Flying on the Cheap -- Headsets

In the March 2006 issue of 'Sport Aviation,' back on page 130 is a
short article by Kathleen L. Witman that shows some examples of antique
avionics. But if you're interested in antiques most pilots need look
no further than their own headset.

See that quarter-inch phone plug? It dates from the 1880's. Such
plugs got their name from being used on telephone switchboards. Ditto
for that 7/32" mike plug, which was used by a competing switchboard
manufacturer.

The first earphones used in aviation were direct copies from the
telephones of the WWI era and were fitted with the telephone
company's plug. No mike of course; the first radios used Morse code,
set via a telegraph key strapped to the Observer's thigh. When they
finally got around to airborne radio-telephone sets they kept the same
earphones and again borrowed from existing telephone technology for
their carbon-type microphone, other than sticking a hunka broomstick on
the thing for a handle and using the smaller Stromberg-style phone
plug. That was so you wouldn't get the mike plug confused with the
phone plug, since the mike circuit was liable to carry enough current
to fry your ears if you got the plugs mixed up.

Carbon mikes and magnetic earphones remained in use into the 1950's
which begs the question, why are 'aviation headsets' still using
those antique plugs?

Modern radios continued to use different sized plugs for the mike and
earphones but they were now little things: eighth-inch (3.5mm) for the
phones and a skinny little 2.5mm plug for the mike. And that's the
plugs you get on any modern communications headset... unless you say
it's for AVIATION. That's when they dig under the bench, find the
box of antique phone plugs and solder a pair of Nineteenth Century
connectors to your Twenty-first Century headset.

Which don't match the plugs on your aviation radio anyway. To makem
match you gotta shell out another fifty bucks or so for an adapter,
which in many cases is nothing more than the opposite gender of the
antique phone plugs they soldered onto your headset on one end with the
pair of modern-day plugs THEY JUST CUT OFF soldered onto the other end.
And right about there you should be looking around for the hidden
camera, because this has to be the best joke since the talking mail
box.

Alas, it's no joke. In fact, when you think about it, it's more on
the order of a scam since some retailers charge as much as seventy
dollars for the patch-cord needed to adapt an aviation headset to an
aviation radio. Which begs another question: Why? Since you really
don't need those antique connectors any more than you need to spend a
buncha money for a headset simply because it sez 'AVIATION' on the
box.

If you're flying on the cheap you're probably using an inexpensive
hand-held radio. Odds are, your radio is made by Icom or Yaesu and
uses the standard 3.5mm/2.5mm plug configuration found on millions of
hand-held ham, industrial, police, marine and even CB radios. Becuase
for every aviation radio those companies sell, they probably sell a
hundred of the other kind. Given that aviation-band AM radios makes up
such a small part of the communications market (everyone else has gone
to FM) it should come as no surprise that the chassies and connectors
on aviation radios are usually identical to those found on ham and
commercial radios. And that means the inexpensive headsets for
NON-AVIATION radios usually work on your aviation-band hand-held. And
by inexpensive I'm talking less than ten bucks. Here, lemme give you
an example...

I'm writing this on 4 May 2006. I don't know when I'll get
around to posting it but for the past month or more, All Electronics (
http://www.allelectronics.com/ ) has offered a headset and matching
VOX/PTT unit that works with Icom and Yaesu radios.

(COMMUNICATIONS HEADSET W/ BOOM MIKE, CAT# HP-41 ($3.00)
VOX MODULE, MAXON, CAT# VOX-2 ($3.50) )

These are new-surplus items. As received, the internal 1.2v nicad cell
in the VOX unit will be discharged, making the VOX function inoperable,
but the manual PTT works just fine. (Down below I'll tell you how to
charge the nicad. With VOX (ie, Voice Operated Transmission) there's
no buttons to push; just shout 'Talk to me, Goose!' and the odds
are, someone will.)

If you go to the site above and look at the pictures you'll see that
the headset is a one-sided affair with just a single earphone. It is
an intelligently designed unit that fits an American-sized head but
folds up into a package that will fit in your shirt pocket. And while
it fits well enough, the foam muff on the earphone doesn't do much
good in a noisy environment, a factor of critical importance in the
cockpit of many airplanes and one I'll address in detail in a moment.

