NYoutftr

Thank you Fred

ShakeNBake

You have just introduced a caveman to fire....

Not4off

I just talked with Bob at Stable Energies. They sell the Peltor FMT-120-IMSA intercom.

Currently I am using a Stilo connector cable from my helmet to a Chatterbox. My first Chatterbox lasted about 3 years after which I discovered a short in the box itself, in other words, the blue light would not illuminate until I applied a twisting force to the box. An annoyance, certainly, but it was just the one more step to get it turned on. With my second Chatterbox, the failure was in the headset receptors at the box. This after only one event. Bob at Stable Energies tells me that a little electrical contact cleaner sprayed on the headset jacks before insertion works wonders.

I will certainly give this a try...but regardless, have decided to purchase the Peltor intercom mentioned above. In addition, I'll need the Stilo adaptor cord from my helmet to the Peltor (IMSA) intercom. The only fly in the ointment remaining is the student headset... which Stable Energies will have available soon. Bob has offered to let me try their military grade (IMSA) headset prototype in time for the two events I have scheduled in January. When this happens I will report the results.

Looking at the picture of what appears to be an IMSA jacked headset in ShakeNBake's last reply...guessing that would work...but Bob thinks what they'll soon have on offer is more robust.

Matt Romanowski

The photo above is not a chatterbox setup. That is the system that drew developed.

ShakeNBake

+1 The Units drew sent me are about as robust as I could ever imagine. The mics are military grade dynamic noise canceling mics, that on their own are about 125 bucks if you bought from Stilo or RuggedRadio. The integrated earpiece is something I have never seen before...and what I am really the most excited to see. Cable is a either a Stilo Male Nexus/U174 jack or a IMSA female Nexus/U174 jack.

I don't see anyone coming up with a better headset for students, but I do see everyone and their brother jumping on the bandwagon and trying to sell exactly this.

The intercom unit you pick is the other part of the equation. Really you want something with digital noise filters that you can program or adjust the shape of and individual volume controls for passenger and driver. The only portable battery powered digital systems with serious noise filtering and independant volume controls I know of are the new stuff from Rosso Racing, Stilo's WRC DES, and Stilo's DG10 (which is not really that portable, and not battery powered). There are a couple other units that seem to be popular that are analogue only, the Peltor FMT120 and the Rugged Radio RRP-242 (which has a few other brands who sell exactly the same thing...and I suspect that this might be what HMS might use). The Peltor 120 is nice and small.

Not4off

...so being the impatient sort, I went ahead and purchased the Peltor FMT-120-IMSA from StableEnergies and have had a chance to test it at the track.

For my purposes...it is FANTASTIC! Audio Quality is great. The "side talk" level is perfect. The length of the heavy cords allows any cockpit routing imaginable. The prototype student headset/boom mic worked wonderfully with the only remaining variable being how much cushioning around the speaker is best for comfort. Plan to have many folks slide it into their helmets at the track this weekend and offer their thoughts that I will pass on to Bob at SE.

fhp911

Please pass on your thoughts to the rest of us also !!!!

ShakeNBake

No updates on my end, I am still waiting for a Rosso Racing intercom. Turns out in Europe they don't use IMSA wiring standards, so Rosso had to custom make my unit, which is taking a while. I have both a stilo and a IMSA ic200 coming, they say first week of feb.

I do now have a Stilo DG10 that I am playing with. It was relatively cheap during the blackfriday sale at rally-nuts It's a really nice intercom than can integrate with your phone over bluetooth as well (for car to car), but I have to add my own LiPo/Lithium Ion 12v battery to it and make some Stilo to Imsa converters. The sound quality is on a completely different level than Chatterbox with my Roux helmet electronics.

Not4off

This weekend was the second and third days of my Peltor FMT-120-IMSA Intercom test at the track. My helmet is a Stilo ST5 Carbon with integrated electronics, thus the setup included a Stilo (helmet) to IMSA cord to the intercom and an IMSA cord to the student's prototype headset furnished by StableEnergies. I did multiple sessions with three students and, in addition, had many drivers in the paddock give their impression of the speaker/boom mic comfort level in their helmet. Helmets tried were open and full face, with and without balaclavas. The prototype speaker (with integrated boom mic) is relatively thin with no padding. No one complained of issues with comfort or suggested a need for cushioning. Audio quality was fantastic.

Happy Motoring!

linzman

So could this peltor also be hooked into a radio to have both DE student/instructor and race day driver/crew and spotter communication?

Not4off

Hi Linzman...

I'd recommend calling Bob or Joe at StableEnergies (973-773-3177) with that question. Not using mine in that way... however there is a AUX receptacle on the box which is described as an EXT connector for communication radio or mobile phone.

Perhaps Matt or ShakeNBake could weigh in on that question.

ShakeNBake

Yes, there is a special jack on it to plug into a standard radio-com unit. Those cables are listed here (and I'll bet there are custom/3rd party cables also avaiable)

http://peltorcomms.3m.com/world/Prod...Product_Id=412


For example, here is a regular cell phone cable that would let you use a cell phone as a radio (P/N is FL6U-66):



To talk back, since there is so much background noise on an analog radio that has no noise filters, and I don't think you can configure it to always broadcast, you'd also need a push-to-talk cable and button like this (P/N: TK57-01/1)



Hope that helps. My day job has nothing to do with racing radios....if you want to bring about an apocalypse with AI then I'm your guy....

kgorman

I know this thread is for instructor/student setups, but I run the rugged 660 in my other off-road setup and it's fantastic. Just call them to get Stilo or IMSA setups. Also it's worth noting they have a cable that records the conversation (and radio too) on the GoPro so you can hear what your instructor is saying to you in your later analysis.

https://www.ruggedradios.com/index.p...products_id=32

ShakeNBake

Got a chance to try out an IMSA student headset from Andrew with my Stilo DG10 and Helmet this weekend at Cresson with PCA folks.

Andrew's student headset worked like a charm. The DG10 was a bit bulky with a 12v lithium battery, but it worked really well. Sound quality was excellent. I had to keep turning off the bluetooth function because all the audio notifications from my phone were coming through, though in "Stage" mode, only the co driver hears the bluetooth connection.

I'm still waiting for the Rosso ic200 units I ordered to show up. They are more practical than the DG10, which is a kitchen sink of features and digital noise filtering.

Andrew changed his design a bit. I had asked him for a Stilo wired version. The one I got came from his latest batch. The mic is a different design from the first IMSA units he sent me, though not sure what spec-wise is different.

Another thing I played around with was making converter cables. IMSA->Stilo, Chatterbox->IMSA/Stilo, etc. Turns out that the darn nexus plugs are expensive. The cheapest source I could find short of ordering 100 from china was from Skygeeks, with each Female Nexus (TJ101) running 10 bucks, and 5 bucks for males (TP120). Really high quality 4-conductor mic cable is about $0.5/ft. So raw materials for small batches for an adapter cable is 12-20 bucks. Makes the $45 most people seem to be charge for a completed cable seem ok.

The was a bit of a ramble...sorry.

trebien

Has anyone tried or considered something like this option, for a nice, cord-free universal setup for under ~$100?

http://a.co/aWGMS92

I'm sure snipping off the second earpiece wouldn't hurt anything, if it wasn't wanted.