How the amatuers do it: Nick Ugolini, Drew Chaplin
How the professionals do it (but they charge like US$500!): The Clarity Aloft and the Halo
I decided to take the 'modular' approach, so I can use any earphones I like (and use the earphones for other things as well) and I can also replace the mic fairly easily.
Parts were initially looking like a bit of a problem, but despite my "Wanted to Buy" requests getting zero replies... apparently no-one on any board or at the flying club has any old headsets
I managed to locate a headset (an old Telex Airman 750 -100) and have begun construction...So far, I have made the frame (coat hanger bent to shape and covered in heatshrink tubing to make it look a little more professional) and figured out the mic boom attachment:
Its very light and I spent an afternoon wearing it (the missus thought I was a weirdo, but I'm used to that)... so I'm fairly confident it will do the job. You'll also notice that I have not actually shrunk the tubing where the mic wire connects to the frame, as I need to redo the area around the mic boom attachment point first and want to hide the join
Then I wired up a junction box (which also houses the mic circuitry from the original headset earpiece) using the original cables and plugs from the headset. The box has a 2.5mm socket that the mic cable connects to and a standard 3.5mm stereo plug for connecting a set of earphones. I used the different sizes so I would not get them confused:
I have tested the mic in one of the aircraft at the flying club (in conjunction with the headphones from my current headset), so I know that my dodgy soldering is OK... it sounded fine on the intercom and UNICOM was reading me at 5. Granted this was on the ground with the engine off... so I'm hoping to try testing it out in the air next time I go flying to see if it works in the noisy cockpit environment.
Also, I have finally managed to find the earphones I want, a pair of Hearing Components NR-10's. These have a noise reduction of 48 decibels (my current headset is only around 23 or 24!) and an inline volume control so I dont have to worry about the impedance mismatch between the earphones and the aircraft radio system. However getting them to ship to NZ is either impossible or hellishly expensive (US$60+ for a US$60 item!)... so I have shipped them to a friend in New Jersey, who is coming home to NZ in December
The waiting is going to kill me
very light... my sunnies do not interfere with it and my head doesnt get all hot, sweaty and uncomfortable like it does with the big heavy headband and ear seals of a normal headset...