The place for technical discussions about GA and flying.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515279
I know in-ear headsets have been much discussed and I've trawled through a lot of it but not found anything to help with my particular issue.

My aircraft despite being enclosed is quite noisy. I have two headsets one with ANR & VOX and one PNR only. Only fly on my own so not used simultaneously. Noise reduction with the VOX is really good but it's always a bit of a faff setting it and adjusting it. Also I find the headset itself uncomfortable.

Most of my noise is definitely picked up by the microphone hence the VOX works. I have experimented with different socks and other noise barriers on both headsets and trying to reduce what the mic picks up. The more heavily I shield it physically the greater the noise reduction. However it just added to the general clumsiness and dissatisfaction with the set up.

So my question is will I be worse off with an in-ear type headset of which there are a few types around? Or do they have some sort of VOX wizardly stuff going on??

Tempted to try in-ear but don't want to spend on something that isn't a solution.

Thanks in advance!
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By Dusty_B
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515347
I take it you dont have an intercom? Doesnt matter what headset you use, the mic will be hot at all times unless you incorporate a PPT cut-out switch. It is the intercom with squelch that will prevent background noise being fed back to the headset.
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By Ben Twings
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515350
The in-ear headphones give the best noise reduction in a noisy cockpit.

The microphone should be a good noise cancelling type; they are most sensitive to sound coming from one side and partially cancel out noise coming from the other direction.

But, as Dusty says, it's important to have the squelch set right. That way there will be no path from mic to phones until you break squelch by speaking into the mic. If you have a background noise problem when you break squelch, try positioning the mic closer to the corner of your mouth no more than 1cm away, not dangling way out as you often see. That gives the noise cancelling function the best chance to work and allows you to turn the gain down a little.

The mics on QT Halo and Clarity Aloft headsets are very high quality with good noise cancelling.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515393
Thanks both. I appreciate the replies.

Yes I have a powered intercom but there is no squelch setting on it presumably as it is for a handheld radio only? But I take it that the VOX on the headset essentially the same thing as the squelch on a built in system? I do keep the mic as close as I can and have tried and failed to block out the noise picked up from the opposite side.

Incidentally interface and headset are both Microavionics and have a good reputation. It can connect two headsets if required and yes I have a PTT switch which works for TX on the radio.

I'm tempted by the QT Halo but the guy emailed to say he was snowed under. A Clarity Aloft has just sold on AFORS as I enquired about it. Advertised at £350 which I thought wasn't bad. Also considering a Nanocomm2GA and any similar offerings I can find at the right sort of money...
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515403
Headsets in general don't have a VOX/squelch circuit. If you buy a standard headset, you'll get the microphone on all the time playing noise into your ears, unless you get an intercom with a squelch function or do some modifications to add one in.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515407
Though I'm tempted by the light weight etc of the in-ear kit I may be better sticking with what I have which is these
http://www.transair.co.uk/sp+MicroAvionics-Microlight-Headsets-Microavionics-MM001A-Headset-UL-200+7905



Paul_Sengupta wrote:Headsets in general don't have a VOX/squelch circuit. If you buy a standard headset, you'll get the microphone on all the time playing noise into your ears, unless you get an intercom with a squelch function or do some modifications to add one in.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515418
What intercom do you have? Is there a replacement available which has squelch? One thing with the headsets with the VOX is that you can set the levels individually, whereas inexpensive intercoms generally only have one squelch control for all. It is possible to knock up an electronic circuit to add in a VOX/Squelch function but it may mean plugging in another battery operated box of tricks.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1515446
Microavionics interface like this
http://www.gps.co.uk/microavionics-mm005-radio-interface/p-0-574

May not be the exact one but similar.

Paul_Sengupta wrote:What intercom do you have? Is there a replacement available which has squelch? One thing with the headsets with the VOX is that you can set the levels individually, whereas inexpensive intercoms generally only have one squelch control for all. It is possible to knock up an electronic circuit to add in a VOX/Squelch function but it may mean plugging in another battery operated box of tricks.
#1516914
Squelch and VOX are not the same thing.

Squelch is a function of the radio receiver, where the squelch setting is adjusted to turn off the received white noise.
VOX is a function of the intercom, where it is set to not pass sound received from the mic, until it reaches a set level, i.e. When you speak.

My understanding is that the OPs mic is getting the noise when the VOX is open,

From the OP, if I understood correctly, either his headset does not have a noise cancelling mic, or it is incorrectly set/positioned, or faulty. I would borrow a reasonable quality headset and try that first, before flashing any cash.
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1516922
Ian - many (most?) intercoms call what you call "VOX", squelch. It performs the same function - to turn of broadcast of the sound when there is only white noise. The white noise is just coming from wind.

Some microlight headsets have VOX / squelch built in, rather than it being a function of an intercom. I don't think any GA headsets have this (expectation is that it is a function of the intercom) so if you bought a GA headset of any kind, you'd need to buy a squelch interface such as MM016 from Microavionics http://www.microavionics.com/GA_Headsets_Intercoms.html

The question from me is whats creating the fold back - ie - broadcasting the sound from your microphone into your headset?
If you only fly on your own, you only need to hear what you're saying if talk to yourself, so you could potentially turn off this fold back.
Me - I like to be able to talk to myself - but I have an intercom...

Are you open cockpit? If so, you might have issues with an inner ear only headset, as wind noise will be transmitted into your ear via direct contact with your earlobes. I'd want to check with someone who has tried inner-ear headphones in an open air cockpit before shelling out the money.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1517071
To clarify. I have:

Enclosed microlight cockpit but noisy due to engine not wind
Microavionics interface which has PTT cable, two headset cables, stereo input, phone input etc
Microavionics UL200 headset which has ANR & VOX, and quote:
• Military specification noise canceling electret microphone
• High quality speaker for superior speech reproduction
• SMD electronic noise filtering circuitry
• Twin skinned ear defender for better ambient noise reduction
Headset works perfectly (been to MA who are local to me to be tested)
With VOX activated I'm comfortable with the noise levels which are significantly reduced
With VOX off it is noisy as the mic picks up the engine noise
I find it a pain continually adjusting the VOX depending on engine RPM and find the headset generally uncomfortable. I wear glasses and if I turn my head (as I do lots) then noise leaks in past the earcups.

I would like to try in-ear for various reasons but just unsure what the mic will do if there is no VOX to play with. However it looks like the Microavionics GA headset converter may have some VOX control capacity which may mean back to square one!

However I have mate who is an audiologist who flys micros and hang-glides. He uses a Nanocomm2GA and having spoken to him and Puretone I may well give one a try as I can have one for 7 days and return it if I don't like it.

Now I would like to borrow a Microavionics converter (see seperate thread somewhere) to save me shelling out 80 hard earned gold coins just to give the whole thing a try. I would still need one of these if I was to try a DC, Bose, Lightspeed....... etc

Glad of any further advice
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912309
Gwynge wrote:Hi Sean, appreciate it's five years on... Did you find a solution?


I binned all the microavionics stuff and put a different intercom in for GA headsets, one of these

https://www.flightstore.co.uk/pilot-headsets-c65/pilot-pa200y-intercom-for-yaesu-transceivers-p10970

and also bought a Nanocomm in ear headset which all worked very well. The in ears were very good and I had custom ear moulds made.

I'm sure it was some sort of electrical noise and somehow the microavionics stuff, good as it is just didn't appreciate something that was going on. In a different aircraft now.