On 5/11/2021 12:21 PM, John Johnson wrote:
I'm having a lot of trouble hearing that 50% portion of radio calls that have marginal modulation, wind noise, mumbling speakers, etc. The other 50% come through load and clear. Tired of needing to close my side vent, crank the volume, and ask for a repeat. I doubt a campaign to get everyone's xmit's up to 5 x 5 would go anywhere. Besides, they seem to be heard acceptably and communicate effectively with other pilots - so, it must be my old ears.
My speaker is ~15in behind my head and unobstructed so I don't think that is the issue. I'm thinking a headset would fix things for me and I'd really like to hear advice from those using them. I’m certain I can’t deal with heavy/sweaty over-the-ear earcups with head vise clamping . Flying out of Tucson so comfort in the heat is important. So, maybe the Telex Airman 750 or Clarity Aloft types? Others?
Since I’d like to maintain the existing speaker box and boom mic for backup, I’m thinking about a DPDT steering switch before my FSG 2T (the radio has 2 mic inputs to deal with the dynamic vs amplified difference). Other considerations?
I was also thinking really cheap and simple: generic music ear buds while continuing to use the existing boom mic.

Thanks, JJ (H8)

"Communications" headsets with output to only one ear is, the way my
hearing works, not effective. A two-ear solution works very well, much
more intelligible than a speaker. Doesn't have to be fancy. Generic
earbuds (if you can stand those) or over-the-ear headphones (my
preference - lightweight, not the big cup kind) work fine. When I used
headphones in my previous glider, I used a model that has curves over
the ears and continues behind the head onto the top of the neck, rather
than over the top of the head. That was more comfortable, stable in
place, and wasn't in danger of banging against the canopy.

Connect them in parallel to (or in place of) the existing speaker. The
speakers are usually around 4 to 8 ohms, simple earbuds or headsets
around 30 ohms, so it should be OK to add that small additional load
onto the radio's output. You can add a 3.5mm headphone jack onto the
speaker's box if you want to easily connect and disconnect. Wire the
two sides of the headphones together to the mono speaker line. If you
want you can also wire that jack so as to disconnect the speaker when
the headphones are plugged in. Like a transistor radio in the 70's. If
you're not handy with that wiring/soldering aspect, ask a friend who is,
it's an easy project.

And yeah if you already have a boom mic and PTT on the stick why disturb
that arrangement?