pressure zone mic

Michael Coslo

Has anyone ever experimented with a Pressure Zone Microphone? And was the experience worth it?

dan flynn

I've only seen them used on a live stage to pick up a dancer's percussive footwork without a lot of coupling to other instruments.

Michael Coslo

I've used them often in  conference rooms, they ar e astrange bird, getting gain off the reflections from the surface they're placed on. 

George KF2T

Used in sports broadcasting to good effect in hockey, etc. Not sure they would be good for communication.

KC2QMA_John

The PZM mic is not a good choice for a ham shack mic. Due to it’s mostly Omnidirectional sound pick up pattern you will pick up any of the unwanted noise in your shack and even some noise from outside your shack window. The wide pickup characteristics is the very reason these mics are used on stage, in the studio and in conferencing when the wide Omnidirectional pickup pattern is needed..

The best type of mic for the shack is a mic with a Cardioid or Hyper-cardioid pick up pattern, dynamic microphones are the most common. A good quality affordable mic to start with is a Shure SM-58 for about $100 New, These are tough as nails and have been made for over 40 years and are considered to be the world standard for vocals . You can achieve great results with this mic with only a small amount of EQ and with the built in Equalizer in SmartSDR you can have from Sharp narrow DX/Communications type audio to HI-FI broadcast type audio.

Now of course there are more expensive mics it just depends and your budget and the type of transmit audio you are looking to achieve.

Condenser mic’s can work well in a very quiet shack when setup correctly but even condenser mics with a Cardioid pattern are more sensitive than a dynamic. So they will pick up more background noise than a dynamic mic. They also require +48V phantom power and are more prone to RFI problems in the shack.

73,KC2QMA

John