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[Jaan]

I posted this 2 years ago (jesh time goes by quick) but figured I'd re-post.

Sure, you can go out and just buy these headsets but if you're handy with a soldering iron you can make or mod your own. The reason I did it was so that I could use an earbud that fit me well, and also so I could make a remote push to talk button mounted on my gun.

Here is the original post;


For a while now I've been using a pair of Motorola Talkabout radios. I've been thinking about making a simple headset that would fit inside my mask and also have a remote push-to-talk button, possibly gun mounted.

Now as many of you may have noticed, the 2.5mm plug that 99.9% of headsets (like the earbud headsets for cell phones) have is the standard plug which does not fit into Motorola Talkabout radios. I've read that they take a proprietary plug that's a little longer than standard...presumably to sell you their $30 headsets instead of using the one you got at the dollar store.

I found some unwired stereo 2.5mm plugs at the electronics store for a few cents. These fit nicely into a cordless drill or drill press. Hit the shoulder with a safety file for about 10 seconds (taking off about 1/32") and you have a plug that fits into the radio.

So far the wiring is as follows:

Tip: Speaker
Ring: Mic
Base: Common Ground

Also, putting in a switch wired in series to the mic makes that switch a remote push to talk button. If the mic circuit is closed, you're transmitting, if it's open, you're receiving.

I just hate having to pay $30 for maybe $2 worth of parts

[Dave-D]

do you have any?

[Jaan]

Well...since you asked...

Keep in mind this is just a working prototype.

I did this a couple of years ago, from basically scratch. Sorry I don't have any pictures of me making it.

I had a headset where I didn't like the fit at all, but did actually work well. So I took the whole thing apart and mounted it inside my mask.



So it's basically a speaker and a microphone mounted inside a mask, with a 3 pin molex connector connecting it to the rest of the wires.



Of course, hardly anyone has a tool to make molex connectors, but you could easily do the same thing with a stereo mic jack...one wire is common ground, one is speaker and one is mic.

You can see the remote push to talk switch. I made it 40 inches long so I can zip tie it to a remote line. If I ever make a "finished" product, I might make the remote PTT button disconnect, so I could put a jumper in there and use a headset normally.







I used "dual wall" shrink tubing for all the important connections. Dual wall shrink has glue inside, so it sticks to the wire and molex connectors etc. With the addition of zip ties, it's not going anywhere anytime. I would recommend it for this sort of application.

[shew201]

yeah... so how did you do this? i couldn't understand really the putting the stereo 2.5 jak into a cordless drill part... could you PM me instructions possibly? thanks. i would love to have a ptt radio headset for the scenario games. but don't want to pay $30.

[sniper15]

you have to take the "shoulder" of the plug/pin off. otherwise it wont make connection correctly

[shew201]

And what exactily is the "shoulder?"

[Jaan]

[princedame]

Hi,

I'm looking into PTT over cellular.

Do you think something similar to this could be made to fit and use with a Nokia phone?

It must have a designated PTT button

[Jaan]

Originally Posted by princedame

I'm looking into PTT over cellular.

Maybe. It depends on how the phone works...I haven't looked into it.

For a phone it would be much simpler...PTT on headsets like this are more complicated because you have to trigger it to broadcast.

On a mobile phone since you're essentially broadcasting and receiving at the same time, all you would have to do is make a switch that completes the connection to the microphone when you hold it down. Simple.

The only problem I see if if that's the way the phone is triggered to hang up or pick up the line. You would have to get a wired headset and see how it works...most have a pickup / hangup button.

[Blue60]

thanks for the nice how-to, this should work with most single pin radios.