Stepping back from ANR

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:19:11 -0400, Roger
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:18:09 +0200, Thomas Borchert
wrote:

Skym,

How
well do the ANR sets let me hear a little engine sound for peace of
mind?

Very. It's a total non-issue, a made-up argument by headset companies
back when they didn't have an ANR model in their line-up, and by old
cots not liking any change.

The cost of a decent ANR set is significantly more than a very
good passive set,

Not really. In fact, not at all. Let's say a "very good passive set" is
of the DC brand (I couldn't agree less, but...). That will set you
back, what, 400, 500 bucks? For that, you'll be the proud owner of a
Lightspeed 20XLc and have a 100-$-burger left. Go with a QFR XCc (or
one of its pilot shop branded cousins) and you'll have two of those
burgers left.

"ANR is way more expensive" is just as much of a myth as "You can't
hear the engine quitting with ANR".

ANR is one of those areas where you can get a good set for about the
same or less than a top of the line passive set or spend as much or
more than you want. Try, then buy, but don't buy with out trying.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

I've been looking at headsets recently and came to the conclusion that
the QFR XCC clone is a good compromise at $240. Compared to other ANR
headsets it has some of the highest passive attenuation though only
~10db electronic. If the electronics fail it should still be very
good.

By the way Roger you mentioned in a previous post that 3db was
half/double. I think you're still thinking of power not volts.
I assume ANR refers to volts so think 6db = half/double, or am I
getting rusty with all this?

David