Tony Denton's radio problem

[Brian]

He is ex navy isn"t he ? That would mess with someone for life.Chook, if that bloke from NSW is ok with your giving us his details that would be good.Graeme.Ditto from me too !!

[chook]

Ditto from me too !!Adrian as far as I am aware only flew with the RAAF and nearly the army helios. No he SEEMS fine!Yes, I will fix Tony"s helmet then open the floodgates. ;DRegards....Chook.

[tonydenton]

ok so I can "good mouth you" then chook ????? how hard are s.w.r. meters too use ???? a bit like learning to fly I suppose, seems impossible to start with but the down the track a bit you would wonder what was the fuss about, from memory. . have a good trip away chook. I hope all fly safe and well.

[MilesW]

how hard are s.w.r. meters too use ???? .If you can fly a gyro and, post pictures here, you are waaaay overqualified to operate an SWR meter ;DMiles

[tonydenton]

hello miles, your probably right, but you still made me laugh with that come back. is it viable to have one for hire then.????? my problem might not be all mic problems but s.w.r. seems that it could help in the system of repairing the radio system. [possibly for some anyway ]. for some thing that might only ever be used just once in your life, the meter might save some grief.

[aussie_paul]

Tony, if memory serves me correctly back when Sam L was the Victorian club President the club bought a swr meter for members to use. You might try Mark Regan.Aussie Paul.

[tonydenton]

ok thanks paul.

[tonydenton]

ok true to his word, chook has done his bit, diagnosed like the true tech he is, repaired, up graded and tested in W.A.

[tonydenton]

ok the next week for sure turned into approx. 6. so anyway went out to the strip today and finished my service changing fuel filters and such. and a wash of course. put some sun cream on, then took it with chooks extra

[tonydenton]

the man said it shall be done.

[mad max]

Good to hear Tony. I have a question for Chook. When hooking an electrec extension microphone into a hand held it seems to work OK but I observed some people put a tiny capacitor across the terminals. What does that do?

[chook]

Tony i love it when a plan comes together.The final wash on your problems were:-The threaded antenna connector on your radio (marked new one)had been compressed causing your interface connector to not contact correctly.Reseated your microphone within a softer foam carrier.Your 2nd radio (marked old one) is working correctly however the battery has a faulty cell and requires replacing.The microphone jack cable insulation was failing and about to cause the internal cables to fail.I replaced your peltor/ Aerial pursuits headset with a noise cancelling set.Disassembled your visor and gave the helmet and visor a thorough clean.OK, being a perfectionist I now want to know why you only got a 4/5 for the radio check?And this is really hard because there are so many variables.What was the distance between you and the other station (the little jab)?Was he ahead of you or behind you?What were your relative altitiudes?What system of analysis was he using? There were 2 for us old guys 4 by 5 in the old system tells me that your radio signal strength was 4 out of 5 and your readability was 5 out of 5. The current system is a single figure out of 5 and relates to 5-loud and clear and totally readable.4-not quite as loud or clear as desireable but adequately readable.3-There are problems either with volume or clarity but still just readable.2-Transmission is broken and only readable occasionally.1-Only carrier wave or distortion being received-unreadable.

[chook]

Ditto from me too !!Chopper and Graeme.I went down the noise cancelling headset path with Tony because he had some specific physiological requirements when it came to the earpice.2 of the guys over here in WA use the moulded earplug method and they both assure me that as good as the noise cancelling units are, they are not as good as the in ear units. (These have been discussed elsewhere in this forum)Both systems have their advantages.But most importantly you still need to negate the noise feedback into the microphone from the engine which in the gyro case is usually 300mm behind your head and putting out in excess of 90db of noise. Greame I belive you are now flying something else which is not so demanding?Also no 2 aircraft have the same noise signature (especially gyros) so you have to sit down and analyse your specific requirements and then see if what is on offer will suit your needs.Ok, now the particular noise cancelling units I used with Tony"s helmet are supplied by DM Electronics, phone 1300 767101. They were in a kit which was designed to fit into the Peltor 7003 & 7004 headsets. Since Tony had H10 peltor headsets there were some modifications required to make them physically fit. I have documented with pictures the process I used and am happy to send you a copy. My document is 4meg in size so I will probably have to email it to you instaed of attaching it to this post. The cost for Tony"s inserts were about the $230 mark and included the noise cancelling inserts, the separate 9volt power supply and most importantly the gel filled earseals to fit the H10. The conversion took me initially about 6.5 hours but that was the first time and I was documenting and photographing as I went. It also included the helmet refurbishment.Darren is an electronics tech who works with the RAAF as a contractor (amongst other things). Be aware that the helmet side of things is a side line for him and depending on his work load may not get priority. Does that cover it?Regards.......Chook.

[chook]

Good to hear Tony. I have a question for Chook. When hooking an electrec extension microphone into a hand held it seems to work OK but I observed some people put a tiny capacitor across the terminals. What does that do?Max the capacitor is used to match the electret mike with the transceiver it is being plugged into. I have recently been searching for a particular electret mike and can"t believe the number and variations that are available. So a particular transceiver manufacturer may choose an electret mike for their external mic/speaker combination with different characteristics than the one which is mounted within the transceiver. They ae matching the output from the electret mike to the input of the amplifier within the transceiver. And there is some science as to how it is done!Regards......Chook.

[tonydenton]

ok just did a copy and paste to not confuse many others , this I answered to Justin on another post but will bring it back into perspective for others . to fix your radio just send it all to chook. everyone else just checks that all the wires are connected, power is on and "IT SHOULD WORK" .