Hello, William! Welcome! The K3 has both front panel and rear panel headphone and microphone connectors. If you prefer to use the back panel connectors (and find the CM-500's cable long enough), you can plug the two 3.5mm TRS microphone and headphone audio directly into the K3's back panel, without any adapters. Some K3 owner's prefer the "clean front panel" look that this provides.
I use the K3's PF1 button programmed to toggle SPKR+PH so that I can turn the speaker audio on and off with a front panel pushbutton press, so I don't have to reach around and unplug the headphones to listen to the speaker. If you prefer a front panel connection (which I do sometimes because it adds a foot or so of headset cord) and it's easier to change headsets (I do this sometimes in long contests to change the pressure points), you'll need an adapter that accepts a 3.5mm TRS plug and connects with the 8-pin "Foster" microphone connector. You've found one source (thanks!). Another is Heil Sound's AD-1-K adapter which is sold by several amateur dealers. This is Heil Sound's "Kenwood" adapter. There is an picture of a representative Heil adapter at http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-003264. The different adapters are color coded; the Kenwood / Elecraft version has a red body. The Heil adapter includes a hefty 1/4" jack for a footswitch. I prefer to bring the footswitch connection to the back panel, that doesn't need to change when I change headseets. But I'm starting to use VOX more in contests as the K3's VOX is better than I've been used to in the past. 73 de Dick, K6KR -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of William Wallace Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 8:55 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Headset/Mic Question Hello all, New to this reflector. Waiting for my K3/100 & P3 kits to arrive. I want to use a Yamaha CM-500 boom set with my K3 but think I should ask if anyone else has experience using this combination. There must be a connection adapter used between the boom set and the K3 mic connector, correct? Any recommendations and/or comments welcomed. I know W2ENY http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3rys4/adapter/ makes/sells an adapter, anyone using one of these? 73 de K8WAW William Wallace ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
