Team Leader Mic..would someone make me one

[tkrinor]

I don't have the knowledge, skills, tools, time nor the desire to learn for a one time project.

Of course I am looking to compensate someone that has the time and skills to make me one.

I am looking for one that we can mix music in.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

T

[Wayne Dowler]

Several people have something made up, but are looking at ways to refine it! It usually mixes the music in while locking the leaders mic on open. Anyone else on that channel can listen in on the music, but also the calling! I'm sure you can find a person who can do what you want!!

[Reved]

I just found this. It's this what you are looking for?

http://kitelife.com/other/technology/radio-equipment-for-team-flying/

July 31, 2012 | 1 Comment

Radio Equipment for Team Flying

Posted by: Brett Howard

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the first annual Rev Team Boot Camp led by Team iQuad. One of the requirements for this clinic was a radio. These radios allow a team to share common music, ease the strain on the team leaders voice, and greatly improve call clarity across the team. This article’s intention is to share my research and opinions with regard to radios and team flying.

I’d already purchased my first pair of radios so that my wife and I could fly with a small team on a trip to Cancun. The radios on this trip were used for calls only as the music was played over a PA system. I was really pleased with the enhanced intelligibility especially with the ambient noise level while standing in the surf. When you’re not following a choreographed routine, added call clarity can make a very noticeable difference in the cohesion of the team, as it takes that half a second “what did he say” processing time out of the equation.

When it came to flying at the team clinic there were three teams learning the same routine at the same time on the beach. Each team needed to start and restart the music in their own time. This simply is not feasible via any sort of PA or boombox system. Feeding the music and the calls into the radio all together is the best way to do this. Some people have found that using a pair of small wearable speakers while wearing a headset has allowed them to accomplish this task. I’ve reverse engineered a Midland headset and put together a simple circuit that allows for easy mixing of the voice and music and its very simple to build. I’ll cover this circuit at the end of this article.

[tkrinor]

That would be exactly what I am looking for.

I don't have a clue on how to go about making one, even with the schematic. I can barely get my headphones plugged in correctly.

[Reved]

It looks like all the links still work for buying the units and supplies. The schematic is Greek to me, but my dad knows it real well. I will make the dohicky mixing cable first and see how it goes. When do you need it by?

[tkrinor]

I have that radio, So this is appears to be perfect.

I would like to be set up this summer. I don't have a need by date.

Thanks for looking into it!

[Wayne Dowler]

If you can - test it on that specific model first! Some times the headphones for the walkie are not universal, but dedicated to that company's stuff only! Just a warning!!

My Uniden radios are using a universal headphone I got from a local retail store, separate from what is available online!! Sometimes one size doesn't fit all!!

[Reved]

I went to Radio Shack and found the parts

Also found a multi charger

[tkrinor]

Thanks!

i don't know how in the world you got a that basket full of parts figured out from that article but I sure appreciate it,

T

[Reved]

They didn't have any 9.5K resistors, but they had 4.7K. So 2 of them equals 9.4K and Pop said that was close enough.

They didn't have any 4K resistors, but a 3.3K plus two 330 ohm equals 3.96K and that's ok also.

(I gotta return the 470 ohm ones)

The 4.7uF turned out to be a capacitor and they had those.

A 3.5mm plug is 1/8" plug.

A 2.5mm plug and jack is 3/32".

I bought enough to make 2 sets so you will have a backup.

All those parts make this cable only. The rest should be easy.

Team Leader Audio Circuit:

When you want to be able to play music for your team this little guy makes it work really quite smoothly. This situation comes up often when you want to practice on the beach and you’re not flying a demo. Building your own circuit is really quite easy and all the parts can be picked up at Radio Shack. If this is something you feel up to doing the following documentation should make the task much easier for you.

Once you have this built you simply plug in your radio, headset, and music source and the radio is automatically held in transmit mode. The mic and music source are automatically mixed at proper levels. If you want the ability to adjust the mix between the audio and the mic make the 9.5Kohm resistor a potentiometer.

[Wayne Dowler]

Using this setup,. will you still need to hold down the "push to talk" button or tape it down??

[Reved]

I added to the last post.

Once you have this built you simply plug in your radio, headset, and music source and the radio is automatically held in transmit mode.

[Wayne Dowler]

Would this work with other makes of radio?? (Uniden)

[Reved]

That I don't know. I'm not sure this will work yet. When I get the radios in my hands and see if this setup was assembled correctly, I should be able to answer more questions. All I am doing here is copying what Brett put in his article. I have only seen team flying on youtube. I'm trying to document all the assembly steps so that someone can copy me if they want.

So in using these radios I’ve found that they do *NOT* have the time out timer (sometimes called a TOT in technical manuals) that some radios have. A time out timer is a feature that many manufacturers put into radios to help save battery life. They are often set for about 5 minutes so that if you accidentally key the radio into transmit after 5 minutes it shuts off and goes back to receive. They assume that if you transmit for more than 5 minutes its probably an accident. In normal use this is usually fine and often preferred but for this application it is a deal breaker! Many radios with this feature do not allow you to disable it.

