how to communicate with a passenger on the highway

[David Williamson]

We have always found it hard to talk to each other over the car noise on the highway. We always wear custom fitted ear plugs. The Cobra up to about 70 mph we could yell and hear each other but in the Coupe there is more low frequency noise from the engine and that did not work. So we started looking at in car intercom systems. We needed one ear covered to cut the car noise and some kind of noise cancelling set up.
There are lots of systems designed for use in helmets for the motorcycle crowd but there was no simple way to adapt them for our use
There are blue tooth systems that work with a cell phone that could work if we phoned each other, a little clumsy and we are often out of cell range.
There are airplane systems but very expensive
We found a system by a company called Eartec that is designed for use by stage hands or in a large building like a warehouse. We got a 2 headset system, 1 headset is the master and the others link to it. I think it goes up to a total of 4 units. They come with a charger and batteries and the battery life is good for the day. Not cheap but they work well and they are reasonable quality. I have not tested the range but I think they would work between cars as well.

148161148162

We are now on our 2nd season with them and they work, we still use 1 ear plug and the other ear is covered by the headset. We use them in Cobra as well and they work just as well even with the wind noise over the mike.
David W

[John Dol]

https://eartec.com/ultralite-single-wireless-headsets/

David,

Is this what you have?

Thanks,

John

[David Williamson]

yes that is the one. Like I said not super cheap but they work well.
David W

[Gbeck]

I recently broke the piggy bank open and sprung for a couple of these and an intercom box. I'll be able to try them next week and will report back.

https://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/11329

[CaptB]

I recently broke the piggy bank open and sprung for a couple of these and an intercom box. I'll be able to try them next week and will report back.

https://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/11329

This is what I use when I fly. They are excellent and slightly less than the Bose.

[jwhit]

here is link for lower price unit that works im sure eartech is better but these work in my budget

https://www.precisiontandems.com/tandemcomquestions.htm

[turbodon]

David

I could not find any info on the microphone as being voice activated on any of the eartec units. I only seen the auto mute which if you have to fold the mic up out of the way is not really an auto but a manual mute function.
Can you verify these statements?

[turbodon]

Gbeck

What intercom box did you get with the head sets? Does your setup have voice activation and duplex communications?

[turbodon]

I found this unit yrs ago but never pulled the trigger on it and headsets.
Voice activated, aux input for music with auto mute when someone speaks with full duplex communications.
Just need the headsets.

Light Sport Aircraft
Flightcom's 403LSA is simple to operate and easy to use, just like the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). The 2-place stereo activated intercom enhances the fun of flying, as well as safety, by optimizing communication clarity. And with a low price, the 403LSA fits nicely with the LSA objective of making flying affordable for everyone.

Features

2-place stereo, voice-activated intercom based on the same platform as Flightcom's classic 403
Auxiliary input with auto-muting to prevent missing critical radio or intercom communication
2-position, radio transmit capability, allows both seats to communicate via the radio
Optional 15 foot prewired harness available for quick and easy installation
Optional faceplate for 2 1/4" instrument hole mounting

403LSA Intercom

Small size for easy mounting
2-position radio transmit capability
Easy to adjust squelch and volume controls
Music input with muting, pilot isolate
Voice activated, 2-place capability with stereo

Weight: 5.0 oz.

Size: 5 in. L, 2.4 in. W, 1.2 in. H

Power Requirements: 0.16 amp, 12-28 VDC

Benefits

Stereo intercom features include 2-place capability, instant music muting, and pilot isolate so you can focus on your flight.
Easy to use and designed to fit almost anywhere in the panel.
All the functions you need along with superb stereo sound.
Switches provided in installation kit allow individual headphone positions to select either stereo or mono mode, allowing the use of monaural headsets.

