I have been using a set of Sony wired earbuds with my KX3, but recently started wearing hearing aids. Clearly I can’t use both together. Two days ago, I tried to use the KX3 speaker, and while I did manage to complete my activation, it was sub-optimal at best. Good signals were easy to hear, but quieter signals were difficult to hear. Yesterday, I did another activation on a different hill in my locality and went back to using the earbuds, taking out my hearing aids first. This was better, but I would love to hear your suggestions for over the ear headsets which are lightweight, and usable with the hearing aids in place.
The other question I have - I am looking for the 2m board for my KX3, but it seems these are now unobtanium from Elecraft. If any of you have one sat unused that you would like to move on, please get in touch!
My hearing aids (which btw cost much more than my radios!) seem to work OK with over the ear headphones, but the ones I normally use are wireless and too heavy to lug up a hill. I quite like look of the examples from Armin - reminds me of the early 80’s, when rare earth magnet headphones like this were brought onto the market with Sony Walkman type units! For 5 EUR, I might just get some and see…
Looking at sources of KX3 accessory boards, it looks like they are available, just not in the UK. Lutz in Switzerland have them. Interestingly, while browsing their site, I also see they recommend the Heil BM-17 headset for SOTA activities. They are a bit more pricey than 5 EUR, but would also work with hearing aids.
Hello Paul, after some audio level issues with my KX2 I found that the Sony MDR-ZX110 headphones are a good match for Elecraft radios (or pretty much any other modern rig).
They’re the most inexpensive on-ear model from Sony, widely available from any online store, €10 on the yellow site right now.
Another benefit is that they neatly fold for storage.
Other than when using a handheld rig, I have never used a speaker on an activation as the sound can get lost in the elements. On summits where there are members of the public it can also be a nuisance. I use Sony MDR-V150 on ear headphones which I find suit me better than over ear types, though it is a personal preference. Like Armin, I cannot abide in ear buds - they just annoy me intensely.
I got mine through placing an ad on the G3CWI Flea Market site. They are not cheap, but perform very well. The output suits my Microwave Modules 2m linear amp with integral preamp and I have had excellent reports from the rig.
The delays in Bluetooth audio (digitising, packetising, sending, receiving, de-packetising, analog recosntruction) make Bluetooth audio for CW just about unusable.
I don’t think it has induction loop pickup - I would have to check. It does have bluetooth, and I use that facility for listening to podcasts from my phone. as @MM0FMF says, I am not sure I would enjoy the delays in processing, although as I use SSB currently (CW learner), I guess it would still be usable.
Paul, I think it’s OK for SSB because the speaker is muted when you are TXing. Yes I know you can put many sets into local monitoring mode, but that is not how you normally operate. I can’t send properly if I can’t hear the sidetone, a problem with a KX2 speaker on a windy summit .The CW sidetone is generated on the set and if there is a 250-500mS delay before I hear it because of using Bluetooth then that is certainly going to be “twistin’ my melon man”.
Perhaps the manual will list the supported codecs?
The nice thing about BT, would be if you put an adequate antenna on the TX, and you can wander off while still listening.
TLDR: You will want to get BLE Audio LC3 for long term, and APTX-LL if you want compatibility with existing phones today.
After further digging, the new Bluetooth LE Audio spec has an “LC3” codec, which gives 20-30ms latency. Appears quite rare at the moment, but should be longer battery life as well, when the gear is available.
I would expect new hearing aids to use it, because BLE Audio will be lower power drain, and able to listen to one-to-many streams (Auracast). These two would be significant advantages for hearing aids.
So BLE Audio will be what you want to use long term.
There are BLE-Audio only TX/RX dongles, as well as all mode dongles for quite a bit more.
Searching for these the magic words are LE Audio, LC3, BT 5.4.
An LE audio dongle will be BT 5.4, but a BT 5.4 does not necessarily have LE Audio.
Koss Portapro. Same design unchanged since they were first released about 37,924 years ago. Great warranty too, they sent me free replacement foam pads a couple of times now, no quibbles.
Never a better use of the phrase “If it ain’t broke…”. Highly recommended for almost any audio situations really.
I tend to use ear buds that sit in my ear, rather than stick into the hole. They don’t block as much external sound, but still pull out easily without disturbing my glasses if I forget and walk away from the radio. They also fit under my knit cap / toque. But this depends on the shape of the surrounding parts of the ear - they don’t work for some people.
For ARDF, where the listener tends to be more active than for SOTA operation, I have sewn some small speakers into a sweat band so it serves double duty.
Perhaps the best discovery, however, was when my wife bought a pair of ear muffs that wrap around the back of the head rather than over the top. They had included pockets on each side for optional speakers. So now I have this for cold weather operating:
You might need to post a few times as people don’t seem to log onto the flea market on a regular basis. I was fortunate as I only had to post once for the transverter, but I’ve had mixed success when placing wanted ads for other bits of kit. Some would say you’ll pay more with a wanted ad, but for rare items it’s really the only way of obtaining them. I hope you are successful.
In the 80s, I had an Aiwa Walkman with foldable headphones… I’d love to have those headphones again for SOTA.
They were light, small, and sounded good. I’ve never seen anything like them again.
