We just replaced our Kenwood TK280 portables (which I will dearly miss!) with Motorolla HT1250s with the collar/shoulder mics. The HT1250s are nice because they have all 80 channels programmed with various agencies frequencies, compared to the 8 I had in my Kenwood. Anyways............

First questions concerning carrying the HT1250: I have always used a Porta-Clip to hold my Kenwood on my leather and am trying to find a new way to hold the HT1250. I am going to ballistic nylon and would love to find a really good holder for it, as I dont think the Porta-Clip would really suit the nylon gear/belt all that great. Can anyone recommend one?
A few guys on my PD have bought the Bianch Accumold nylon holder, but I am really not a  fan of that elastic cord going over the radio to secure it. I would love to find a nylon holder with a hidden snap top in which the entire radio is protected by nylon, except for the top and the front keypad/readout area. Anyone know of such a beast?

Secondly, how does or where does everyone mount their collar/shoulder mics? I wear my radio on my left hip area, a little towards the back and have just ran t he cord/mic upto the left shoulder epaulet. I have seen a ton of different mounting techniques. I would love to hear where everyone mounts their mics and what they have found to work the best.

THANKS! Be safe..........

With Motorolas, I found out the hard way that the mike needs to be secure.

The standard of putting the radio on the hip and the mike on the closest epaulette works, until you start running. Like in a foot pursuit. Then the mike (at least for me) comes flying off in a ballistic arc. It should hit the ground, but mine always managed to whack me in the nuts  pretty hard first. Then you have to deal with the pain, and the fact that you are running full tilt after some bad guy with your mic draggin on the ground and threatening to trip you.

I have since worked my mic around the back, through the opposite side epaulette, and clipped it to the front of my shirt. You can talk into and keep your eyes to front (instead of turning your head), and if it comes loose, the epaulette keeps the mic from flopping around and getting lost (or impacting your groin).

I would love to try to find a way to mount the mic on the front of the shirt, like you describe going around the back with the mic cable. However, the mic for my car audio/video system is clipped on right there.

I could probably just find a different spot/area to clip the mic to, maybe on the chest pocket flap or just move the mic up/down, since it is really sensitive a picks up most anything.

Thanks for the input.

On mine the mic runs UNDER the opposite side epaulette, which keeps it secure even if it becomes unclipped. The mic itself is clipped to the front of my shirt (zip front uniform shirt) in the middle. My body mic is actually under my shirt, run through the front; have to wear the mic under the shirt to cut down on wind noise, and then the cable can't get tangled up with anything.

I have my radio on my left hip, and run my mic along my back, through my right epulate, and rotate the clip so that it holds onto the end of my shirt collar. I wear a taccomman earpiece, so I don't have to worry about being able to hear it.

I should add that I wore it that way a couple of years ago before I got stuck in the office. I am promoting back to the streets and into uniform again in a couple of months, so I may re-evaluate how I am carrying things.

I have noticed that about 1/3rd of our Patrol troops have ditched the speaker mic on their radios completely for set-ups that include an earphone and a separate collar or shirt mic with a covert PTT switch. I think these are running our guys about $100 for the setup, though the Department has purchased and issued a few for T&E.

My issued tactical set up is a Peltor ComTac which works great, but wouldn't work for Patrol use.