Radio too quiet - headset amp needed?

[Soleair]

My Icom A22 works ok - albeit with a bit of hissing - but it is very quiet. My headphones are the 250 series Recreational Flying cans, bought on this site. They work fine in the Jabiru I fly. I can hear transmissions with the engine stopped (on the ground!), but not with the engine running. The ambient noise from my 2 stroke is just drowning the radio.

 

Is there a headset amplifier available that I can interpose between radio & headset? Powered either 12v aircraft supply or dry cell battery?

 

If this is not a solution, anybody have any other suggestions?

 

TIA

 

Bruce

 

 

[Roscoe]

My Icom A22 works ok - albeit with a bit of hissing - but it is very quiet. My headphones are the 250 series Recreational Flying cans, bought on this site. They work fine in the Jabiru I fly. I can hear transmissions with the engine stopped (on the ground!), but not with the engine running. The ambient noise from my 2 stroke is just drowning the radio.Is there a headset amplifier available that I can interpose between radio & headset? Powered either 12v aircraft supply or dry cell battery?

 

If this is not a solution, anybody have any other suggestions?

 

TIA

 

Bruce

Bruce, buy yourself a good quality ANR Headset and you will never look back. Upfront high cost but worth it over time!

 

 

[mnewbery]

ANR... It can cost you a little or a lot. It WILL save your hearing

 

 

 

Fettle your headset

 

 

[cooperplace]

which Jabiru has a 2 stroke?

 

 

[Soleair]

which Jabiru has a 2 stroke?

None, as far as I know.

 

 

[Yenn]

Another alternative to ANR is Quiet technologys in ear headset and there is another manufacturer, who's name escapes me at the moment.

 

 

[cooperplace]

None, as far as I know.

that's what I thought; but the OP seemed to suggest that his 2-stroke drowns out the radio in his jab.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

You do have the volume knob on the headset turned up to full?...if it has one of course

 

 

[Soleair]

Yes, I sussed the volume knob, & it is turned full up.

 

Signal amplifiers seem to be readily available for car radios, & headphone amplifiers for various groundbound users. They are also very cheap - hence my question on whether they're used or available for aircraft.

 

Thanks for the link on the ANR kit, MN. The local dealer site seems dead, but Aircraft Spruce are selling them. Maybe I'll borrow some ANR's & see if they solve the problem. Then I may go for the kit - most ANR headsets are beyond my means :(

 

Thanks Yenn! The QT in-ear headsets look interesting. And according to their website, they're so popular they've run out of stock! Still over $500, but I guess that's cheap for ANR like Bose (apparently handcrafted from rare elements, trimmed in ermine & dusted with diamonds, going by the price).

 

Cooperplace, sorry if I worded my original question poorly. I fly a Jabiru, but own a MiniMax. I use the same headset in each.

 

 

[mnewbery]

Regarding ANR headset kits, DM Electronics are still going strong. Caveat. I have bought stuff in the past but nothing recent. The link in my post was authored in 2010. A more recent link:

 

ANR Kits

 

 

[Admin]

The Icom A22 radio you are using is a very old radio, perhaps the issue may be with the source...trial by ellimination however I have never heard of the Rec Flying headsets not being loud enough after all they can only put out what is put in to them, the same for every headset

 

 

[dutchroll]

You can complain about the expense of Bose all you like. After 3 years I've just snapped the headband on my A20, most likely by sitting on it one too many times lowering myself into the cockpit. I even told them this when enquiring about spares.

 

After one phone call, yesterday Bose sent a courier to my house on the Central Coast NSW to pick it up and take it to their workshops where it will be repaired under the 5 year warranty then delivered by courier back to me. Rumour has it that if it gets repaired under warranty they also install any ANR upgrades which have occurred in the meantime.

 

I've never experienced anything like it!

 

 

[Roundsounds]

I know this sound counter intuitive, but I've had success in noisey radial engined aircraft inserting foam ear plugs into my ears before putting on the headset. They reduce the engine and background air noise, but don't seem to reduce the audio from the headsets.

 

 

[Soleair]

Ian, I am not suggesting there is a problem with the headset. As I said, they work fine in the Jab; they're comfortable & are excellent value for money. Although I was surprised not to receive any 'book of words', or even tech specs. Are these available?

