Radio with throat mics in freefall

[Darminion 0]

Came across some throat mics on ebay for pretty cheap and was wondering if anyone has tried this before in freefall. The work strictly on the vibration of your vocal chords and don't pick up outside noise so if you and a buddy had these on, you could talk to each other in freefall. Personally I think this would be cool for coach jumps so that the coach can tell you what you need to do while you're in the air feeling it instead of trying to figure out from the video why you weren't in the right position when you thought you were.

Just a thought, open for any comments on this.

Anvile Brother #59

[cvfd1399 0]

one comment is that in order to hear it in freefall it would be so loud it would probaly cause ear damage

[Darminion 0]

I would think that an earbud with some dense foam padding under a helmet would cancel out most of the wind noise.

Anvile Brother #59

[obelixtim 150]

Fine until you get some motormouth who can't shut up..........could be more of a distraction than anything else......especially if its not clear and reliable......

More of a problem than its worth I'd say...

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[IanHarrop 42]

There is a recent thread on this topic...

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=192927#192927

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[DBCOOPER 5]

Quote

I would think that an earbud with some dense foam padding under a helmet would cancel out most of the wind noise.

From another site I hang out at Check these out.It an interesting concept.
http://www.zrxoa.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70350&highlight=ear+plugs

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[Darminion 0]

really sorry for the repost guys, that thread didn't mention the throat mic, they mentions the type of headset mic and earpiece like for a cell phone but that is a mic that pics up air vibrations so it would catch wind noise and make you sound like crap. the throat mic catches the vibrations directly from your vocal chords so wind noise wouldn't be transmited

Anvile Brother #59

[CSpenceFLY 1]

I have some radios with ear pieces that pick up your voice through you ear canal.Never tried they in freefall.I'll let you know.

[Scrumpot 1]

Quote

I would think that an earbud with some dense foam padding under a helmet would cancel out most of the wind noise.

I've made a few jumps in the past with this type of set up, and it actually worked rather well. You would be surprised though at how "unnerving" it seems/feels to have someones actual voice in your ear during ff, and in the end analysis we did indeed decide it was more of a distraction than an actual help. It somehow interupted what otherwise would (and should) be "instinctual" ...if that makes any sense.

Also, at the time, we decided to drop it because of concerns (whether founded or not) over the RF potentially interfering with anyone in the group's (we tried it in 4-way) AAD. At the time (about 4-5 yrs ago now there was some "debate" over that going on, and even though we were perfectly compfortable in jumping Cypres'es off ...some others in the A/C were not all that enamored with us, so again we just dropped it.

It was "interesting" and fun for a bit, but when it comes right down to it, I don't know if it was really in any way "useful" or not, as much as itwas just a kind of curious novelty. Made MAYBE a dozen or so jumps total with an earbud and "jawbone mic" tranceiver set up underneath full-face helmets. As far as being "functional", yeah ...it worked just fine.

Keeping a straight face in listening to some of the involutary "grunts" and assundry noises one makes in F/F (that otherwise I guess we just don't realize) and then concentrating on "controlling" those) was at times a challenge too!

My opinion (from this VERY LIMITED experience)... More "distraction" over all than what it is worth.

-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[tciolk02 0]

I have a decent amount of experience with radio throat mics and odds are good if it was cheap it won't work well.

This is definitely one area where you get what you pay for. Even with mid-level throat mics ($100-300) you may have to hold it in the 'sweet spot' for clear transmissions - something that would obviously be impractical in freefall. Plus I would guess the wind as well as skydiving body positions (arching and dearching) would cause it to slide around slightly - and it doesn't take much to move it off the sweet spot.

I would guess the best solution for an in-air radio would be a closed-face helmet with a mic pickup inside, along with a PTT (push to talk) button routed through your jumpsuit to your hand. A VOX (voice activated) mic pickup inside the helmet (again, closed face) might work as well, but any environment with high background noise (like freefall) could trigger the VOX and that gets annoying fast.

Having said all that I tend to agree with those that said it was generally impractical and not worth the effort. In my limited experience I've never had trouble communicating in freefall with looks and hand signals and could easily see a radio chattering away in your ear becoming a distraction.

[freakbrother 0]

At the 100 ways in Perris last September, Kate and Louis (keygivers) were using a system to talk to each other in freefall. Don't know the details of the system but apparently it worked OK.

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www.freak-brother.com

[Darminion 0]

thanks for the info guys, I've seen these cheep ones before and you're right, they did have to be in the "sweet spot" for it to work well so unless you duct tape it to your neck, it probably wouldn't work well. Well thanks for the input guys

Anvile Brother #59

[MWGemini 0]

I've used military models that had the vibration sensors sewn into an elastic type band that you put around the neck and velcro in the back. Those systems also had ear bud like devices that actually transmitted the vibration into your bone, but did not emit any sound. In the civilian market I think they sell for several thousand dollars, but they worked pretty well, and would probably work for skydiving. The ones I've seen on e-bay (FireFox I think) might be modifiable with the throat mic sensors, but the ear bud thing would probably be very expensive and/or difficult.

I made a thread on this topic a few months back that may contain more information, but I don't have the time to search for it right now.

Mike

[Avion 0]

Use athletic tape.

[Avion 0]

I was thinking about putting a speaker in a audible pocket.

[RedassSkychic 0]

I've definately been on a few jumps that those would have really helped... for example, brain farts during 4-way training... I once sat and watched two of my teammates actually "argue" in the air about which side of us they were supposed to be on. It was highly entertaining, especially since the person who was wrong apparently won the argument.

[vtmike 0]

check out raredynamic.com

[Avion 0]

Rare dynamics are way expensive. I'd like to do this with a motorola 2way radio $50-60 each, a throat mike $125, and a helmut speaker in an audible pocket.

[vtmike 0]

cool good luck. The reason rare dynamic is "so expensive" is that their microphone is specifically designed and hand made for freefall and tunnel applications. This is the first system that works. Lots of people have tried in the past but they all ran into the same problem, the microphone. If it was simple there would have already been a system made like rare dynamic's.

[Avion 0]

I can get a mil spec throat mike, probably very similar to the one Rare Dynamics tested, for $350 each, just less than 3x the consumer version for $125.

If you look on their site the mil spec mike tested very close to theirs.

Rather than the components being that expensive, I think it's so expensive because it's a new product with a relatively small production run.

Cheers