Beginning to suspect a broken FET. Although the mic does work and without the RF would be an excellent addition to the collection.
No, it's not in the wiring. No, it's not the cable, it is this mic and ONLY this mic. I have a lot of mics and NONE pick up radio in my room.
Do you get the same amount of RF when you plug in the mic at someone else's place, in another building, another part of town with some one else's cable?
Keep in mind a jfet transistor does not rectify a signal like the base of a bipolar transistor can. It's very unlikey the jfet is rectifing rf unless the leads or solder connections are suspect. Was it replaced? If so, solder flux or remaining dirt may be a cause.Or maybe the ^Russians^?
The radio station is an FM station....strange.
Are you sure it's an FM station?It's almost impossible to decode FM into something other then noise, with the few electronic parts that live inside a mic, even if one tried on purpose.You need, basicly, a stable oszillator at about 100 MHz, tuned to the station, and more.Decoding AM is simple, can be done with almost any single active device that has nonlinearity.This is why the often very hot CB signals tended to creap into audio mixers.
The interferance not changing with the microphone shielded by a metal can or when touching its housing to the connector shell leads me to believe the cable to be acting as an antenna for the offending radio signal, which then enters either the microphone, or the input pre-amplifier stages. Use of the Neutric EMC-series connectors should ameliorate or eliminate this problem. Additional RF-filter components (ferrite beads, choke coils, capacitors) at the microphone's output and/or the pre-amplifier's input are an alternative possible solution.
I still wouldn't bet that it's an FM station, but anyway:- Make sure there are proper ground connections everywhere.- Check all wire interconnects if nothing is loose.- Test the switches, does the radio station go away with certain setting?If yes, clean the switches.On the audio board:- Start by replacing all electrolytic and tantal caps, this should be done anyway.- Next candidate is the FET, then the 2 bipolar transistors.- While they're out you can check all the resistors for proper value.- Replace ceramic caps.- Check the film caps if you have a cap meter, specially those that are permanently in the audio path.
If you cannot get this resolved, and as you live close by and I also can receive KINK over the airwaves, I am willing to take a look at it (no, not a paid job, just curiosity).KH