Finally: “White Noise” During Radio Transmissions Resolved!

[drdehave]

Guys:

In my Sting Sport S-LSA, I am running an Icom A200 Radio with automatic squelch and an Engineering Incorporated Intercom with squelch and volume controls. My headsets (two) are Pilot PA1181Ts –relatively inexpensive (~$200) sets, with each-ear volume controls and input jack on one ear–for phone, music, video (sound), etc. However, I have had long-standing problems with background “hiss” (let’s call it White Noise) during my radio transmissions, especially after being aloft for a while at cruise RPM when the battery becomes fully charged. This has created havoc when I have tried to put one of my video cameras in the com-line when making videos. I knew it was somehow related to volume-level or squelch-control, but I never took the time to carefully isolate and resolve the issue, since turning down one or more headset ear volumes usually brought some relief. Last week I finally did resolve this dilemma (knock on wood)–but doing so involved putting a match to two $100 bills. Here’s what happened.

Coming home from a trip, the sound stopped working in my right ear. Oh, I must have accidentally turned the volume off in that one, I thought. Nope, that’s not it; let’s switch the headset over to the two co-pilot-side jacks. Nope, still nothing in the right ear–so that’s not it either. Okay, let’s try mama’s headset over on my side; okay, everything’s fine again now. That was easy! I am such a diagnostician! I’ve obviously got one dead ear on my headset; I’ll just upgrade to a brand new headset and get this defective one repaired later.

And so, I pulled the trigger on another $200 headset–this time, a Faro G2 W/MP3 (i.e., very similar to the Pilot). But when it arrived in the Amazon box next day, I got a queasy feeling seeing that big, in-line switch marked “Stereo” and “Mono,” and reading the directions that said for normal cockpit use, set it to the Mono position. Sense the punch line that’s coming, yet? Yep, you’ve got it right; that similar, but much tinier, switch on my Pilot headset had inadvertently gotten moved to the Stereo position, shutting down the right ear. That’s all that was wrong with it; and I had just put a match to $200.

Anyways, now I was not only pretty embarrassed, but a little peed-off, too. So I jumped in the airplane with all three headsets, hell-bent on some redemption by resolving the White-Noise issue once and for all and seeing how the new Faro set performed. I leveled off at 4,000 AGL, clicked on the auto-pilot, and started testing. And here’s what I learned.

At least in my airplane, with my avionics, the headset instructions (i.e., from both the Faro and Pilot) are counterproductive and actually create White Noise! They are: turn both headset ear volumes to maximum, then set the Intercom volume to a lowest comfortable level (and set the Intercom squelch as with any squelch); then, if one person desires a slightly lower volume, turn the earpiece volumes down a little bit on that headset. Well, in my plane I can assure you this guarantees White Noise during radio transmissions. What I have to do instead–and what has so far (three more flights) stopped the white noise–is to turn all headset volumes to lowest (or nearly so) settings, then adjust Intercom volume to lowest-readable level (by both people) and set Intercom squelch as normally. That's it!

And the Faro performance compared to the Pilot? Well, the Faro certainly has superior ear-cup noise suppression, but voices in the Faro do appear more tinful and White Noise is more easily set off than with the Pilots. At least for now I’m sticking with the two Pilots and putting the Faro on the shelf for when one really does break.

And a moral for this story? I guess it would be if you own an airplane and work on it a lot yourself (and have only been in aviation 3 short years), be prepared to put matches to a lot of $100 bills.

Alas, in this case, however, there was also another sidebar: I was so elated having the White Noise removed from my transmissions, I went aloft and made another video! This one is the first of a series of videos in which I’ll be giving up all my old best, secret, fishing hotspots. Shoot, I don’t need them now, what with this all-consuming (time and money) addiction called flying...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V313nYN ... m3CDM8arRk

[Merlinspop]

Can't you return the Faro's? If not, there's always Craigslist, ebay or the old bulletin board. You won't get both Benjamins back, but you'd get one back most likely.

Whenever I've had two volume controls within the same circuit, I usually start out with both at a 'medium' setting and play with turning one then the other up to find the best sound quality. There'll always be one or the other that is much better.

As an aside, I recently bought a ANR headset branded by Gulf Coast Avionics. So far have been pleasantly surprised.

[drdehave]

"At least in my airplane, with my avionics, the headset instructions (i.e., from both the Faro and Pilot) are counterproductive and actually create White Noise! They are: turn both headset ear volumes to maximum, then set the Intercom volume to a lowest comfortable level (and set the Intercom squelch as with any squelch); then, if one person desires a slightly lower volume, turn the earpiece volumes down a little bit on that headset. Well, in my plane I can assure you this guarantees White Noise during radio transmissions. What I have to do instead–and what has so far (three more flights) stopped the white noise–is to turn all headset volumes to lowest (or nearly so) settings, then adjust Intercom volume to lowest-readable level (by both people) and set Intercom squelch as normally. That's it!"

Hey Guys: It turns out that when I reported the above, way back when, I was actually just putting a band-aid on a sore. Now, I have found the cause of the sore--and applied a soothing, healing solution! The solution came from perusing a number of threads over at VansAirForce of folks with exactly the same problem with their ICOM A200 radios.

Here's the 'fix' I employed, based on their discussion threads: Insert a 3/32" hex wrench into the right front of the radio and use it to loosen the radio in the tray, then, pull the radio out 3/4-way until the MIC and SIDETONE small foil covers are exposed. Remove the MIC foil cover, insert a small screw driver and reduce the mic gain by turning counterclockwise. I turned about a 1/2-turn first and it was way too far, eliminating my transmit (couldn't hear the "keying") and sidetone (i.e., ability to hear yourself talk). So I pulled the radio out again and dialed that mic setting back 1/2-way to start position.

Perfection! We tested it thoroughly on the ground and in the air. It is now the cleanest, clearest radio I have had in the 3.5 years I've owned the airplane. Moreover, I can now finally adjust my headsets and intercom according to their instructions! Why didn't somebody tell me this before so other aircraft and I didn't have to listen to all that white noise?

Oh well, if you learn something new every day in aviation, they say you're still progressing... I hope 'they' are right!

Rich

[Jack Tyler]

Thanks for posting that here, Rich. It really is amazing how valuable an informational resource the VAF site is...and not just for experimental drivers.