Hi,
I am looking for an adaptor to go from a standard Baoefeng UV5R to an aviation headset that actually works! I ordered one from Amazon that said it worked with an Aviation headset BUT the female mike jack is incompatible with a standard mike plug.
Has anyone had success finding one?
Thanks,
Tom
K1FQY
Wouxun makes one that comes with the KG-S74A. I don’t know if it is available separately as an accessory, but if it works for the Wouxun with the standard K1 two-pin plug, it should work with the UV5R. Maybe our forum hosts at buytwowayradios can help on a special order.
Of course you could buy the KG-S74A but at that price, you might as well buy a headset that works instead of trying to adapt an aviation headset.
You might find a way to go from aviation to another connector and then that connector to a two-pin Kenwood plug. The problem you will always run into is that there is a variation in plugs among aviation headsets, and ones designed for Airbus will not work for ones designed for General Aviation.
You could also try a two-socket aviation adapter to a single pin, but again there are so many variations. Single pin plugs are common on military headsets, but I have found from experience that the single-pin plug into a ComTac is NOT the same as other brands either.
Don’t even get me started on NATO single pin, 4 circuit connectors. A ‘world wide standard’ - really?
At least 2, probably 3 sizes, and as for the PTT circuit? My friend does aviation camera work and has a bag of adaptors. Luckily he’s also a private pilot, so understands the dangers of plugging in the wrong, or miswired versions. 75% of the time, is his guess for success rate with a new bit of kit talking to another new bit of kit, even when the connectors look the same!
Thank you for the reply. It is strange that the adapters I have seen are all the same and do not work with the standard mike jack.
I am a pilot and at my home field they have a contract to spot sharks and give the position to a boat over the marine radio. They tried using a standard marine walkie talkie but the ambient noise in the plane was so loud they couldn’t be understood.
I suggested we try a Boefeng I modified to marine channels thinking the many adaptors available on Amazon would work. Not
Tom
Chickenhawk,
Just saw your post and thank you also for replying.
I won’t repeat my post to paulears as it is where I am at.
Yes, there is basically 3 versions as far as I know, Standard, Airbus, and Helicopter.
I will look into the KG-S74A and see what I can find out.
Tom
I did look up the KG-S74A and the adaptor looks exactly like the one I received which doesn’t work.
Hi Tom727er. It might be the headset then, but unless one can see the wiring diagram for the one you tried versus the Wouxun, it is hard to tell for sure. I know the Wouxun takes most GA headsets, but not helicopter or Airbus. When I rigged a ComTac helmet headset and PTT to a Wouxun for road racing, I went through about 3 adapters before I found one that works.
I guess you could find someone with a KG-S74A radio and borrow their adapter to see if it works. I still don’t know if BTWR can even order it separately.
I would throw mine in the mail as long as I got it back in a few weeks, but if you are spotting sharks where you live, I am about 5000 miles away from where you are. Our “sharks” not too far from here are large, white and have four paws the size of a coffee table.
The other alternative might be to pick up a KG-S74A as a backup radio for yourself, and try the adapter. It’s a great little radio, and very simple to use. Worst case scenario would be to give it to the boat and communicate on air band. I am not sure what frequency you would use for air-to-ground communication, but here we have a lot of radios on the ground for drone operations to ATC, and forest fire fighters to helicopters.
And lots of licence complications. Perhaps the US FCC is more flexible, but in the UK, while a blind eye is taken for things like hang gliders, and similar, general aviation is much stricter. You end up wirh varying degrees of legality. A marine radio in an aircraft is a bit naughty, a baofeng on marine channels in an aircraft, even more naughty. As usual, in cases of safety, problem free use tends to be quietly ignored, but using a baofeng on marine in a commercial north sea helicopter would probably be a no-no. The pilot in charge would want some certainty it wont cause their nav systems to play up, and while a legitimate marine radio might satisfy them, i doubt a baofeng would, if the pilot was savvy.
In practical terms, for something like this, buy a box, buy the right connector cables and then do the wiring in the box. If you have the right gear, its just a case of working out the correct cabling for what you want to do. You could even build in ptt switches so you can switch one headset to the aircraft circuit and the baofeng circuit. One cable to the baofeng, one to the aircraft socket. You have to just spend some time working out which goes to which.
Thank you both for the advice and insight.
The boat operator does not want any other radio other than a marine one.
They tried a commercial marine radio but could not get it to work with the aviation headset; they tried 3 different ones including DC and a Bose.
I guess I could buy a KG-S74A radio on Amazon and try out the adapter and then return it if it didn’t work. I don’t like doing stuff like that plus I am almost, from the picture, sure its the same as I bought.
Thank you again for the help.
Tom
If that’s the case then I think we are making this way too complicated. I often wear two headsets at the same time. It is easy if you have an aviation headset that is over-the-ear type. I simply wear a surveillance headset underneath, and it feeds into one ear and sounds just fine. The ambient noise is low because of the over-the-ear headset, and I keep the mic close to the front. You can get lots of good quality surveillance headsets for the two-pin K1 connector going to your Baofeng.
My suggestion if you are going this route is to throw away the ear plug that comes with the surveillance headset and get an ear mold instead. I wear headsets 12 hours a day and the ear molds are a lifesaver. Also, spend the money and get a good quality headset from a good dealer like BTWR. It will last for years, plus you can replace things like ear tubes easily. (They tend to stiffen and go bad every few years or so, and one tiny crack and it will no longer work.)
You now have two radios, two headsets and can listen to both at the same time. (Hopefully, you won’t be getting too many radio calls on air band and marine band at the same time.)
Marine band radios are for ship-to-ship communication or shore-to-ship from a licenced shore station, so the legalities are up to you to decide. This is the reason why professional shark spotters have two radios: an aviation one in the aircraft and a business radio to the boat; and the boat has a marine radio for marine communication and a business radio for boat-to-air. My friend Paul is quite right about legalities. Properly licenced business radios are what professionals use, and depending on your country, there are also licence-free options.
Maybe you are trying to cobble together a solution to save a few hundred dollars that is just going to cost you far more in the end … and still won’t work properly.