[Wayne Dowler]

10 - 4 !! I was one of the boot camp people and am looking to occasionally lead my team! We all use radios, but the usual leader is the only one that has any kind of dependable? setup! I would like a setup of my own to eliminate swapping stuff from one to another person! Maybe swap ipods, but not the whole thing!

[BrianS]

Just a quick heads-up for you guys: I noticed from your photo of Radio Shack parts that you purchased polarized electrolytic capacitors for the mixing circuit. Since they're polarized, the direction you connect them in the circuit matters. Brett's schematic doesn't specify the orientation, so you might want to connect a voltmeter and check the DC voltage across the capacitor after you have everything hooked up and connected to the radio, headset and music player.

If you're not in a hurry, you could mail order a ceramic capacitor from someplace like Digi-Key. Ceramic capacitors don't care about polarity and they'll have better linearity than an electrolytic capacitor (i.e., the ceramic caps would introduce less audio distortion...but it might be difficult to tell since the radio link isn't exactly high fidelity audio anyway). Here's one (of many) appropriate choices (47 cents each):

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/FK14X5R1E475K/445-8300-ND .

Since it looks like you may be located in the Bay Area, another option if you are in a hurry would be to pick up a non-polarized electrolytic at Fry's ($1.39 each):

http://www.frys.com/product/1710380 .

Good luck with the project!

[Wayne Dowler]

Most times this setup is for team practice, so quality isn't too big an issue. But it isn't pleasing listening to scratchy audio either! Our leader included a pot for external adjustment of the music source!! But her setup also needs the push to talk button held down!!

[BrianS]

Yeah, holding the push to talk button doesn't sound optimal

Just to clarify, the primary concern with the polarized electrolytic capacitors is basic functionality and reliability, not the audio quality. If the circuit allows a reverse voltage across the capacitor it will eventually fail. If you absolutely must use them, I recommend that you verify that the in-circuit positive DC bias is always greater than the negative audio peaks to ensure that you don't ever subject them to a negative voltage.

[Reved]

Thanks for the heads up on those capacitors Brian. Much appreciated. It turns out that I bought non polarized capacitors already.

This project gave me the opportunity to work with my dad. Electrical engineering was his profession and he said he hasn't built a circuit board in ages. We had fun!

I need to know how long the wires should be. What pocket are you putting the ipod and the radio in? That will let me know where to cut them.

I still need to trim down the circuit board and wrap it up with heat shrink or something.

[Paul LaMasters]

When some knows how to make this, proves it effective in tests, .... I want one also, advice thru PM with the amount of the cheque should be and thanks in advance!

[Wayne Dowler]

As a suggestion - I would make each connection point a different color of shrink wrap to ID which goes to where! Otherwise I'll looking forward to how this turns out!!

In the meantime, while not ideal, my VOX feature has proven to be relatively good in most situations without music! But it really eats your batteries!!

[Reved]

The first reviews are back from Terry and he says the circuit works. Happy dance But there is a static issue with the music. The 1/8 plug I used in the first cable was cut off from some other device that was in my Pops garage. I'm hoping it was faulty plug and a new one will fix the static. I ordered a Midland’s GXT1000 radio and a Ety Com headset, so I could do some testing at my place.

The cable has 3 connections.

1/8" (3.5mm) MONO plug, for the Ipod or cell phone.

3/32" (2.5mm) MONO plug for the radio (walkie talkie).

3/32" STEREO socket for the mic/headset.

We are also going to test a 1/8" STEREO socket for different mic/headsets.

The mic/headset, that you purchase, HAS to have a 3 conductor plug. A lot of the new mics have 4 conductor plugs.

I have a question for you electrical engineers, The capacitor on the schematic is a 4.7uF. At Frys Electronics, they had all kinds of 4.7uF capacitors, but different voltages. 16V 25V 50V & 100V

I'm just guessing to use the smallest 16V one on the left.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I bought a whole bunch of different colored heat shrink tubing and parts for production, as soon as the testing is complete.

[tkrinor]

Is it possible to put an inline volume / boost control switch?

More of a general question, certainly not a requirement or request at this point..

With my setup the the music was easily controlled but the voice was not. The music could drown out the voice easily.

I used my android phone (my normal fly music source) and a 2.5 plantronics headset. The headset does have 2 position mic volume switch. With a clear music line I think it would have been fine.

As stated in my test the 3.5 was not usable due to the lack of volume.

I just tested the 3.5 directly through the phone (music) and there as not a volume issue at all. So I suspect an adapter may be an issue when it comes to volume control.

Just a thought.

Thanks

[SparkieRob]

The voltage rating on a capacitor is the MAX operating voltage. So long as the cap is rated higher than operating you're good to go. The only real consideration is the uF. Usually the higher the voltage rating the higher the cost.

[BrianS]

The first reviews are back from Terry and he says the circuit works. Happy dance But there is a static issue with the music.

In this context is "static" referring to noise (e.g., random white noise) or distortion (i.e., bad-sounding stuff gets better/worse with higher or lower audio levels)? Is it correlated to movement of the setup/wiring, or is it there all the time? Those details would help a lot for tracking down the source of the problem.

You'll be glad you made the switch to ceramic capacitors. There's a good chance DigiKey might stock the shielded cable you need -- they have a huge catalog. I've been ordering parts from them since I was 9 years old and they've never let me down. Great company.