headset microphone

I use a cooltalk throat mics. Very good.
Usually radios with VOX have a sensitivity adjustment.
I have Alan 441 radios. So the GF and I can chat when out on the bikes.

Originally Posted by Baph

Electronically minded you say? Well...

My personal preference would be to make a 3.5mm stereo cable with inline volume control

Nip down to your nearest Maplin. Shopping list:
2x HF98G - £1.09 ea
2x RF51F - £1.09 ea
1x XS39N - £3.79 (personal preference, easiest to work with IMO)
2x UH09K - £0.31 ea
1x BF88V - £1.69
If you don't have them, soldering iron & a little solder.

1) Take the 3.5mm sockets apart, cut a couple of 2cm strips of heat shrink, feed these over the cable. Split the cable & strip it back. Solder one wire to each "pin" on the socket (after passing the cable through the boots). Move the heat shrink so that it covers the small gap at the bottom of the socket boot. Heat GENTLY to get it to shrink (this type also sticks in place, which is useful).

2) Cut ONE of the wires a few cm (length to taste) from the heat shrink that you just shrunk using heat. Strip it back, and get another piece of 2cm long heat shrink loose over this. Solder the wire to the middle terminal on the potentiometer. Marry up the heat shrink, and heat GENTLY.

3) The other bit of wire that's already been cut at the same place, gets soldered as per #2 to one of the other pins on the pot. It really doesn't matter what. You might want to wrap these 2 in insulation tape & apply silicon glue to bond it nice & tight (and water proof).

4) Same as #1, but applies to the 3.5mm jacks instead of sockets. The length to suit.

Heypresto, you have two 3.5mm extension leads with in-line volume controls. You can add some fancy knobs if you like, personal choice, but it might make twiddling easier whilst riding the bike. Plug these cables in somewhere between the mic & the radio, for £10.46 (plus a few bits & pieces you might not have).

cheers for that baph will get round to that at some point, sounds good to me though!

thanks for the reps guys, wil let ya knw how i get on

mossy

That looks like a whole load of fiddly effort and I never was any good at technology at school!

Glad there's knowledgable people on here though and glad you take the time to post your wisdom and take some of the legwork out of some projects.

is there a squelch knob that can be adjusted?

Originally Posted by phil24_7

That looks like a whole load of fiddly effort and I never was any good at technology at school!

Glad there's knowledgable people on here though and glad you take the time to post your wisdom and take some of the legwork out of some projects.

yeah exactly, i mean ive had a look on tinterweb but cant actually find n e thin on there so thought ide ask the org and theyve come up trumps agen! cheers!

naa there isnt kcowgergmm they are kinda a budget set with just basics on them kinda thing. binatone MR200, make an model respectively, so nowt special! lol

also the vox sensitivity is down to minimum so cant do n e thing else to the radios!

Padmane, I've been thinking of a set-up like yours, I've seen the Alan 441 radios for £40 a pair (special offer) and the throat mics at £43 a pair- does this seem like a good deal do you think? Would you recommend this set-up? I'm not bothered at 'crystal clear speech at 120mph' or wahtever Autocom offers (all I'd hear at that speed would be gf screaming in my ear!) but I do want something that's good for up to 70mph for a bit of banter 'ooh that's a nice field' etc!

Cheers,
Matt

They are good enough radios, but I found their standard bike headsets sore on the ear while wearing a helmet. Hence I changed to the troat mics. Fleabay usually have some for sale.
£40 quid is a good enough deal.