Aviators Headset Question
 

I was given this headset back in the '90's when I was a Cargo Courier on our [328 TAS] C-130's. I didn't use it to listen or talk, just to cancel noise (C-130's are loud). :rolleyes:

I don't even know if it was USAF issue or USA helicopter. But I kept it and have used it occasionally when shooting.

Now my hearing is deteriorating and although I use a set of cheap Wal-Mart mini-headphones plugged into my flat-screen TV, I would like to use these.

Problem is, the plug is bigger than a 'standard' 1/4" stereo plug, something like 7.2mm. :(

I've been Searching online for an adapter, but I don't really know avionic nomenclature. There seem to be dozens of adapters, all different.

So, I know there are aviators here, maybe one could tell me what I need in an adapter to go from this headset to a 1/4" stereo jack. (I have 1/4" to 3.5mm adapters).

Astrocom 10178
PAD MX-2509/A1C

I don't need the talk/mic function, just the stereo 'listen' function.

Thanks for any help you can give! :thumbup:

Astrocam still produces quality earphones~ https://coolmaterial.com/roundup/history-of-headphones/

Astrocom! And they are expensive! :eek: But they're not sold to TV/PC nuts, evidently. :(

I did find one adapter for headphones to PC flight sims, but they were vague on what headsets - U174, GA, or what... :rolleyes:

I don't know the answer to your question, but if I had your question I'd call/email and maybe send photos of the jack to Sporty's Pilot Shop. Sort of the Walmart/Dollar store for pilots.

https://www.sportys.com

You might also go to a nearby general aviation airport that has a flight school, maybe a flight instructor could take a look and give you some ideas. Or maybe the Experimental Aircraft Association has a nearby chapter and you could ask for help. Aviators are like Luger collectors, a fraternity and they try to help each other out. By owning the headset you're already a member.

This may help you identify the plug nomenclature:

https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilot...dset-plugs.asp

my guess is this one: "It's generally known as a U-174/U plug or the U-93A/U plug (Nexus TP120)."

Amazon lists things like these, but I don't know if the wiring or impedance involved would match properly:
https://www.amazon.com/Ancable-Helic...Z/ref=pd_sbs_2

Most of those professional noise-canceling headsets were designed for powered systems. The noise canceling feature required a powered amplifier in the headsets. The impedance is going to be all wrong (high resistance). That's why the jack is so big. Impractical to convert without a special box.

The military version I used required 24 volts input in prop planes and 48 volts in the jets. My civilian headset required 12 volts. Anyway, those big things always seemed to hot and too heavy for for home use.

Bose and Sony make excellent noise canceling headsets that are battery powered and light weight. Naztech.com has some for $130 (no microphone).

Thanks for the input! I am most interested in a full-enclosure earmuff and will be using it with my soon-to-be-delivered 55" flat screen TV. I've been using PC speakers/PC headset w/3.5mm stereo audio plug.

I should have looked at the headset plug closer; it does indeed read -

Nexus
U-174/U
M9177/2-1

The link in Marc's post indicates 'helicopter' but doesn't say if low or hi impedance. But if it requires power, then it's useless to me for the TV but I'll still use it for gunfire.

My TV hearing problem may be aggravated by my room; it's mostly bare, and sound bounces all around and gives an 'echo' effect when watching DVD movies if I don't use headphones. :rolleyes:

Debby just bought a 55' at Walmart for $255 on sale! https://www.walmart.com/browse/elect...489948_3168047

My nephew bought a 65" and told me he'd bring his 3-yr old 55" down to me when next he comes. I did see a 55" Sceptre on Wal-Mart site for $364 and I thought that was a deal. :rolleyes:

My nephews living room is huge; now with the 65" he can push the couch back a bit and still strain his neck watching tennis! :roflmao:

My living room is only 11' x 21' (odd 1942 house) with the long ends east-west with windows, so the TV is on the north side. My head to my 32" flat screen is only 7' but I still can't make out basketball players faces/scroreboard clearly. The 55" should help out with that. :thumbup:

Good For You! Enjoy!

Yeah, my nephew treats me good. He knows he'll get it all in a few months, so he's not losing anything. :thumbup:

Not at all like my niece. She's been threatening to hire a lawyer and commit me to an old folks home. The latest one she found is some place called "The Villages". I looked it up online and it's a Village of the Damned!!! :eek: People there worship a nuclear-tipped ICBM and some gigantic white beach ball keeps trying to kill anyone who wants to leave!!! :(

That's not for me! I'd rather be 'unmutual'!!! :grr:

Keep her out of your will!!!

Best quote from a last will and testament that I ever saw regarding a relative that was similar to your neice:

"and for my cousin Mary, who asked me to remember her in my will, HI THERE MARY!":roflmao::roflmao:

Pay for TV every month $100, buy a new TV every so often $300, squander hundreds or thousands of hours watching mind bending junk, get fat eating/watching..wasting time/money..not having a TV for 10 years, PRICELESS!

But you're missing PAC-12 Women's College Gymnastics...PRICELESS!!! :D :p ;)

You need a headphone jack adapter, but you have to determine what size.

I have hearing loss around the 400Hz range, used to work around the stuff when I worked for the Navy.

A number of times I've worn my electronic hearing protection I use at the range for listening to TV. I have this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight...s%2C154&sr=8-3

Seems to amplify the speech while minimizing background clutter.

