In a message dated 10/25/2006 1:07:45 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, kimeric@gocarefully.com writes: It turns out that he was wrong in my case but he has heard this so many times that he gave his standard response. Here is why: The 502 has a cell phone style microphone. What looks like the mic is really a speaker. The mic is a tiny little hole below the speaker. A lot of guys (particularly old farts) often hold the mic with their palm down on the mic and press the button with their thumb. If you do this with a 502 the webbing between your thumb and index finger covers the mic hole completely. He said that he had to show several of his customers how to hold the mic with the hand around the back pressing the button with a finger. He says they would exclaim "You mean I have to hold my mic like a __________(fill in your own sexist remark here). Guilty as charged. It took me a while to figure out why my ICOM RAM mics worked and the regular mics did not. Turned out that this old fart was doing exactly what Eric was suggesting happens. I find it really hard to hold the mic the way the ICOM mic needs to be held and much prefer the other way. Oh well, I took a white paint pen and put a circle around the mic hole on the mic as a way to remind myself not to cover it up. That works most of the time but I still occasionally find myself holding the mic the wrong way. Old habits really die hard! Jim (Jim & Mim McCrea, mcc272@aol.com Nordic Tug 37-134 "North Star" Home Port Essex, CT)