As most of you know Astatic stopped making the D-104 desk
microphone. Workman however started making a D-104 look alike
microphone called the Silver Salute. It looks alot like the Silver
Eagle D-104, but it is slightly shorter and the head is shaped like a
stop sign instead of being round.
I recently purchased new a Workman Silver Salute and compared it
side by side with an Astatic D-104. I used an on the air test with a
stock Cobra 148 GTL re-issue on an Astron RS-7a power supply for the
test radio.
Although the Silver Salute microphone looks similar to a D-104 it
was not even close in audio quality with the Astatic D-104. All on
the air reports I received said it was no contest. The D-104 was by
far the superior microphone in audio quality. When I listened on a
separate receiver I had to agree. I was hoping the Silver Salute
would actually be a good replacement for the vintage Astatic D-104,
but it is not. The Workman Silver Salute also has a rather annoying
pop in the audio peeks of the transmitted audio. At first I thought
the pops might be coming from the ALC in the stock Cobra 148 GTL
re-issue, but the D-104 had no such pops in the audio when plugged up
to the same radio. I turned the audio gain on both microphones up just
enough to modulate the radio. Both mics were at less than 1/3 gain
settings.

SUMMARY: If you are looking a replacement for the Astatic D-104 in
audio quality the Workman Silver Salute is definitely not it. It is
not even close. Too bad. I was hoping it would be.