Portable Intercom

[DualRatedFlyer]

Planning a long trip with family come January down the East coast to the Keys for a vacation.  Passengers will be my wife and her parents.  

Would like to bring along a portable intercom so my wife and her mother can chit chat in the back on the way down (total trip will be around 7 hours) while myself and her father fly.  I taught him how to fly several years ago and he has his private, so he enjoys being a crew-member.  He doesn't get to fly as much these days, so any chance to get him back in the cockpit working the radios and flying legs helps keep him proficient.  

My aircraft has an ISO switch on the com so that the pilot is isolated, while all 3 other jacks are on a single separate channel. Would like to keep the iso off so that my father in law and myself are operating normally, and my wife and her mother are on a separate intercom.  

Wanted to see if anyone on here has any experience with some of the ones available online and could provide a review - or another way of accomplishing this without upgrading my ancient audio panel. 

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php?cache=a74fc9d05d76aa91a7f9b978bad7a6d1&filter=&perpage=all&pageno=1

 

Thanks!

[Marauder]

11 minutes ago, DualRatedFlyer said:

Planning a long trip with family come January down the East coast to the Keys for a vacation.  Passengers will be my wife and her parents.  

Would like to bring along a portable intercom so my wife and her mother can chit chat in the back on the way down (total trip will be around 7 hours) while myself and her father fly.  I taught him how to fly several years ago and he has his private, so he enjoys being a crew-member.  He doesn't get to fly as much these days, so any chance to get him back in the cockpit working the radios and flying legs helps keep him proficient.  

My aircraft has an ISO switch on the com so that the pilot is isolated, while all 3 other jacks are on a single separate channel. Would like to keep the iso off so that my father in law and myself are operating normally, and my wife and her mother are on a separate intercom.  

Wanted to see if anyone on here has any experience with some of the ones available online and could provide a review - or another way of accomplishing this without upgrading my ancient audio panel. 

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php?cache=a74fc9d05d76aa91a7f9b978bad7a6d1&filter=&perpage=all&pageno=1

 

Thanks!

What audio panel do you have? I can isolate my "crew" from the back passengers and I thought all modern panels did that. If you just need one for a trip, maybe your neighborhood Marauder can fix you up? 

 

[DualRatedFlyer]

53 minutes ago, Marauder said:

What audio panel do you have? I can isolate my "crew" from the back passengers and I thought all modern panels did that. If you just need one for a trip, maybe your neighborhood Marauder can fix you up? 

Hi @Marauder  --  Thats exactly what I am looking for!  I see it says battery powered - I was curious if these systems would work if not plugged into the ships headphone jacks.  In other words, most people use them just to have additional jacks tied into the main ship audio.  Do they work outside the aircraft intercom system using their dedicated battery power -- i.e. just between two headsets?  

Whats the going rental rate for one of these?  Would a fly-in lunch cut it? 

I have an old collins audio panel.  Zooming in one of my photos, I think I can make out PN: AUD-251H.  This is connected (lower right in the photo) to a PS Engineering PM501 intercom system. 

Looking at their website https://www.ps-engineering.com/pm501.shtml it appears that their iso feature separates the pilot from the other 3 passengers

"Pilot isolate mode allows the pilot to communicate without interruption during critical phases of the flight while passengers talk and listen to music."

When it finally gives up the ghost ill probably upgrade to one that has a better crew iso mode as well as bluetooth etc.  One of the most aggravating things with mine is that when I do go to ISO mode I loose my side-tone, so I cant hear myself when talking to ATC.  

[Marauder]

32 minutes ago, DualRatedFlyer said:

Hi @Marauder  --  Thats exactly what I am looking for!  I see it says battery powered - I was curious if these systems would work if not plugged into the ships headphone jacks.  In other words, most people use them just to have additional jacks tied into the main ship audio.  Do they work outside the aircraft intercom system using their dedicated battery power -- i.e. just between two headsets?  

Whats the going rental rate for one of these?  Would a fly-in lunch cut it? 

I have an old collins audio panel.  Zooming in one of my photos, I think I can make out PN: AUD-251H.  This is connected (lower right in the photo) to a PS Engineering PM501 intercom system. 

Looking at their website https://www.ps-engineering.com/pm501.shtml it appears that their iso feature separates the pilot from the other 3 passengers

"Pilot isolate mode allows the pilot to communicate without interruption during critical phases of the flight while passengers talk and listen to music."

