Radio and Intercom

[takotruckin]

I got it all wired up and working with a headset, then I took it out to the car and hooked the intercom up and it started transmitting all the time. Something in the circuitry of the intercom is connecting the mic- and speaker -. So I took my PTT switch apart and instead of switching PTT it now switches the mic -. I have good sound from the radio to the headset, when I push the PTT it will transmit. I can hear myself in the speaker a little bit and it sounds pretty crackly, but I don't know if that is normal. Someone at work has a scanner they are supposed to bring me so I can test the transmit quality. Hopefully it is OK. Then all I have to do is figure out wtf to do with all these cables I have now.

[baja5]

So you didn't use the cables from rugged? You wired the PTT cable that came with the radio directly to the intercom?

[takotruckin]

So you didn't use the cables from rugged? You wired the PTT cable that came with the radio directly to the intercom?

I sacrificed the headset that came with the radio and wired the harness into fixed wing aircraft jacks, then put an inline remote ptt switch between the intercom and jacks.

[TimS]

Way to go, Taco!!

[takotruckin]

Way to go, Taco!!

No celebrating till I get a positive transmission.

[uh60ce]

I hope you don't end up running into the same issue I did.

A lot of aircraft microphones(unless their a dynamic mic ) are designed to be powder by the radio (DC biased) . If your radio doesn't do that then you'll have to either build the circuit to do that, or change mics over to something compatible with your radio .Lots of info about this very subject on a few of the ham radio forums where others have tried (and in a few cases succeeded ) to build the same thing.

I ran into the no mic power issue trying to make my intercom work with a cb radio, but I haven't got around to building the required circuit to power up the mic and make them work together so I just use the radio's mic and monitor with the headphones which works just fine.
I suppose that if I ran with a group more often I'd have built this by now, but since I normally run solo having the radio hands free just is not a priority for me.

[takotruckin]

SUCCESS!!!! A coworker has a NASCAR scanner, so I was able to tune the baofeng to a NASCAR channel and sucessfully transmit. The sound quality is decent, but the MIC on the headset is MUCH more sensitive than the mic on the handset. The VOX on the intercom needs the headset less than 1-2 inches away, for good quality on the radio it needs to be about 5 inches away and will pickup lots of background noise. I may add a little resistance and see if that helps.

[uh60ce]

Glad you got it to work. What headset and intercom did you end up using?

[TimS]

Sweet! Let the DIY movement commence... Carry on soldier.

[takotruckin]

Glad you got it to work. What headset and intercom did you end up using?

The intercom is a SoftComm ATC2-Y that I got New, out of box from Ebay. From my research the intercom boxes are pretty much all the same. The newer ones have a cell phone plug so you can talk on your phone through the intercom, mine doesn't have that, but I think with little wiring I can do it through the recorder connections. It will play music, and cuts the volume about 75% if there is radio traffic or the VOX is activated.

The headset is a Rugged Air RA200. I didn't want to mess with possibly repairing a used headset, and the RA had great reviews for a budget headset and it was pretty cheap new on ebay.

The PTT is a standard cheap remote PTT from aircraft spruce. I got the headset jacks from them as well. I'm at about 220 invested including a Baofeng UV-82. I'm sure it could be done cheaper if someone had more time and patience. I missed a brand new intercom that sold for $50 by about 2 minutes...

[takotruckin]

I dug through my big-bag-O resistors and found that a 10k ohm wired into the MIC + gave me the best sound quality. Now all thats left is to put the jacks into a project box and then mount and route wiring in the car. I'm probably gonna add an external antenna to the baofeng. On the EIA with a UV-5R in the car I could always hear Tim in front of me, but would not be able to hear the guys in the back. I think the metal of the car blocks quite a bit of signal.

[JUSSUMGUY]

I think on the EIA you could hear Tim because he was not using a handheld while the rest of us were. External antenna will help.

[TimS]

I researched mag mount antennas a while ago for the boefeng. It seems there is a lot of testing and some good cheap recommendations. Let us know what you come up with.

Ed and I got 7 miles, GPS verified, straight line, two way, performance from his radio to mine. I think from handheld to handheld it is less impressive.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, a final schematic would be helpful for future reference.

[dustymojave]

Ok. I'm bringing this thread back to life as I have decided to buy a Baofeng radio. Like this week.

So which model? UV-82? UV-5R?

Which accessories are highest priority?

What about programming?

The Baofeng US website says that unless you buy from them, any warranty will have to be serviced by shipping the radio to the orient. But I can buy the radio for about 2/3 of the Baofeng US price (may have to pay shipping though)

[baja5]

I recently picked up the 8 watt version of the UV-5R. They call it something else. Amazon had it for about $65.00. That was with the bigger 3600ma battery. From what I have read the battery not only extends the life but the range. I also ponied up for the $16.00 extermal antenna. So far it has worked well. Best I can tell so far the range is about 5-6 miles with some hills.