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View Full Version : Odd Experience with ANR Headset


Ron Wanttaja
July 11th 03, 06:42 AM
I have a Flightcom Denali ANR headset that does a fairly good job of
cutting down the noise level. However, with an open-cockpit airplane,
there's a limit. When making a long flight, I generally use a pair of foam
earplugs to cut down on the noise energy my ears are exposed to. This
*almost* works; I can pretty much make out the traffic calls if I really
pay attention. Biggest drawback is that the sidetone is totally
eliminated...usually catches me off guard, the first time I transmit.

I usually leave the ANR turned off when I have the plugs in my ears...no
need to waste the battery (which doesn't last long in an open-cockpit
environment, anyway). When I get close to my destination, I turn on the
ANR and dig the plugs out of my ears.

Anyway, I flew to the Arlington Fly-In yesterday. They've got an ATIS
frequency, so I tuned to it when I was still about 50 miles out. As I got
closer (ANR off and foam plugs in my ears), it started getting just loud
enough to understand.

When I got about fifteen miles out, I turned on the ANR. The volume level
jumped nicely...but the volume of the static jumped at the same time, and
just about totally swamped the signal. I was in a situation where I had a
clearer signal with ANR off.

I eventually removed the plugs, and the ANR did its usual fine job. No
problems understanding either the ATIS or the tower.

I like my Denalis, but this is the first time I've ever had better
operation with them turned off. I expect the amplification included with
the ANR circuitry was just naturally boosting the background noise
(RF-related, not audio) as much as the received signal. The Denalis were
cutting down the background audio noise, while boosting the static noise on
the frequency.

Ron Wanttaja

Steve Dold
July 11th 03, 08:26 PM
On Fri, 11 Jul 2003, Ron Wanttaja wrote:

> When I got about fifteen miles out, I turned on the ANR. The volume level
> jumped nicely...but the volume of the static jumped at the same time, and
> just about totally swamped the signal. I was in a situation where I had a
> clearer signal with ANR off.

That is weird. It sounds like something might have gone into
compression. Did you
try turning down the volume to see if the noise went down while the voice
audio stayed the same? Try that next time.

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