Microphone Jack

[jkhirsch]

A quick search effort yield no results so:

 

Does anyone know the story behind the .206" mic jack?

 

I can assume that it may just be related to "marketing" in that they made it nonstandard so that a whole bunch of new stuff had to be made, but that's much too boring.

 

[manu damaschin]

I am not sure...but probably this is because you cannot mix the holes... 

[1964-M20E]

I am not sure...but probably this is because you cannot mix the holes... 

+1

[jkhirsch]

I definitely get not mixing up the holes, I'm not sure that you want to mix up holes in any situation, but they could have used another standard A/V size instead of creating the .206"

[PTK]

Hole differentiation.

[N201MKTurbo]

Here is the history of the thing:

 

http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/micjack/micjack.html

[1964-M20E]

cool THX

[carusoam]

Why doesn't it ever become a single plug in privately owned A/C?

Plugging in the two plugs is a hassle...

There isn't a headset made today, that doesn't all have the same function...

Best regards,

-a-

[N201MKTurbo]

All the headset manufacturers make helicopter headsets with a single plug. Install a helicopter jack in your plane and buy helicopter headsets.

[carusoam]

I assumed that there was a resistance difference or some other technical reason...

Why does hellicopter use different plugs?

Best regards,

-a-

[N201MKTurbo]

I was just talking with my friend about this the other day. He is working on his helicopter instrument rating so he has been flying my Mooney a lot to get his instrument skills back up to snuff. He was saying how he liked the helicopter headsets better. They mostly have overhead plugs and shorter coiled cables.

 

I think it is just convention. I can't think of any reason why you couldn't install an overhead helicopter plug and use helicopter headsets.

[N201MKTurbo]

Well it seems that the speaker impedance is different and the microphone is a carbon mic instead of a dynamic. There are convertors out there so it would still be possible to add a plug for a helicopter headset, but you might have some 337 issues with the converter.

[PMcClure]

Hole differentiation.

An important life skill!

[carusoam]

Thanks for the follow up!

-a-

[jkhirsch]

....and a month later....N201MKTurbo thanks for that link, I enjoyed the read, even though where the ".205" measurement came from still seems to be somewhat shrouded.