However many of these units All Electronics may have now, the odds are
they'll all be gone shortly after this is posted. While there's no
reason you can't make your own headset, a point I'll get to in a
minute, a lot of you aren't hams, don't pick your teeth with a
soldering iron and would rather buy your electronics rather than build.
In which case you might want to send MFJ Enterprises a thirty-dollar
bill and order one of their ham radio headsets.

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/produc...rodid=MFJ-288I

You'll have to tell them what radio you have; the catalog number
above (MFJ-288I) is for an Icom. What you'll get for your money is a
very well designed headset similar to the surplus unit from All
Electronics but wired with a neat little PTT switch you can clip to
your tie. Or the bib of your coveralls. Or whatever.

Here again, the one-eared ham-radio-style headset simply won't cut
the mustard in a noisy cockpit but down below I'll explain how you
can add your own ear-muffs and even a second earphone, too. But for
those of you who insist on buying a headset that works right out of the
box, I suggest you take a look at Warren Gregorie's AIR-680.

http://www.warrengregoire.com/aviation-headsets.htm

This is the most comfortable headset I've ever worn. It is of very
good quality and at about a hundred dollars, is inexpensive compared to
most other 'aviation' headsets. If your only option is to buy
solutions to your problems then this headset will satisfy your
'aviation' headset needs without breaking the bank. You'll have
to tell them what radio you have and what kind of plugs you want,
including the arrangement of antique plugs and patch cords, if desired.


(to be continued)

-R.S.Hoover

Hi Bob,
You've help out alot with the information you have posted here. In
fact, I'm waiting for your book to come out. I must tell you though
that in this post you mention trying Warren Gregorie's headsets. My
first headset was purchased from Gregorie and I would advise anyone
looking at these to stay clear. My headset only lasted 20 hours of
flight time. When I contacted Gregorie to return for warrenty I was
told "if your having problems with your headset, look elswhere". He do
not honor his warrenty. You may have had a different experience, but I
personnally will stay away from his products.
Lou

In a previous article, said:
can add your own ear-muffs and even a second earphone, too. But for
those of you who insist on buying a headset that works right out of the
box, I suggest you take a look at Warren Gregorie's AIR-680.

http://www.warrengregoire.com/aviation-headsets.htm

You know, I've only been a pilot for 12 years, but in that time Warren
Gregoire has been advertising these "Cosmetic Reject" headsets
continually. You'd think in 12 years they'd figure out how to make
non-reject headsets. I also note that they don't tell you how much noise
attenuation they have (because it's probably **** poor) and they
promogulate the lie that the real noise reducing headsets (passive and/or
active) mask out the sound of engine noise changes and the stall horn,
when in fact they make engine noise changes and the stall horn more
obvious because you're not deafened by a wall of white noise.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Make backups before you try something new or interesting or experimental
or radical or if the day has a "y" in it.
-- Chris Hacking

(continued)

Non-aviation headsets, such as the Maxon or MFJ typically do not
enclose the earphone in a muff. There's usually a bit of foam to
keep the thing from boring a hole in your head but it merely presses
against your ear. An ear muff, on the other hand, fits OVER your ear,
surrounding it with a plastic enclosure. In effect, an ear muff puts
your ear in its own private room - - hopefully, a quieter one. The
edges of the muff are padded - - some better than others - - and the
earphone is glued, screwed or wedged into the enclosure, positioned so
as to whisper sweet nothings into your shell-like ear. Or ears, on the
good headsets.

A good example of the ear muff type enclosure may be found on any pair
of industrial ear protectors, such as those sold by Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=43768

For about four bucks (less, when on sale), you'll get a ear muffs
that do a fairly good job blocking low-frequency noise, such as that
produced by a four-cylinder aircraft engine. The down-side is that
such ear muffs do little to attenuate high-frequency noise or
high-intensity noise such as that produced by a jet engine or a
firearm. But if you're Flying On The Cheap, especially behind a
Volkswagen engine, the inexpensive HF ear muffs work just fine.