149315

[David Williamson]

The Eartec mike is on all the time. No input for music or phone but that is OK for me. What we like about them is wireless, noise cancelling and the ear piece cuts out noise like an ear plug. Also I have 2 cars and we can use them in either one. I have not tried it but I think they will work between cars as long as they are close together.
David W

[jwhit]

I found this unit yrs ago but never pulled the trigger on it and headsets.
Voice activated, aux input for music with auto mute when someone speaks with full duplex communications.
Just need the headsets.

Light Sport Aircraft
Flightcom's 403LSA is simple to operate and easy to use, just like the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). The 2-place stereo activated intercom enhances the fun of flying, as well as safety, by optimizing communication clarity. And with a low price, the 403LSA fits nicely with the LSA objective of making flying affordable for everyone.

Features

2-place stereo, voice-activated intercom based on the same platform as Flightcom's classic 403
Auxiliary input with auto-muting to prevent missing critical radio or intercom communication
2-position, radio transmit capability, allows both seats to communicate via the radio
Optional 15 foot prewired harness available for quick and easy installation
Optional faceplate for 2 1/4" instrument hole mounting

403LSA Intercom

Small size for easy mounting
2-position radio transmit capability
Easy to adjust squelch and volume controls
Music input with muting, pilot isolate
Voice activated, 2-place capability with stereo

Weight: 5.0 oz.

Size: 5 in. L, 2.4 in. W, 1.2 in. H

Power Requirements: 0.16 amp, 12-28 VDC

Benefits

Stereo intercom features include 2-place capability, instant music muting, and pilot isolate so you can focus on your flight.
Easy to use and designed to fit almost anywhere in the panel.
All the functions you need along with superb stereo sound.
Switches provided in installation kit allow individual headphone positions to select either stereo or mono mode, allowing the use of monaural headsets.

149315

looks like this system only works with existing radio?

[jwhit]

The Eartec mike is on all the time. No input for music or phone but that is OK for me. What we like about them is wireless, noise cancelling and the ear piece cuts out noise like an ear plug. Also I have 2 cars and we can use them in either one. I have not tried it but I think they will work between cars as long as they are close together.
David W

i looked at eartec they have a very nice system and it works great ,i just decided to go with cheaper system since eartec didnt fit my budget

[Gbeck]

Gbeck

What intercom box did you get with the head sets? Does your setup have voice activation and duplex communications?

The intercom box is “Sigtronics SPO-22N High Noise Two Place Intercom”. I honestly haven’t had a chance to try the intercom yet. But the headset is awesome! It does a great job suppressing the noise but still lets enough sound through that I can hear a car coming in the next lane. The Bluetooth and hands free calling work very well with my iPhone.

[Papa]

My wife an I use these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LLNJ2HC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are comfortable, have a push-to-talk feature, don't require any connection to the car, and keep your hat on! You can also connect an iPod or other music player if you wish and the PTT button will interrupt the music while you are talking.

[turbodon]

It is a 2 person intercom. It can also allow each person to talk over the radio for communications if hooked to a radio. You will not be using a flight radio in your Coupe. So the intercom function will be be just fine.

[Paul G]

Wife and I did a 5000 road trip in 2015 in the Roadster, Small white board worked fine 4x6in. Maybe we we are odd...

[hineas]

I was just searching this topic earlier this week. This thread is golden!

[JohnK]

I used to use Sena Bluetooth headsets when riding motorcycles. They are great for streaming music, nav instructions, taking calls etc. from your phone, and they have a great intercom feature as well. Their noise cancellation is fantastic. I like that I could be listening to music, and then a call or nav instruction or my buddy would cut in and when finished the music would resume again. All hands-free. Intercom could be voice-activated so no need to push a button to talk. When the time comes, I'll be using their Tufftalk (https://senaindustrial.com/collections/communication-headsets-with-hearing-protection/products/tufftalk?variant=32304362913843) headset for the Roadster. It's certified for 24db noise reduction plus all of the above features, and no wires. I'm a big Sena fan. They're a little pricey but their motorcycle comms were far superior to anything else out there, so I'm pretty sure this one will be pretty good too.

