chickens spend more money than we do.

[k4kyv]

Yea but the chickens spend more money than we do.

Ever heard CB'ers call the D-104 with G-stand a "Chicken Choker?"

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I've heard that term... makes sense now. 

FWIW:  there are crystal mic elements available from Mouser, and Digikey (I think). As I recal it was pretty inexpensive.  I ordered one long ago for experiments.  It was a rectangular element about 0.75 x 1.25 inch.  I was thinking that it might make a replacement for when my D104 element dies.

[nq5t]

Astatic does still show the D104-M6 as a current product -- the handheld version of the D-104, with the ceramic version of the element.  It has a preamp in it, but that could always be bypassed.

Seems to me this mic was once available with either the crystal or ceramic cartridge.

Grant/NQ5T

[Jim, W5JO]

Yes Grant, the later versions came with either in the head.  There is some sort of code on the ID plate that identified which element it contained.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

As a possible inexpensive, readily-available replacement cartridge, check out the Mouser 25LM024 by Kobitone.  I'm not sure whether it would fit right into a D-104 head, but my guess is that it would work OK Fine.

http://www.mouser.com

25LM024

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Rochelle Rochelle

A movie depicting a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk. Proves the point that, "Men can sit through the most boring movie if there's even the slightest possibility that a woman will take her top off."