Kat, it seems yu jest prooved to yerself thet pruf reeding is not a bad idea!! I have a CW event this weekend, but should be home by &30. I am working on getting my mike functioning. I have tried all I know. I even got a mike from Walmart. The mike I have is a dymanic and all the good I've acomplished has been with it. (The Walmart mike won't even pulse the recorder1) It says in the sheet that comes with it that some older sound cards may not be powerful enough to make it work and that one may have to go to a dymnamic mike. I think my sound card needs to be upgraded. I'll see what I can do about that between now and Sunday. Hope to be there in living sound!!