walkie talkie

[amy]

hello, for the next show im doing I need to have a working walkie talkie/ two way radio. I have a broken motorola GP320 hand held radio, and I need to play sound effects and them to come out of the radio.

I was wondering if any1 had done this before and what the best way might be.

thank you.

a.xx

[iamchristuffin]

In what way it is broken?

 

One way I can think of is to use two radios, one with a headphone adaptor, and connect this to a mixer/computer via a 3.5mm lead. The quality wouldn't matter too much as it's through a 2-way radio.

 

HTH,

Chris

[PoppaDom]

I am guessing this is a wireless operation? I would opt for an IEM custom fit-out. It's something I have on the shelf down here in London and hold. PM me if you would like to discuss.

 

Dom

[amy]

I am guessing this is a wireless operation? I would opt for an IEM custom fit-out. It's something I have on the shelf down here in London and hold. PM me if you would like to discuss.

 

Dom

 

 

yeah it is a wireless affair. the walkie talkie am using is a motorola GP320, its not very big which is the problem im finding. I have an VHF FM trantec belt pack reciever which I think with everything else I need aswell may prove to big for the radio.

any ideas would be much appriecated.

a.xx

[mutley]

Depending on your budget scale, one cheapo option is to use something like an iPod FM transmitter, and put a small cheap radio receiver inside the broken PMR (Personal Mobile Radio) handset.

 

Or, why not just contact a local radio comms firm to hire a couple of radios (normally pretty cheap for a week's hire) and use them? You can even buy brand new radios on ebay for £15! If you use Icom or brands with the same [2.5mm jack / 3.5mm jack] type of speaker-mic connector, you can simply make a lead to send one of the aux outputs from the sound desk into the 2.5mm STEREO mic plug.

 

Having had a lot of experience of customising headsets for these radios (I used to maintain them for a local Motorcycle Race Marshals club), I can tell you that the standard Icom compatible wiring on the 2.5mm plug is as follows:

 

tip = Mic positive

ring = mic on *

sheath = common ground

 

* Only when there is a connection (resistance of less than about 100KOhm) between the tip and the sheath, AND the ring and the sheath, does the radio transmit. The impedance of the microphone (normally electret condenser ~ 10kOhm) is enough to make the connection between the tip and the sheath, so on some headsets/speaker-mics, the ring-sheath connection is used to switch on transmission too.

 

So connect your sound desk aux out to the tip of the 2.5mm plug (unbalanced obviously), and a simple momentary switch between the ring and sheath to make it transmit.

With most of these type of radios, operating the radio's own PTT (push to talk) button will still use the radio's own microphone, NOT the external mic, so the added PTT is necessary!

By using the sound desk's aux output, you can still have some sound going to FOH or even backstage as some reinforcement to the radio's own little puny speaker. You may want to process the sound first though, so that the reinforcement sound actually still sounds like it's come from the radio's own little puny speaker! Most radios, like telephones, use a limited bandwidth of 300Hz to 3kHz...

[confused]

Ive seen it done by putting a really cheap low quality speaker (under £10 plastic job) under an item of set nearby the person wioth the radio and playing the radio call through that. The poorer the speaker the more realistic it sounds. Works well provided the person doesnt wander around the stage too much though.