I can't hear myself talk!

[scottessex]

I have an ICOM A-22 radio with a comtronics helmet/headset. problem is I don't know how to set the mike gain or side tone so I can hear myself transmit, otherwise it seems to work fine.
Any suggestions? :confused:

[Harry_S.]

Scott; I'm not familiar with that helmet/headset...but do you have a separate volume control for the ear pieces??


.

[rehler]

Scott,

Sorry. Bad news. Your radio does not have a "side tone". I had the same situation for a few years. Recently I bought a new Icom A5, which does have the side tone feature, so I could hear myself transmit. I like it a lot better.

[scottessex]

The manual says the A-22 has side tone, but I read something else about needing the icom adaptor cable OPC-499. for another $50.
So I am confused,

[gyropilot]

Scott,

Sorry. Bad news. Your radio does not have a "side tone". I had the same situation for a few years. Recently I bought a new Icom A5, which does have the side tone feature, so I could hear myself transmit. I like it a lot better.Huh?

Scott,

I use an Icom A22 and I can hear myself just fine when I transmit. It's worked that way with two different headset/helmet systems I've used.

There must be something different about the wiring of that Comtronics helmet... or maybe you have a general patch cord wiring problem?

Good luck,

John L.

[ventana7]

I have an A22 and I get side tone on mine. I am using the little pig tail that has female jacks for the 2 plugs from my David Clark headsets and also the seperate push to talk switch.

Rob

[Harry_S.]

Scott...you're right...John L is right...the IC-A22 does have side tone.

I have the OPC-499 adapter cable installed in my set-up. All it does is adapt your headset jacks and your PTT jack to the IC-A22. I don't think it has anything to do with adding a side tone.

As John L mentioned...the cause may be with your helmet/headset?! How do you have your helmet hooked to your IA-22??


.

[scottessex]

I just have a comtronics helmet with the comtronics patch cord. I will look it over tonight and see if I can find anything, I could always go by Acft Spruce and try a different cord and see if it makes a difference, And I'll try Greg Spicola's helmet, his gyro is at my house.

[chuter]

I have a comtronics helmet with the microphone on the flexible shaft and an ICOM A3.

At first the microphone wouldn't transmit. After a lot of checking, it turns out there is a special patch cord from comtronics with the remote ptt that has an amplifier or something for that type of mic.

This patch cord isn't listed in any of the catalogues that I could find, I think the part number is something like 929E. It's the same number as the regular patch cord but with an "E" after it.

Could this help?

[scottessex]

Thanks for the info everyone, we'll see!

[rehler]

Sorry Scott. I was wrong. My old Icom was an A20, not an A22. My A20 did not have the side tone feature.

[scottessex]

Hey I found the problem. I hooked up my helmet to Greg's gyro, and it worked, so helmet is good. Phil has an Icom radio on his gyro, patchcord fit, hooked up my radio and helmet to phil's patch cord and it worked fine. So it looks like I need an icom patch cord to replace the comtronics cord and I will be good. Thanks for all the help guys.
The a22 calls for an OPC-499 cord and Phil's was an Icom 629A cord so it must be an Icom specific thing.

[scottessex]

Great News! The 499 cable is for a general aviation headset---Won't work

And the 929A cable is not available any more!

[Brent_Brown]

And the great news?

[scottessex]

Exactly...........................I am still looking............................

[scottessex]

Today I called Comtronics and they refered me to thier technician.
I talked to Bruce on the phone and told him what I had and what was going on, he told me to solder in a jumper wire between the white and black wire in the Push To Talk switch. Works like a champ! :D

Comtronics people are very nice and good to deal with. They could have told me to send it in and pay to get it modified, but instead He told Me how to fix it. Great people. Problem solved. :D

[CLS447]

Scott, good for you! I have been & will continue to support comtronics with my business($) . They have always been helpful, they have great products & I like em' .

I have an A20( no sidetone ) but I want to get an A5. A friend of mine has some kind of cord or attatchment from ICOM that we hooked up. I think it was a sidetone generator or something that worked nice though.

So I guess that was the good news, right?

[david holmes]

My A-22 has excellent reception but when I transmit I have "squell" or "garble".
Where should I start looking?
It's a comtronics helmet & mike

[WindRyder06]

David,
I had the same problem with my PTT cord to helmet set up. I called Comtronics to get the fix. Clean the "male" connectors with the green scotch bright pad and the wipe them down with alcohol after cleaning. Then use a contact cleaner/ tuner spray in the "female" connectors. You can buy the little can of cleaner/ tuner at Radio Shack. This did the job for me and now I don't have the feed back that I was getting. Hope this helps....

Fly Safe,
Chris