[Suzie coupe]

This is a great topic and one I’ve been struggling with. I recently purchased at Walmart some over ear skull candy noise cancel phones and they are FANTASTIC! The noise cancel works well, the music sound is great, but what shocked me was their ability to have a phone call. I was calling friends while on the freeway and having a perfectly reasonable convo using their built in mic (which isn’t even on a boom) so I thought well, by now SOMEONE must have come up with a Bluetooth unit that can pair two of these cheap headsets ($130) and give either full duplex or ptt, either way is fine, but NO! And the research I did revealed a massive misunderstanding that nobody would use such a device because “if you’re in bt range then you don’t need headset comms. Well, duh, they clearly don’t put themselves in loud environments. But, I can think of many areas where this would be useful. So why isn’t there such a device? This would allow all brands of BT to comm together. Super useful in planes, trains, automobiles, and more. There simply MUST be a device like this somewhere?!
I don’t want to use a one-ear solution, and I also want to be able to stream in music and nav. It seems crazy that making a call on our paired phones is the only solution?! Maybe there’s an app? Can’t a phone have multiple bt devices connected?

[cob427sc]

On a long ride I use ear plugs. Makes for a nice quiet ride since I can't hear my wife screaming at me.

[Gbeck]

Here's the update I promised ... long overdue.

I recently finished a road trip with a passenger using my ANC headsets and intercom box. The components are 2 of "Lightspeed Zulu 3 Pilot Headset - Fixed Wing" and 1 of "Sigtronics SPO-22N High Noise Two Place Intercom". Both I and my passenger were using Bluetooth on our iPhones to connect to our respective headsets. Bottom line, this setup is awesome! It's evident that a lot of time was spent balancing the noise cancellation and coordinating the various inputs.

Even before turning the headsets on the headsets do a decent job of suppressing noise. Turn on the Active Noise Cancelling and it's great! The low frequency noises are drastically reduced but I can still hear the pulse of the engine, overtaking cars, etc. High frequency noises seems to be suppressed less. I can still hear the sound of the cooling fan, but its not loud enough to be bothersome.

This part is almost magical. Speech comes through pretty well. For example, a while ago I was stopped for construction traffic in the left lane on an interstate. A guy in the right lane rolled down his window and started asking me about the car. I could hear him pretty well, well enough to converse with him as we waited. It's spooky how these seem to separate noise from useful sounds!

All of the Bluetooth functions work exactly as expected. Intercom audio overrides the Bluetooth audio, and with the Volume and Squelch on the intercom box set properly you can hear your partner very easily. The boom mic picks up some wind buffeting which might be a significant issue in an open car. It's not a problem in the Daytona with the windows open. When you're making a phone call while on intercom your passenger can hear your side of the conversation but he can't hear the other person on the phone. You can pull the headset pug out of the intercom box for private phone calls.

This stuff doesn't come cheap. It does an amazing job of combatting noise while letting you hear useful sounds. For me it is the difference between being able to enjoy my car, and enduring it.

As the saying goes, "A word to the wise is sufficient". Be aware that some states have prohibitions on using headsets. It's easy to see how these could be used in a way that would contribute to distracted driving. Be smart, use this gear wisely, and pay attention!

[64 COBRA]

I don’t think girlfriend wants to wear a helmet. She rode in the Coupe once so she’s ok with it. Haven’t had a long ride in coupe yet

[Discount Brain Surgery]

In my Can-Am X3, we use Rugged Radio intercoms (and radio). The Intercom is for 2 or 4 people, connects your iphone (bluetooth) for music and calls. The headsets or in-helmet kits are "wired". Anyone else use one of these?

https://www.ruggedradios.com/products/rrp696-2-person-bluetooth-intercom-builder-kit-clearance?utm_source=Engaged%20Non-openers%20mid%20January%20Clearance&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Clearance%20Email%20mid%20January%202 022%20%28Engaged%20Non-opened%29%20%28W4hwiR%29

[Bob Cowan]

Hand signals are free. :)