I'm curious, Rich. What number do you think you'd have been assigned? ;)

When I was awaiting school in the army, they issued me a complete set of aviator gear (I was going to be an aerial surveillance recon something or rather, but when I found out there was a year waiting period, I was allowed to switch MOS to MP. I turned in all my gear, shoulda kept my helmet, it seems nobody would have cared. The helmet was much like yours sheepherder ;)

Right now I just have a left ear hearing aid, should get both (VA will pay for it, its going to that darn hospital...)

I suspect that I must have been given number 241... :D

My original question was how to use this headphone as a headphone for my TV, not as a noise canceling/isolating device. I detest earbuds of any kind and avoid the foam earmuffs because they deteriorate too quickly. :mad:

It used to be that if you went to Radio shack you could find almost anything.

I'd go to ebay / google 'adaptor for xxxxx"

I imagine that an adaptor exists - the question is whether you can get a wire that long. I know that I was checking out hearing aids and some of them are bluetooth enabled, that it can work with some TV's. I would imagine it would have to be newer. And some hearing aids are not the expensive kind but called hearing assist? That they connect to the TV and it allows you to hear, but I have not looked it up, just read this in passing.

Those were the days ... and your right Ed, Radio shack did indeed have the right adapter ... I know because I bought one there years ago, its still around here somewhere !

In the meantime this one here should suit your needs.
https://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/11067
https://i.imgur.com/tUDFiGm.png
Plug your headset into the inline jack on the lower left of this photo and the curly cord jack into your TV.
Depending on headset impedance you may need a readily available cheap pre-amp between the TV and the curly cord jack.

Good luck.

Back in the mid-80's the VA gave me two sets of CROS hearing aids. This was when I worked indoors for a couple hours then drove a truck with the door open (in all weather). You couldn't use them indoors if there were fluorescent lights because there was no radiation filtering. They just buzzed. They weren't much use outdoors because if there was wind/car air-flow, they'd whistle. But they're really great for watching TV! :D

...Until they're not... :(

Thank You! I may well try that! I have no idea what a pre-amp is and I found that routing the laptop headphone to the TV doesn't quite work...Way too subdued...I'll try that out! :thumbup:

Disaster Strikes !
 

Well, after using the big-screen LED TV my nephew dropped off some 6-8 weeks ago and loving it, this morning it failed to launch. :( I did what little trouble shooting I could and found that it was getting power to the input jack but then...nothing... :crying:

I had last watched a movie last night ("A Quiet Place") and shut it down afterward. No hint of a problem. It's an Olevia and the company is no longer in business and parts are, I'm sure, problematic, even if there was a repair shop around here. The last one closed up in Spring 2020. :rolleyes:

I had just ordered that piggyback music adapter for my helicopter headphones. :)

So, undeterred, I took my ignorance in hand and headed to the Internet! To Wal-Mart Online, specifically. I decided to take Eric & Debbie's suggestion/hint and ordered a 55" Sceptre LED TV. (If you can't believe a lawyer, who can you believe???) The same $364 one I priced when Eric posted. It's not the 'smart' model, just the base 4K UHD LED TV. Should be here next week. :rolleyes:

I have a Scepter 35" LED TV and like it. The picture is much sharper than my RCA LED 35" w/DVD player, and the sound is much better too. I have a DVI-to-HDMI adapter cable for my port replicator to TV connection, so I can play DVD movies on my laptop and watch the movies on my TV. Works great, although the audio leaves much to be desired (hard to fit BOSE quality in a laptop).

So now I'm waiting for the 55"er and watching the 35"er. I had "The Racers" (1955, Kirk Douglas, a classic) ready to watch but I'll wait for the 55" to arrive. Much more enjoyable on the big screen, I'm sure! :thumbup:

Thanks for the tip, Eric! :cheers:

I got the adapter in the mail and FedEx delivered my new 55" TV, so I've been experimenting with various setups and have everything running nicely! :thumbup:

Right now I have a laptop hooked up to the TV via a DVI-to-HDMI cable (no HDMI on my Dell D630 laptops) and the helicopter headset connected to the laptop via the adapter cable. In the pic below I'm playing a short movie on the laptop and watching it on the big TV. Glorious! :D

A big Thanks! to spangy/Greg! ;) The headset cable is a bit ungainly (no pun intended) but I can live with it. I don't expect to ever fly a UH1-E but I like to leave things intact so I'll refrain from clipping off the 'copter jack. :rolleyes:

Eventually I'll move the laptop setup to the computer room so I can send images/movies right from the Internet to the 55" TV. Or DVD movies. Or YouTube. Or UConn Womens Basketball, streamed live. :)

Edit: For most TV series, sports, news, I'll run the 3.5mm TV headphone jack to a pair of PC speakers next to my couch. This TV has rearward-facing internal speakers which to me distorts the sound. The Avevia had forward-facing internal speakers which added to the overall width but sounded great.

'I like to leave things intact so I'll refrain from clipping off the 'copter jack.'

So glad everything worked out Richard and I totally agree with leaving the copter jack as is.
I look at it this way ... you wouldn't remove the barrel from a Luger simply because your not going to shoot it again ... similarly I wouldn't remove the jack on the headset adapter because I don't anticipate ever flying in a copter anytime soon.

I love your headset too ... it's an antique piece of kit that is collectable in its own right. :thumbup: Enjoy :cheers: