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WrongWay

Air to air mics? (rare dynamic?)

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Anyone have any experience with Rare Dynamic's air to air communication systems or any similar systems? I know that Flight Club is using them, along with some tunnel coaches I believe, and I'm sure that other people are interested as well. I'm just wondering about the quality of the products and how useful they really are. At 2 g's they better be awesome. :P

This is the first I've ever heard of this kind of system. Are there any similar systems by any other companies out there?

Any info would be great. B|

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

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I think Blincoe and Sean have a throat mic and I'm not sure if you have to push to talk or not. I don't think you have to with these. Get in contact with one of those guys at Lake Wales. If I see them in the tunnle, I'll get the info and pass it on. :)
Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

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Does anyone have any information about current status of this company - rare dynamic? The website doesn't give any response.

Maybe someone has a tip where to find a similar solution for air to air communication like they (rare dynamic) used to offer?

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I belong to a club that combines ham radio with skydiving. Most of our comms are done under open canopy but I've experimented with freefall comms.

Here are some general conclusions about suitable mics. The radio part is fairly easy if you use simplex. Duplex (both can talk and listen simultaneously, like on a telephone) is harder. We use ham radio frequencies and can do cross-band duplex on 144 and 440 MHz. but there are many license free options including FRS, MURS and .1 watt FCC Part 15 ops.

Throat Mics: forget about it. Tried MANY including military ones and all had terrible intelligibility. "Mushy" describes it.

Rare Dynamics Mics: Bought a used pair and they are VERY VERY good mics, but IMO not worth the new price. OK, I admit it, I am a cheapskate. There is no E-magic, no active noise cancellation or any equalization circuitry, just a really great mic element. I figured they must have just rebranded someone else's element but so far I cant find anything that substantiates my hunch. It may be 100% made by them.

O2 Mask Mics Great value if you can find the right ones. Look for "quick don" emergency O2 masks on eBay. They have a cage framework that allows pilots to slam them on fast if cabin pressure is lost. Nelson has several models with high quality internal mics. These masks cost over a thousand new but are cheap on eBay. They come out of boneyards from obsolete airliners. The mics are gold plated and give audio that is 85% as good as Rare Dynamics at about 5% of the price.

Inside a full face helmet any high quality mic will do an OK job. It is important to mechanically isolate the mic from the helmet shell which vibrates and can add a lot of noise. Suspending it on compliant foam helps.

Good tips in general: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Reducing_noise

This company makes some big claims for their INVISIO headsets, even mentions suitability for freefall comms. I've not used their products: http://teaheadsets.com/index.php/invisio.html?mode=list


Pay attention to impedance matching. Sometimes you will need a transformer between the mic and the input circuit.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Accumac wrote: Unless everyone is licensed stay out of the Ham Bands it is illegal and heavily policed.

The FCC doesn't do much enforcement in hams bands unless someone is doing something really egregious. Ham bands are mostly policed by ARRL appointed band cops (so called Official Observers, with no real legal authority) some of whom are frigging COP WANNABE MORONS. ALL of the people talking in my ham skydiving group are licensed. We identify with callsigns only every ten minutes as the law requires. At other times we just use descriptive names like Jumper 1, Drop Zone, etc. So this ARRL OO comes on, listens for a minute or two and assumes we are unlicensed ham band intruders. Demands that we immediately identify ourselves with FCC callsigns. We ask him to standby, we are in the middle of a jump, but tell him we are ALL licensed. He then proceeds to JAM US.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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What a fuckwit. You guys could have gotten him in trouble for that.

Every person I've met who vehemently checks that everyone is licensed is a total twat. Tech licenses cost $5 and about 20 minutes of study time. If you have nothing better to do with your time than police your outdated hobby that nobody cares about, go jump off a cliff.

-KJ6***

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377

He then proceeds to JAM US.



I would think the FCC would like to hear about that.
(Former radio amateur here.)
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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It takes more than a few minutes of study. And the whole Idea of Amateur radio is that it is self policing. Sound familiar? It is what skydiving is supposed to be. I got my Technician license in February and General in March my dad is still a ham from the 1930s and yes I would report your ass for illegally using the ham bands. If you don't want to get a license use cb. Amateur radio actually helps in a disaster and are in great need in the flooded areas in the south.

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Wait, so you think what the wannabe cop did to 377 was appropriate?

The average Yaesu or Baofeng with a factory duck that an unlicensed user might buy comes with a stock configuration that makes it pretty hard to accidentally interfere with other radio users.

The FCC doesn't care about them. The FCC cares about people who are actually interfering with other users. Almost every fine they pass out (except to cell phone jammers) is to users who have a license but are operating illegally, mostly for shits and giggles.

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