radio question, volume of your own mic

[exncsurfer]

I tried out a new headset today, a halo. I liked it and it worked great, but my own voice seemed extra loud. Is that just adjusted by the crew volume? Maybe someone before me had it way up for some reason. I don't usually fiddle with the volumes so I don't know if thats just how loud my mic will be from now on or not. Its a KMA26 audio panel.

The tower volume I just controlled with my headset volume knobs and they were at a much lower level than my own voice it seemed.

 

[tuwood]

I tried out a new headset today, a halo. I liked it and it worked great, but my own voice seemed extra loud. Is that just adjusted by the crew volume? Maybe someone before me had it way up for some reason. I don't usually fiddle with the volumes so I don't know if thats just how loud my mic will be from now on or not. Its a KMA26 audio panel.

The tower volume I just controlled with my headset volume knobs and they were at a much lower level than my own voice it seemed.

I'd say it depends on your audio panel, but I know the one I use has a regular volume nob on it like a car radio and then I have the separate volume control on my headset. I personally keep my headset volume almost all the way down and adjust it on the panel. Sometimes I get in and can't hear anything and other times it's blowing my eardrums out.
I had a fun experience on my first solo in the pattern because the corner of my kneeboard started bumping the volume nob and turned it all the way down on me. Just what I needed at that moment in time. hah

 

[Hank S]

Your Halo headset has a separate volume adjustment in addition to the radio volume and the intercom volume. Look ~8" from the plug, there's a box where the wires split up. On the side of that box is a dial with only the edge showing. That's another volume adjustment for your Halos.

 

[iamtheari]

Do you mean your voice when using the intercom or when transmitting with the radio? Most of the time you will have these volume knobs:

Radio unit has a volume knob that controls how loud incoming transmissions (and usually your own voice when transmitting) are

Intercom / audio panel has a volume knob that controls how loud intercom communications (including your own voice when not transmitting on the radio and other people in the plane talking to you) are

Headsets often have a volume knob inline with the cord that will turn down the volume of everything you hear

It sounds like you need to adjust the first two to find a good balance between them.

 

[SCCutler]

Just to make it fun - radios typically also have a trim pot to adjust the level of the "sidetone" (the sound of your own voice you hear in your headset while transmitting).

 

[KyleT]

When you transmit you are hearing "sidetone". Sometimes a radio has an adjustment for this, usually internal, sometimes it's set to the volume as said above and sometimes it's just a sign the radio internals are staring to age, especially if it is not consistently the same level. Now audio panels and intercoms playing together can cause differences too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Clark1961]

Just to make it fun - radios typically also have a trim pot to adjust the level of the "sidetone" (the sound of your own voice you hear in your headset while transmitting).

More trivia: side tone can be adjusted from the panel controls on an SL-30

 

[exncsurfer]

I was by myself, I don't recall if I tried talking to myself while not transmitting and I didn't have anyone else on the intercom to compare. I set up by turning my headset volume all the way down, tuned ATIS and turned up my headset to a comfortable level. Sounds like I just needed to turn the intercom volume down, or else the com1/2 volume up and my headset volume down so they match. Sound quality and comfort of the halos was great, I'm digging those so far after one flight.

 

[wanttaja]

When I switched from a conventional headset to a ear-bud-based headset, I had the same problem. For the Icom ICA5 radio installed in my airplane, I could adjust sidetone volume by using the conventional volume control while transmitting.

Ron Wanttaja