Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced mike for use with a Viking II? I recently obtained a beautifully restored Viking II via Ebay - it belonged to SK W5JMO if anyone out there knew him. It came without any documentation. All of the recommended modifications have been made and it certainly meets RF specifications. All of the small parts have been replaced with modern components and I replaced all the tubes because some were damaged in shipping. The audio interstage transformer seems to have been replaced, but I can't be certain. There is no label on it. I have a collection of ancient mikes that have been sitting on the shelf for 40-50 years, including a D-104 (no amplification) , a Shure 444 and a back electret microphone that I used to use for recording. Only the Shure will modulate the Viking, and the audio sounds thin and distorted. None of them will modulate my Drake T4XB on AM, and I think they are all shot. My newer transceivers came with mikes, and I don't have enough confidence that they would work with the Viking that I want to go to the trouble of ordering connectors and making the necessary adaptors. I'd like to find a reasonably priced mike that I know works and use that to trouble shoot the Viking's modulator circuit if necessary, with confidence it has enough output to drive a low impedance or high impedance audio input. Any recommendations?
Thanks and 73
Charles W4KEP

The D-104 and the Shure 444 are appropriate but apparently yours are dead. I also have a dead D-104. Replacement cartridges are expensive so I tried a modern 500 Ohm cartridge but it's too low an impedance and thus too little signal.

Viking II requires high impedance mic. The Shure 444 (not model 444D) is high impedance. The D-104 with amplifier is not recommended. The electret mic is low impedance.

The Shure 444 is used many times as a SSB mike. Shure made the same mike for several CB manufacturers back in the 70's. It's not great for AM.
The Viking II was designed for a high impedance mike (crystal or ceramic). However, if the Viking II was highly modified, maybe the input audio circuitry was redone too, so you need to determine if it's still high impedance.
There's all sorts of crystal and ceramic mikes for sale on Ebay with ridiculous asking prices. Put a WANT request in our Classifieds. Maybe someone will be motivated to move their unused stuff.

Yeah Pete maybe someone can come up with a piece or two to rejuvenate my D-104 as well.

I have the dead element in hand; I wish I knew enough to make it work again. Rochelle salt I presume. It's less than an inch across, a thin shiny square piece of stuff.

The salts dry up and it fails. I don't believe you can rejuvenate them.

Google brought 70.1 million hits for "replacement element for D-104" Probably the first and second pages would have the best info.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... +for+d-104

Ceramic elements for the D-104, if you can find them, tend to last much longer.
Or, diddle with the input impedance and use some cheap dynamic mike that has decent response. And, there are mikes on the market both vintage and new that are dual impedance (high/low). Some have to be wired one or the other and some have a switch.

I still have a Lafayette crystal Lapel mike that's about 60 years old and it still works fine.
Personally, I think the D-104 is way overrated but at least it keeps one hand busy holding on to it.

Before you decide the D-104 is dead check the wiring diagram inside the base and, if possible, check it with an oscilloscope. The (unamplified) D-104 is a classic for use with the Viking 11 and it easily drives my Viking II to about 90% modulation which is about all a stock Viking II can do. I get excellent "communications quality" re[ports. There are many mods out there and you do need to determine what you actually have. Mine is stock except for changing the first audio grid resistor to 3 megohms as was done by Johnson in the special transmitters provide to the Civil Defense authority during the cold war.

My thanks to everyone who replied. The D-104 element is indeed dead. I am going to replace it with the Heil replacement kit which includes a low-Z to high-Z transformer.
73 Charles W4KEP

i would use a simple electric mic amplified type it works very well with my Johnson ranger they are inexpensive and work well plenty of audio punch Greg