Flex 5000 Mic connections

Robert -- N5IKD

I have a friend with a Flex 5000 who has the following questions about the microphone connections:

"Question. My Flex 5000 has a normal 8 pin (Foster) mic connection on the front. It also has a 1/4" jack on the rear and calls it for a balanced mic. Can you tell me the difference.. Just got a headset and would like to connect it to my Flex 5000..

The Flex Manual is un-clear but I am wondering if my Bose headset will drive the Flex thru the balanced line input. It lacks the 20db gain that the front mic connector has."

Tim - W4TME

The balanced line in connection is primarily for connecting outboard audio processing hardware to the FLEX-6000.  It can be used for high output dynamic balanced microphones, but you may have to really crank up the gain to get it to drive the radio to full modulation.