Now the problem is how to get the earphone of your Maxon or MFJ headset
INSIDE the cup of the HF ear muff. One way to do this is to simply
dismantle the HF ear muffs, cut away a portion of the plastic enclosure
so that the earphone ends up inside - - with the boom mike still
OUTSIDE - - then glue things back together, trimming as required. If
you want two earphones you'll have to glue one into the opposite
enclosure then figure out how to get the wires from one side to the
other without making a mess. (Hint: Find yourself some large-diameter
heat-shrink tubing. Run the wire along the head band then capture it
in place with the heat-shrink.)

This sounds pretty crude but it DOES work. How WELL it works - - and
for how long - - is different subject :-)

Those large, padded stereo headphones (such as...


http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...ADPHONES_.html
)

....make pretty good ear muffs and have the advantage of coming with the
earphones already wired. If the impedance of the earphones happen to
match your radio, all you need do is mount the boom-mike to the outside
of one of the enclosures and replace the headphone lead with the lead
on the MFJ or Maxon headset.

If you're an ET-type bench-tech with lots of SMT repair experience
(...like me :-) soldering the miniature coax found in such headsets
will be no problem. Other folks may find it a bit of a chore largely
because tiny solder joints call for a tiny soldering iron, fine-gauge
solder, a magnifying hood and bright, well focused light. Otherwise,
it's a piecea cake :-)

(Need a teeny-tiny soldering iron? Try wrapping some #10 solid copper
wire around the tip of a regular 30W iron, allowing it to extend for an
inch or so. File the end of the wire into the shape needed for the
particular job, slather on a thick layer of high-quality non-corrosive
flux and tin the thing. A copper tip doesn't last very long but it
will survive long enough to do the leads of a headset.)

(more to come)

-R.S.Hoover

I have two ASA HS-1 headsets. The cost is reasonable and the performance is
pretty good. They come with the "antique" plugs I am quite used to seeing
after thirty plus years in Telco's. The plugs are reliable, sturdy and found
in every aircraft out there. I'll stick with the standard and use an adapter
if I have to. The 1/8" headset jack on my cell phone breaks fairly often.

I'll second the vote for the ASA headsets. You can buy the refurbished
ones with lifetime warrantee for $75. Very hard to beat if you are on
a budget. Even with my fat head, I can wear them for 6 hours no
problem.

tom


Dante wrote:
I have two ASA HS-1 headsets. The cost is reasonable and the performance is
pretty good. They come with the "antique" plugs I am quite used to seeing
after thirty plus years in Telco's. The plugs are reliable, sturdy and found
in every aircraft out there. I'll stick with the standard and use an adapter
if I have to. The 1/8" headset jack on my cell phone breaks fairly often.

That 1/4" phone plug will be around for a long time yet, until
cordless headsets become universal. Technological inertia is massive,
and things in wide use don't change quickly. It's the same reason we
still have analog TV and radio; the broadcasters would love to go to a
digital signal but they'd lose a huge chunk of the advertising market.
Most of us use older equipment that works well enough. We have other
things to spend money on. Even cellphone companies have to accommodate
the old analog phones still in use.
As a mechanic, I appreciate idiot-proof 1/4" and 7/32" plugs.
They're strong, easy to clean, and are about the last thing to fail on
a headset. The cord is the weak point on most headsets I fix. It'll
fail right at the plug where it gets bent hard and often by clumsy
pilots or their friends, and these people also insist on wrapping the
cord tightly around the headset when they put it away, bending the cord
at the earcup and failing it there, too. David Clark has a much better
cord than most, along with the rest of the headset. Using better
materials means fewer comebacks.
I can't imagine the smaller cord needed for the 1/8" plug
lasting anywhere near as long as the 1/4" plug's cord.
The internal-combustion engine (as we know it) was built in
1876 and we're still using it. It's lighter, more powerful and
reliable, but the basic engine is still there.
What we really need is an aircraft tire that is as round and
as well balanced as the average cheapo auto tire. Or panel-mounted
radios that cost little more than the handhelds. Or a Chinese aircraft
manufacturer that isn't concerned with huge profits or product
liability insurance add-ons but could still build a certifiable
airplane.

Dan