Heathkit Sockets

[Bob Bruner WB4TAJ]

The 11 pin plugs/sockets used by Heathkit and the 2 pin microphone connectors
were standard production Amphenol Products and in no way exotic.  The
originals are commonly available at hamfests, especially if you keep your
eyes on those junk boxes under the tables.  Amphenol has discontinued
manufacture of these plugs, but they have sold the rights, tooling and
designs to another company which continutes to make them.  They are listed in
both the Allied and Newark Catalogs as of the last time I checked and, except
for the prices, appear to be in every way the same as the original items.
The same is true, by the way, for the entire MC line of microphone plugs.
The "Heathkit" plug is the MC2M or MC2F depending on which end of it you are
talking about.  The MC with no numbers is the screw-on plug used on some
early Heathkit xmtrs, like the DX-100 and the DX-60.  This should not be
confused with the MC-1M, which is a single pin plug, otherwise identical in
appearance to the MC2M.  The MC-3M/F is the somewhat larger plug used on
older Sure Microphones such as the 55S, and the MC-4M/F was used by
Electro-Voice on their lower end PA microphones such as the 664, 636, 623,
etc., all of which were and remain popular with hams in general and Heathkit
devotees in particular.  This 4-pin plug was also used as a microphone plug
by Motorola and other 2-way radio makers in the tube era, and those piles of
discarded microphones, control heads, and other 2-way radio detritis left
around at the end of every hamfest can provide lots of those for free.  There
were also MC-5, 6 and 7 pin plugs that I know of, some of which were used on
professional condenser microphones to carry filament and B+ as well as audio.


The point is that these connectors are plentiful and available from common
sources.  You can often have them for under a dollar at hamfests, and if you
are in a hurry the mail order supply catalogs have them, albeit at somewhat
inflated prices due to the lack of demand.  A little ingenuity can produce a
lot of results.  I was in a small parts house in Chicago recently and saw
several MC-3M plugs on a clearance table, still in the orignal Amphenol bags,
and selling for 50% off the original 1972 prices.  There is no need to feel
like you have to scour the Earth to come up with them.

Bob Bruner
WB4TAJ/9

Sponsored by the City of Tempe 

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