 

Dutch, I don't doubt Bose offer excellent service for their high end product. No doubt they can afford to. I just don't have the $1300 needed for their kit.

 

Yes, the Icom A22 is old, but serviceable. I'd love to upgrade to a nice little in-panel Becker AR6201, but see above.

 

I guess I was just rather naively hoping someone else had this problem, & that there was an inexpensive inline amp that would improve it. Ah well . . . as somebody said, if god had intended man to fly, he'd have given him more money.

 

 

[Admin]

No, I know you were not suggesting there is a problem with the headsets, perhaps I was a little vague, afterall it was 3:22am when I couldn't sleep. What I was trying to suggest was that see if you can borrow another radio, a more recent one first before spending money on a new headset...process of ellimination to see if there is a problem at all and not just a bloody loud donk being the source of the problem which by the sounds of it, it just may well be.

 

Speaking about wasting money, here is a tip that I suggest trying first before buying a headset or other device to get phone communication whilst your flying. As you know all phones come with an ear piece that incorporates a mic in it. Try putting your ear piece into your ear and the mic part into your headset cup. You can near what the other person is saying through the ear piece and the mic in the headset ear cup is picking up what you are saying through your headset mic.

 

Try that first before spending money on a headset just because it has a phone connection or one of these phone connection devices. The only caveat is this idea does not always work with ANR headsets because the ear piece wire may interupt the ear cup seal needed for ANR.

 

Helpful advice from your friendly Clear Prop Pilot Supplies Store

 

 

[mnewbery]

Foam ear plus are notch/band pass filters. They are designed to allow a window of lower impedance around 2KHz to 5KHz so you can hear people yelling at you while still filtering out the typical 40-100Hz and their multipliers from machinery plus a few other bangs and so on. Some of the noise will always get through.

 

 

 

There are snoring ear plugs that have a different filter frequency!

 

 

 

Its only ~20 dB attenuation (NRR) if the foam is used correctly and by itself. Using the approved OSHA calculation this would change 98 dB to 88 dB. Alternatively with foam and a headset, 88 to 78 dB which should improve the chances of hearing the radio over the engine. The radio should be able to generate over 70 dB at your ear if the amplifier and headphone are correctly impedance matched. If not and the foam earplugs don't help enough, I would definitely be looking at trying another radio. I've used Icom A22 in a Drifter through an intercom box and it was loud enough.

 

 

 

Note: Industry sources reckon the Rotax 582 is a 70/76 dB noise source at 1000/700 feet over flight. This is pretty close to 98 dB at 1 metre.

 

 

 

it is actually a loud engine.

 

 

[Soleair]

Thanks to all. I have some options to explore from these ideas. I guess substitution of components, starting with a borrowed ANR headset, is a good start. And the foam earplugs meet my budget constraints!

 

 

[coljones]

Thanks to all. I have some options to explore from these ideas. I guess substitution of components, starting with a borrowed ANR headset, is a good start. And the foam earplugs meet my budget constraints!

You could try a different headset to test out both the Jabiru and the Icom. If the headsets works OK in the Jabiru but not in the Icom then my first suspect would be the Icom, all the way from the volume control to the sockets. The Bose is nice.

 

 

[Yenn]

The QT headsets are not ANR. Thay pipe the sound into your ear canal and have very little to transmit engine and wind noise into your ear. Go to VAF Vans airforce forum site and search for in ear headsets. They have several pages about building your own.

 

 

[Happyflyer]

You can complain about the expense of Bose all you like. After 3 years I've just snapped the headband on my A20, most likely by sitting on it one too many times lowering myself into the cockpit. I even told them this when enquiring about spares.After one phone call, yesterday Bose sent a courier to my house on the Central Coast NSW to pick it up and take it to their workshops where it will be repaired under the 5 year warranty then delivered by courier back to me. Rumour has it that if it gets repaired under warranty they also install any ANR upgrades which have occurred in the meantime.

 

I've never experienced anything like it!

When I had a problem with my Bose they fixed the cable and I ended up with new ear cushions and mike cover also. You get what you pay for.

 

 

[AlanB]

There are headset amps out there for under $100 although I don't know how suitable they are for aviation headsets.

 

Google "Creative Sound Blaster E1" for one such amp that caters for headsets up to 600 ohm impedance. They are designed for 3.5mm stereo plugs, so you would need adaptors and a 12v to USB for charging.