xmit noise ??

It's no secret that an RV cockpit is a tad on the loud side . In cruise, I notice that when I key the mike, the noise I hear coming back through the headset makes it somewhat hard for me to hear myself. I haven't had any complaints from ATC but I have to wonder if my comm is full of noise.

Is there anything I can do to tone down the noise ?

John

Are you getting an electrical type squeel or just cockpit noise backfeeding into your audio system.

Electrical noise can come from the alternator/generator, lighting or other electrical devices, poor bonding of electrical components, or defective equipment. You need to track down and isolate the source to repair it.

Some microphones have a foam cover that helps reduce cockpit noise from getting in the audio system. I use a PM3000 intercom and Bose X headsets in my 7A and do not experience any noise problems. Conversations in my cockpit are very close to normal and very quiet once the noise attenuation is active.

I hit some hard chop one day that sent my headset flying straight up off my head (my belt held me down). The noise was deafening. I truly love my Bose X's. Good active noise attenuating headsets are a must as well as noise cancelling microphones.

Hope this helps,

Roberta

What type of Comm radio and intercom do you have? Sounds like it could be a simple mic gain adjustment.

Jeff Point

icom

It's an Icom A-200. I'm not sure it has an adjustable mic gain. I'll have to take a look. The noise seems to be all ambient wind/engine noise.

Thanks

John

Ah ha, I should have figured. I have an A-200 in my 6 and had exactly the same problem. It sounded fine on the ground, and at low power settings (low ambient noise) but at cruise it sounded awfully noisy in the headsets.

The A-200 does have adjustable mic gain and sidetone, but adjusting them is a pain. Remove the radio from the rack, and on top you'll see two holes labled mic gain and sidetone, with a piece of tape over them. Remove the tape on both, and there are little pots inside which are adjusted with a small phillips screwdriver. You make the adjustments and slide the unit back in and try it. If you've got someone to go with you it's not too bad to do this in-flight. Be careful with the pots as they only turn about 180 degrees.

I'd start by adjusting the sidetone down and leave the gain alone. As long as ATC reports that you sound OK, the mic gain is not the problem. I ended up adjusting sidetone down to about 1/2 of the factory setting before it worked right. If you turn it down too much you won't hear yourself in the headsets, but the world can hear you.

However, if ATC or whoever tells you the radio is noisy, try adjusting the mic gain down a bit until you get that right, then mess with the sidetone. Adjusting one effects the other. It's very much a trial and error process.

Jeff Point
RV-6
Milwaukee

Aha !!

Aha "I" should have figured that if I came up with the right comm, you'd have the right solution .

Thanks for the info. I will try to start this weekend. Might take a bit of time to work it all out but I would have never figured that out myself.

Thanks again.

John