Re: wow ...you are a wiz
Originally posted by doughnut
wiz...
if when you do you could let me know the best handset etc..etc for your system
I just bought the Cobra's because the look like the right spec for our headset. That is, they have VOX (voice activated transmission) and the facility to plug in a pillion headset for rider/pillion and bike/bike communication. They also use a standard jack socket for charging, so it will be easy to buy a cheap 12v - 6v transformer and wire it into the bike power supply.
VOX doesn't really work with a normal headset because the road and wind noise is so loud, it keeps triggering the radio to transmit even when you don't want it to. This is why most headsets come with a PPT (Push to talk) button. However, the internals to our microphone are so good at noise cancelling, the VOX will work fine, alleviating the need to keep pressing a PPT button, you just talk and the PMR transmits.
The way it works is simple enough, we do not use a conventional diaphragm like in most microphones, we use broadcast quality ribbon mic. internals. The ribbon is completely open both sides, so if any noise hits it, it hits both sides of the ribbon simultaneously and therefore the ribbon doesn't move, 'cos the sound-waves cancel each other out, therefore no sound is picked up. If however you talk into it from just an inch or so away, then the sound waves hit one side of the ribbon before the other, the ribbon then vibrates giving clear, broadcast quality speech.
Audio input is something I haven't investigated fully yet. Providing a socket so that you can plug in another device like a MP3 player or even a mobile phone is dead easy, but the electronics needed to cut out the PMR and MP3 input when you get a phone call etc could start jacking the price up and putting back the launch date. I want to start by offering a solution that will make good, clear bike to bike communication dead cheap. Taking on Autocom head to head might be something we do in the future though, depending on the success of this first product.