Turner M3

[Dawn]

After i wrote about my old sears pre-roadalker ssb conversion, I had to stop by my parents old house and got into the garage and dug out the old mic box. Most of the cords on the commercial mics are white with mold, but the old M3 was sticky mess.

Not really a problem though, i can change the mic cord and there's alkaline replacements for the old 7v mercury battery that in an amplifier, aren't a problem with subsitution as they would be with cameras or exposure meters that depended on mercury batteries constant output.

The mic has obvious uv damage from the years in my car and the years under flourescent lighting in my dad's garage. Essentially a forgotten piece of equipment that really had no use on FM. I brought it home and ran the plastic through the ultrasonic cleaner and am drying it out right now. I'm going to replace the cord with a standard 4 pin cobra connector. I might subject the white portions to a bleaching agent using oxi clean that the computer restorers are using.

The +3 was an incredible microphone years ago and within the amateur nets, I used to get glowing reports for check ins at rated pep. It truly represented a mic that could use audio compression that didn't distort and sounded thick like you were running power. I'm going to replace all the electrolytic caps to update it and clean the slide pot.

There really hasn't been a mic that performed like this. I have a pet circuit around a lm-324 that pretty much does this that I've used on my amateur station mics.

Is this mic worth anything today on the cb market? The +2M was the standard when I did repairs and this mic was a part of a radio that was never claimed after repairs, but pretty new at the time. Ugly as can be and until they tried selling it in black for a short time was an albatross.

Just wondering. I may rewire it for an 8 pin an use it with the Optima.

 

[Dawn]

I rebuilt this mic and wired for 4 pin cobra so it's pretty much generic now and can be used with adapters for bench work or with use for other radios. Anyone interested let me know. These weren't like a M+2 inside and the Turner booklet assumes you're an idiot using the original wire colors. Any turner this age has the old, blue cable a gooey mess and the strain relief is rock hard. Even the original mercury battery is history. Most that were sold were for relay switching. The Jm+3 was a comparative rarity for solid state switching, but an easy mod using the existing switch rather then replacing it with that piggyback switch they offered for these for a while for special circumstances. Some newer radios expect the mic input to be also grounded in receive. I have a work around for that too and even some suggestions if you have a mic jack that has a 6-8V pin and can power this mic without having to buy a battery. I haven't tried the deoxyaid bleaching to remove the uv damage. Maybe will try that on the ptt button before going onto the front cover. These are 40+ y/o mics and the plastic is probably quite brittle by now with the outgassing of plasticizers, so structural mods or refinishing might not be a good idea.

These were great mics that were sadly overlooked due to their appearance and the +2M's dominance at the time as the must have mobile mic. Probably also due to the average guy totally perplexed with electronic switching and the docs didn't offer a clue or offer a schematic for a tech. They seem to go for much less the a M+2 used despite being the equivelent of a +3 base. Great bargain and reward if you want to put in the time and get one going that will beat the pants of any amplified mic due to it's compression circuitry and great sound.

I'm tapering back posting here and only check every once in a while. Either PM me or post something and I'll check as time permits if there's any interest.

 

[ENIGMA6]

Turner JM+3

I'd be interested in hearing about the mods you mentioned in your post, the work around to change the switching arrangement, as well as being able to power the mike off the radio itself, and conversion to the 4 pin plug as well . A schematic would be helpful as well. Thanks.

 

[S1deband1t]

Most of the cords on the commercial mics are white with mold, but the old M3 was sticky mess....

I had the same thing happen with an Astatic power mic I had in my basement for a few years. Though the cord was white with mold, I used a antiseptic wipe (actually 2) and cleaned it thouroughly. When done it was just like new, shiny and mold free.