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Re: Moisture issue?

Subject: Re: Moisture issue?
From: Walter Knapp <>
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 18:14:10 -0500
Shaun wrote:
> Hello again,
>             Well turns out that my father didn't get away recording
> today after all , rained all day today where he is at. And he said it
> is supposed to be overcast with showers for the next five days. This
> brings me to his next question . He was wondering if anybody might
> know how much moisture his mic could withstand? It is an ECM T-145
> Tie Tac Mic, which came with its own windscreen.

I used that mic in my homemade for over two years in Georgia. Lots of
humidity and heat. I avoided getting rain on the mic or recorder, but
did record in the rain some. One problem with a parabola is that
raindrops are loud when they hit the reflector. Any kind of heavy rain
would pretty much stop the recording session by that.

With the Telinga I've used the windscreen to keep rain away from the
mics. But, it too seems pretty moisture resistant.

  He did all kinds of
> tests today while stuck inside the house, he tried changing
> earphones, changing mics, taking adapter cord off of mic, high to low
> mic sensitivity, mono and stereo recording, different recording
> levels, different volume settings , applying contact cleaner Etcc..
> He said that all the tests he tried worked without a problem, no
> static , humms or hisses at all, but I told him this may all change
> back in the field.

That's a good sign. Points more to it just being a problem of setting
the gain too high. Or a connector that was wonky when he did the recording.

He said that he is going out recording tommorrow
> rain or shine. So he was wondering if he could run his recorder
> inside of a large ziploc bag, I read a couple things about the MZ-
> R30's overheating very easily and I told him this, as for the mic, I
> suggested he put a large ziploc bag over the mic area of the
> parabolic until he got to his recording destination. Im not to sure
> on too much of it all myself, Guess thats why I'm here :), any and
> all comments would be greatly appreciated as usual.

I never even had a MZ-R30 get warm on it's own, though Georgia could
certainly heat one up. They had no problems in the heat. It will be fine
in a ziploc as long as he does not get moisture condensing in the bag or
leave it sealed up in the sun. Don't store it full time in one as the
humidity could corrode things.

The reflector is a big umbrella, people have been known to use them as
one. With the mic pointed down it would survive lots of rain. A ziploc
would be ok for transport, but would have to be taken off to record.

Note we had one member who related using a minidisc out in the
rainforest without any protection except to put tape over the case
seams. Somehow his recorder survived that and recorded. He said there
was water running through the case. I don't recommend that, however.

Walt




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