Old radio microphone

[Rob the Spark]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone could help me identify the type of radio microphone you used to see commonly on TV shows in the 1990s

 

This is purely out of curiosity!

 

This is the type of mic I'm referring to

 

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i62/RFLighting/2F0B04B6-3679-4845-AA1E-45B644EA4D6A-9314-00000D436BB1CD06_1.jpg

 

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i62/RFLighting/10CC74BB-4DE8-4042-A40E-97122B947780-9314-00000D4378DFADC8_1.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

[GR1]

Looks like it could be a Micron but I can't remember the serial number.

[csg]

Micron TX503 or TX203 - but likely to be the 503 as that looks like 90's TV from the age of Bruce.

[Rob the Spark]

Thanks very much it looks like you're spot on. Does anyone know why these mics fell out of favour?

[Bobbsy]

From memory they were blooming expensive and cheaper (arguably better) options came along. Certainly one thing was Sennheiser and Shure offering radio mics with known/popular capsules inside.

[GR1]

They were very expensive and suffered from 'British disease' by which I mean that the manufacturers were unable to upscale their operation to compete at a global level with those who could. Bobbsy's comment about known mic capsules is also relevant although Trantec worked around it before being bought out.

[paulears]

TV have always had different kit to theatre, and still do really. In theatre we love Shure and Sennheiser, in numbers and spread of ranges, but you local TV stringer or staffer will have Radio Limited in their kit, perhaps with older Microns and new Sonys, and only recently has Lectrosonics crept in from the States. To the broadcast world, Sennheiser is the amateur solution, and our liking for it's quality and reliability is rather looked down on!

 

Historic, I guess.

[GR1]

My experience of the broadcast world over the last 5 years has been mostly top of the range Sennheiser for studios and Sennheiser G3 for stringers/one man band type reporters. I've not seen Microns for a long time.

[GaryNattrass]

Yes they are Microns and we used them all the time on TV shows in the 80's and 90's, they were a true diversity system and matched the lav mic packs for receivers.

 

They came with two heads a cardioid and an omni and were excellent for presentation and interviews but as others have said were very expensive to buy and hire and looked quite ugly in-vision.

 

Over time the std SM58 type shure and nady radio mic's got better and eventually the sennheiser became more prevalent as PA levels increased but these days you usually see each person holding a mic as using them for interviews is not really good for TV work.

 

We used the micron for the whole five years of The Tube music show on CH4 in the 80's with Jools, Paula, Lesley and the other presenters such as Muriel Grey and usually had a rack of 6-8 receivers from Better Sound in the studio with duplicate receiver racks in the Green Room, Reception and the Egypt Cottage pub next door.

 

Happy days and if I remember they were very simple to use with just a three way sensitivity switch, multi coloured foam wind gags were a must too to identify each mic.

 

We have sennheiser all the way at SKY now and they seem to have become the std for most TV these days.

 

Full ENG kit for the later days on BB list here: https://www.bblist.c....php?item=52167