When it finally gives up the ghost ill probably upgrade to one that has a better crew iso mode as well as bluetooth etc.  One of the most aggravating things with mine is that when I do go to ISO mode I loose my side-tone, so I cant hear myself when talking to ATC.  

No need for a rental fee. Just need to figure out how to get it to you. The Sigtronics portable unit I have can be run on a 9VDC battery or the power cord that can be plugged into the cigar lighter. If you are interested, I will take it to the airport today and make sure it still works. Hasn't been used for a while.

[Marauder]

Now for solving the mystery. When I pulled it out of the closet I saw that I had modified it with a second box marked Hi/Lo. Looking in the box I saw two more 9VDC connectors. I have absolutely no recollection of what/why this exists. But it clearly is my handiwork. Any guesses?

[Marauder]

54 minutes ago, DualRatedFlyer said:

Hi @Marauder  --  Thats exactly what I am looking for!  I see it says battery powered - I was curious if these systems would work if not plugged into the ships headphone jacks.  In other words, most people use them just to have additional jacks tied into the main ship audio.  Do they work outside the aircraft intercom system using their dedicated battery power -- i.e. just between two headsets?  

Whats the going rental rate for one of these?  Would a fly-in lunch cut it? 

I have an old collins audio panel.  Zooming in one of my photos, I think I can make out PN: AUD-251H.  This is connected (lower right in the photo) to a PS Engineering PM501 intercom system. 

Looking at their website https://www.ps-engineering.com/pm501.shtml it appears that their iso feature separates the pilot from the other 3 passengers

"Pilot isolate mode allows the pilot to communicate without interruption during critical phases of the flight while passengers talk and listen to music."

When it finally gives up the ghost ill probably upgrade to one that has a better crew iso mode as well as bluetooth etc.  One of the most aggravating things with mine is that when I do go to ISO mode I loose my side-tone, so I cant hear myself when talking to ATC.  

And to answer your question that I missed, yes, I believe the unit will work without the main jacks being plugged into the plane's jack. I am headed over to the airport later today to finish the brakes off with Terry and will test it. I think that is the way I had it set up when I flew with my kids in the back seat. My original panel mounted intercom was a Sigtronics that only was connected to the crew jacks. I added this portable intercom so my kids could talk to each other and it is a 4 place so I would have my wife plug into it as well.

[DualRatedFlyer]

34 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Now for solving the mystery. When I pulled it out of the closet I saw that I had modified it with a second box marked Hi/Lo. Looking in the box I saw two more 9VDC connectors. I have absolutely no recollection of what/why this exists. But it clearly is my handiwork. Any guesses?

 

https://www.sigtronics.com/air/tec_faq_air.html

A few Q&As suggest that some audio players have low power audio outputs that can be difficult to hear using the sigtronics device.  One of the suggestions is to build an amplifier between the two.  Any chance this is it?

[Marauder]

20 minutes ago, DualRatedFlyer said:

https://www.sigtronics.com/air/tec_faq_air.html

A few Q&As suggest that some audio players have low power audio outputs that can be difficult to hear using the sigtronics device.  One of the suggestions is to build an amplifier between the two.  Any chance this is it?

Maybe. It's been a long time since I used it...

[rbridges]

5 hours ago, Marauder said:

Maybe. It's been a long time since I used it...

Your panel has evolved a little. Lol. 

[Marauder]

https://www.sigtronics.com/air/tec_faq_air.html
A few Q&As suggest that some audio players have low power audio outputs that can be difficult to hear using the sigtronics device.  One of the suggestions is to build an amplifier between the two.  Any chance this is it?

Verified it is working. Let me know if you want to use it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[DualRatedFlyer]

9 hours ago, Marauder said:

 

Verified it is working. Let me know if you want to use it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

Thanks Chris!  Ill shoot you a PM

[Yetti]

I have a couple to sell if you want to try them out.

[skydvrboy]

Sounds like you have this solved, but I have one of these http://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/1976 that I when I was renting a 4 seat airplane with a 2 place intercom.   I think you would be able to plug it into the pilot side and flip the intercom to isolate.

One's similar to Marauder's aren't too expensive if you end up wanting your own. https://www.gulfcoastavionics.com/products/283-iisx.aspx