Another scooter CB progress report

Having fitted the earpieces and mic to my motorcycle helmet, I plugged the headset into the supplied cable wired for the radio and found a small problem.

With the cable disconnected from the headset, the PTT functions normally, that is press to TX, release to RX, however, connect the headset to the radio, all is changed, the Midland 42 goes into TX with no power, and pressing the PTT applies the power, this does not occur on my Intek MT-5050, which is a PMR446 set, and running mic-only with the Midland 42 does not eliminate the issue.

The headset is getting a trial run today to see how it handles an actual trip on the road, I may connect the Midland 42, possibly speaker-only, and monitor traffic on the CB gateway channel.

I also intend to connect up the car adaptor temporarily in order to ascertain if the TX issue is eliminated with the earthing of the scooter, if so, then I won't need to modify the headset in any way, otherwise I'll need to modify it as such so that a second switch is needed in order to transmit.

I will report back later

73 de 26CT730

Scooter CB: progress report

The scooter CB project reached another milestone today, the arrival of the motorcycle helmet headset, interestingly made by Albrecht, which is part of the same group of companies as Midland, something I note because the radio is a Midland Alan 42 Multi

The headset came in two parts, the radio connection part with PTT switch, a Kenwood type also exists so I could simply replace this for the Kenwood type to use my Wouxun KG-UVD1P on the Amateur bands once licensed, and the headset itself which is two speakers and a microphone held in by velcro pads.

The connections are all quick to make and disconnect, the PTT uses a DC type connector to connect it to the headset, the headset itself connects using a mini-DIN connector (looks to be 6 pin), and at the radio end there are two plugs, 2.5mm mono for the microphone and 3.5mm stereo (though seemingly wired mono) for the speakers, these are not a combined plug however, they are separate plugs, but this does not cause any issues otherwise.

The earpieces will be fitted to my motorcycle helmet either this evening or later in the week, further progress will be made later on once I have ordered antenna parts and they have been delivered, but I can still do a test run with the headset inside my helmet and a radio with me, weather pending because radios don't like water very much and you know what the British weather is like

73 de 26CT730