https://www.facebook.com/groups/772690156104749/permalink/3987630327944033/

OK, so 2.5 years and three iterations later and I believe I have
finally arrived at a decent Bluetooth headset solution. The design goal was to
have something robust, fool proof, good audio, and no faff (e.g. forgot to
charge and will still work for you for the day).

It has wired audio, but with the remote PTT Bluetooth. This has the advantage of
giving a long battery life. This should give around 200 hours of normal use, 50
hours if you continually transmit. If you are the recipient of such aggrieving
activity then in addition to the PTT there is also a Mute function. This I find
invaluable when you have screwed up, again, and you are low scratching whilst
everyone else is saying much of a booming day it is and are already half way
around the course.

The units auto power-off after failing to find a partner for some time, and
similarly if there has been inactivity for some hours they will also turn off. I
added this as a result of forgetting to turn things off myself when stashing
back in harness.

If the battery does run flat, you will still be able to hear people. And of
course if you want to permanently mute as a result you can just disconnect the
cable.

The connector solution has stood the test of time, a four pole 3.5mm plug and
socket.

The latest board has been refined with additional noise filtering in and
shouldn't suffer from any radio interference problems the previous iterations
comically (!) suffered if you were unlucky.

Andrew Hollidge and Anthony Smith have prototypes and I will be upgrading them
to this latest form as soon as possible. Pending a successful trial with what is
left of the season I then intend to offer up for sale. I think the cost would be
around £100 and therefore I want some high confidence in their quality before
taking money off anyone. If you are interested, PM me as it would be good to get
an idea of how many people would like one - if any!

Oh, and finally - observe the mighty codpiece! One of the other things with
trialing your own headset solution is you note how things break / annoy people.
Stashing in my Tenax cable not only could you press PTT buttons and annoy your
fellow aviators, but the connection into the radio gets physically stressed.
This solution is quick and easy to slide on, and then off on landing if want to
talk other people in once out of harness. Obviously you don't need the headset
to have this.