The Gun Counter

See my update below. Bottom line: Don't waste your time or money



So I stumbled across this YT link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyB06GhU3G8

He found an add on for the Howard Leight Impact Sport electronic headset that adds a boom mike and connectivity for Amateur handheld radios. Would probably work with some GMRS/FRS radios as well. It was developed for Airsoft and is not as robust as .mil gear, but looks good enough for my uses.
I want this for Amateur Radio public service event use. Think being stationed next to the Marching Band assembly area when working a parade and trying to copy radio traffic.

Mine has a K connector for Kenwood (and several other brands of) radios such as my TH-D74. It Works well. Reports of my audio over VHF Analog and DMR repeaters range up to "outstanding".

The only issue is RFI getting into the headset when transmitting. A couple of ferrite beads on the headset cable fixed that on VHF analog. I still get motor boating on DMR (which the repeater owner tells me is not unusual). But it does not affect transmission audio, and we don't use DMR for ARES/Public Service much anyway. Something has to give on something this inexpensive, and I guess in this case that something is shielding.

Radio volume is controlled by the knob on the radio. Adjusting the headset volume only affects outside noise. So in a noisy environment with lots of cross talk, you can turn the volume control on the headset down to it's minimum and hear the radio clearly. Turning off the headset also kills the radio audio to the headset. Uses 2 AAA batteries in an easy to access compartments (unlike my old Peltor headset)

Given I got the whole thing for under $100* and they make PTT assemblies for Icom and Yaesu HTs, it gives me a lot of the functionality of the my old Heil Traveler headset (inop mic and no longer sold or supported by Heil) at somewhat less than I paid for the Traveler. So I call it a win.

Also have back up pair of ear pro for shooting if needed.

You can find PTT assemblies for Icom and Yaesu as well

Next to figure out how to rig an adapter cable to the Kenwood TM-D700 mobile (uses an RJ45 mic connector) in my deploy kit. I think I have the wiring figured out, but my eyes and fingers don't play well with those small wires anymore.

Link for the Howard Leight Impact Sport: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001T7QJ9O?ps ... ct_details

Link for the mic/PTT add on: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWRDKCR1?re ... tails&th=1

*Since I got this unit last week, the Amazon price for the Howard Leight unit has jumped about $10.

Nice! I see it also has the PTT system I'm used to from aircraft intercoms.

UPDATE: Don't waste your time or money.

Worked fine in testing at home. In April, first time I actually needed it at a parade, the receive audio went flaky and I had to switch to a speaker mic (next to the marching band assembly area where I needed it)

Contacted Amazon as the vendor does not list any contact information in English. Outside the 30 day free return window. After a bunch of go arounds with Amazon on the phone they finally refunded my money on return (minus a "restocking fee").

Just in case it was just a bad unit, I ordered another one. Came in Saturday. Checked out OK last night. This morning checked it out on a Net and the receive audio went flaky again. I'm done. This is going back.