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Wireless headset?

Flying Scotsman

Well Known Member
Has any company (or person) ever made a wireless aviation headset? Say, Bluetooth? All the discussions about headset jack locations and all lead me to think that if you could get rid of the wires entirely, you'd solve a minor annoyance... :)
 
You know, leave it to freaking engineers to overdesign something and make it a total overkill (and usually a budget-buster). And I *am* an engineer, so I know whereof I speak. LOL!

I was thinking something considerably simpler and easier, like a module that plugs into the headset jacks and communicates wirelessly with the headphones, doing the same thing the wires do but without the wires. That's it. No Ipod, no cellphone. None of the fancy "cascading frequencies". Just do what the wires do. KISS.
 
My Chevy truck has wireless headsets for the rear seat video setup.

They are only for listening, no two way communication, but it surely must be possible.
 
Wireless headsets

I talked with all the headset mfgr's at Sun & Fun this past year and asked the same ? Where are the wireless headsets? The response was the same from them all. "Won't work, can't do it, no market", even Bose and Light Speed had no interest in developing this technology. WHY??? The only reasonable excuse I got was no "Fail Safe" if the wireless link failed you would loose all headset function, unlike noise cancelation with loss of power reverts to basic headset functions.
I WILL NOT buy another headset with wires. Someone will take up the chalange, and will hit a home run, IMHO.
Dick
 
"No Failsafe"

I think you got your answer of why not...wireless is not reliable enough to trust. There would be too much liability for a company to venture into that arena...at least at this point in time. If you have used a bluetooth for your cell phone, then you know how it can go south now and then. Frequencies can be interrupted by several things. I don't think I would appreciate missing a traffic advisory from flight following or anyone else for that matter when traveling close to 200MPH.
 
It'll happen

Just wait, like an earlier poster said, someone will figure it out. The failsafe could be as simple as having the "wires" to plug in if the wireless part fails.

I've often thought about having a system like "OnStar" availble for airplanes. Yeah I know, tons of details to work out but that's what this is all about.
 
The problem with Bluetooth, I think, is that it's a misapplication. It was originally intended to replace RS-232 for digital devices, not for what it's being used for now.

And yeah, why not just have a small jack on the headset and cables that could plug in if the wireless failed?

This should be a no-brainer...
 
You guys are ignoring the answer.

Liability. Period.

You're taxiing and the bluetooth blinks out just long enough for you to miss a hold short order. Wham! Right in front of landing traffic.

Why would any headset manufacturer open themselves up to that kind of liability?

Even if the hold short order didn't get blinked out by the bluetooth and you just missed it. Some folks would claim in a lawsuit that it DID drop part of the transmission just to blame it on someone else.

Just makes no sense.

But, you're homebuilders!!! Build yourselves one!
 
The same logic could be applied to a corded headset...you could miss a call due to a frayed cord.
The folks who used to use the Gosport com system probably said the same thing about headsets...at least those with any hearing left...

Rather than using normal radio frequencies to transmit to and from the wireless unit, why not use some sort of IR system like a tv remote would use? Line of sight would be no issue...
 
But, you're homebuilders!!! Build yourselves one!

Similar to the homemade headset thread.... you could probably retrofit the electronics of a wireless PC headset into a normal headset and do away with the wires. With a battery powered dongle on the airplane jack side (or wired in out of sight....). A little harder with most of these receivers being USB now, but still possible.

Hrrrrrmmmmm. :) Might be worth looking to find a suitable donor system that had audio line output/input to keep things easy. Didn't see one with a quick search though.
 
Wireless liability? It's amazing we don't get the wires between the aircraft and the tower all tangled up when we're in the pattern...
 
More Batteries to change or charge

A wireless headset will need to get power from somewhere...


Just a thought..

Happy day!!

T
 
Well, assuming you found a bluetooth headset you would be happy with gutting into a conventional headset...or an earbud/mic headset you could modify to be noise isolating, looks like you may be able to adapt an airplane side receiver from something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Ada...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261002015&sr=1-21

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-intercoms/imc-camos-bts-300/imc-camos-bluetooth-adapter.htm

...of course you would need to power the receiver, either from batteries or direct wired in...and your headset would need to be charged on a regular basis.

But seems like it could be made to work, with lots of headset options if the bluetooth link to plane works well.
 
Cordless Headphones

I remember about 2 years ago Aveo Engineering (AveoTech) made and/or sold Noise Cancelling Cordless Headsets for acft..... I had bookmarked the web site, but it is closed and refers you to Aveoengineering.com.

Maybe someone could find out why they quit making them....
 
Obviously it can be done-----

My kid has wireless, two way headsets for his stinkin X box.
 
No way, never

I would never use a wireless headset while flying.

1. Batteries die and you are NORDO (no radio communications) until you replace them. Now while replacing them, you aren't flying your plane, and of course you have to hope you remember to bring extra batteries.

2. Just more RF floating around my brain that I really don't want.

3. A quick cable check and radio check during pre-flight will tell me if my old reliables are working ok, long before I take off. No worries there about frayed cables or broken wires.

4. No interference issues. Why do you think you can't transmit any RF devices on commercial airliners?

5. If I don't want wires draped all around me, I will install the jacks on back of the seat or down on the floor next to the seat. That should keep them out of the way.

6. And absolutely never bluetooth. Just too unreliable. The signal is easily blocked.

The key to a successful flight is safety. Why would anyone risk that?
 
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Hmmm

So CIDGRAD90, how do you really feel? :D

This sounds like when the USAF finally switched from slide rules to calculators........airplanes would be running off the end of the runway, falling out of the sky, weight and balance calculations would all be wrong.......didn't happen.

The wireless thing will happen. Will it be for everyone? Probably not. But it will be available.
 
@CIDGRAD90 .... I was thinking of testing with my most common passenger on the wireless experiment. I don't mind the wires, but she sometimes does. (Would typically prefer to have a wired headset at least in the planet, but the times I've lost comms (VFR) were pretty much a non-event.)
 
I have been pushed back by a wireless headset. So there must be something out there already, could be modified.:)
 
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