Over the head Radio headsets?

[Farley1981]

Hey all,

 

Friend and i have bought 2 Binatone Radio Terrain-750 hand sets, we used them on Sunday for the first time with Throat Mic/Earpieces and the sounds was really crap, i could not hear a word he was saying. We had everything turned up

 

I've been looking at Over the head headsets with 1 pin 2.5 jack, but i cant seam to find any good ones, does anyone use these radios?

 

Or could point me in the right place to pick up some good mics?

 

Thank you.

[TacMaster]

Binatone's aren't the best for audio quality. If you want some advice on what to do comms wise, talk to Ian_Gere. He's a sound engineer by trade and a long term member on here, so he'd be your best bet.

[Baz JJ]

There are lots of high quality headsets and boom mics.

The problem is that you don't know if your problem is the throat mics you are using or the Binatones.

 

So you could buy a headset, find its the radio at fault and then you are limited what replacement radio might work.

 

Was the sound quality crap when you are both standing still and not very far apart ?

 

Have you tried doing similar just using the internal mic and speaker ?

 

Is the quality vastly different ?

 

PS you should never need the volume at max - it will just distort the sound.

[NickM]

Contact throat mic's are notoriously tricky to get working right. I ditched the one I got and bought a cheap (£3.50 ish on fleabay) covert acoustic tube with a ptt mic unit. No problems since then.

 

Perhaps try one with the throat mic and alter the pressure on your throat in a fairly simple test, like 100m in a park with line of site. If that doesn't work try one of another type like suggested above and test that out in a similar way.

[TacMaster]

I just use a cheapy £6.50 2 pin PTT which fits my ancient Motorola radios after a little modification. It actually works very well considering the cost!

[Baz JJ]

I tend to use covert Synetix throat mics which work well, but I have Motorola and other non PMR446 Radios that I use them with.

[Unrustle_Thine_Jimmies]

Binatone 750 user here too. Never use the Max volume setting. Keep it at minimum or level 2,Those bastards at the R&D department did some techno gobbeldy gook which Ian explained to me which basically means shit audio quality at long range and higher volume.,Coupled with throat mics which often have poor quality sounds.

 

I suggest leaving volume to a minimum and just getting any cheapy earpiece/mic combo and it should do well,served me reliably for a MILSIM last Sunday.

[jcheeseright]

here you go: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-Earpiece-Headset-Binatone-Radio-Terrain-150-200-550-650-750-Action-950-1000-/281060993157

 

they're not over the head style ones like the super elite special forces types wear but they're entirely servicable and cheap too!

[Ian_Gere]

Well yeah, Binatone really aren't the way to go, but since you have them, unless you can afford to sell them for a tenner on fleabay and get Motorola XTR446's or TLKR T6 or T8, etc, then you're going to want a pretty decent microphone or the handset's inherent distortion is going to pile on to a shite mic's mushy sound and give go very muddy lower frequencies and obviously distorted consonants characterised by artefacts (unreal sounds) which combination makes speech difficult to understand...

 

The best value for money headset that I know of which has at least the minimum quality you need is this.

 

But checking them out with just their internal mic & speakers at a few meters and also about 100m line of sight is good advice. If you can't get a decent intelligible signal under those conditions with the volume set low, then there's something wrong with one or both of the handsets, because even Binatone aren't that shit. If possible experiment with a mate's handset as well and see if that gives you a more intelligible signal - if you know that 3rd handset works fine, then you'll be able to gauge how well yours compare.

 

Thing is, as has been said, throat mic's are notoriously dodgy. Without boring the actual arse of the lot of you, the cheaper ones, which we tend to be using (even more expensive replica ones), use a completely different type of mic than those designed for military use and the cases don't have the same precisely engineered sound qualities.

 

Oh yeah, and Binatone use the same 2.5mm TRS jack as Motorola, so that is the PTT you'll want with your headset. If you have a look on the Hong Kong airsoft sites, you'll find Z-tac EVO III headsets bundled with PTT's plenty cheaper than you can buy them here...

 

Oops, oh yeah and that headset above is on its own, no PTT, which you need because the headset has a military jack plug which will not plug into your handset directly.

[chris555]

Im going with the throat mic here my friend has had to stop using his now i can hear perfect engilsh instead of a strange form of german are the bowman type ones that seem to be made in china any good or is there a more reliable brand i should be looking at. radio is a midlands g7

[Ian_Gere]

^^Midland G7 has a very good reputation.

 

Z-Tactical Bowman headsets are good. The EVO III is better than the EVO II because the boom mic is removable so you can fit options for respirators or throat mics.

 

If you've found an unbranded one, it's a lottery, but give us a linky.

[chris555]

Good rep for a reason coverd in mud and rain and still going strong at the skirmish. I was looking at the z tac ones i have one and it doesent work might just be a faulty headset or ptt, im now looking at a gebuibe msa sordin headset has anyone used one and know how durable they are. Or if there are diffrent models for the milltary market and civillian market

[Baz JJ]

I suspect the ones on Airsoft sites with Z in front of them are just replicas.

MSA are doing the supreme range at present.

 

I know one of the sales guys at Talking Headsets and they do the real thing:

 

http://www.talkingheadsets.co.uk/airsoft_hearing_protection.php

 

For serious military use rather than Airsoft, I tend to use Savox but we are talking the real thing here.

 

Surely for occasional Airsoft games, a replica is fine ?

[jcheeseright]

I had a replica set of sordins and they were rubbish, the sound of my AEG cycling was enough to set off the sound reduction, which actually just switches the speakers off and after 2 uses they developed a really weird crackling noise in the left ear that I couldn't get rid of. The sound reproduction from their microphone was toss too. Avoid.

 

Bought a real set of sordins instead, absolutely fantastic bit of kit, eating protection works (e.g it'll reduce the volume of a loud bang instead of just cutting out entirely!) and the audio quality from both the speaking mic and the external mics is excellent. With gel ear cups fitted it's easy to forget I'm wearing them.

 

That said, they are very expensive and before you can use a set with a PMR446 radio you'll need to have a special PTT made which will cost another £90-100. I don't regret buying mine but I'm painfully aware that I could have insured my car for a year with the amount of money I spent on my comms set up.

[Baz JJ]

Going out on a slight tangent, what is the fascination with these types of headset in Airsoft ?

 

Is it about looking the part ?

 

I see lots of players with headsets and boom mics.

 

From a practical pov bearing in mind, there is no ballistic gunfire with AEG, it occurs to me that a good single earpiece probably makes more practical sense and do you need a noise cancelling mic when you are relying on PTT for simplex comms and not using hands free ?

[Ian_Gere]

Noise cancelling mics are good for intelligibility, but any 1/2 decent boom mic will produce better results from sibilants and soft plosive consonants than a clip-on. No so much with P's & B's, but 'pop' can be ameliorated by moving the boom down away from the direct line of your mouth and rotating the mic up a little.

 

I like having my left ear covered too - it's the one which is more vulnerable to being shot and, while I don't believe a BB could do my ear any permanent damage, I nonetheless have a morbid fear of getting a BB in the ear'ole and it swelling up like John Merrick's...

[SgtTalbert]

I have a pair of Z-Tactical over the head comtacs and love them. Clear audio and my mic works well from what I have been told. Also the two mics that help enhance the sound from around my surroundings really does work and is good!

[chris555]

some one on here asked why i would want a sordin headset being able to amplify ambent noise can give you a massive advantage also as my friends do engage in clay pigeon shooting and occasionally my friends dad offers to take a couple of us hunting every now and a again could actually prove pritty useful (if i ever take him up on it)