Bluetooth Adapters - Experiences/Recommendations

[Hil]

Hi

Request
I was wondering whether anyone has been using a bluetooth adapter to pipe audio alerts to their headset, if so:
(1) which adapter do you use
(2) what are your experiences
(3) do you recommend the device?

I am aware of two adapters, there may be others:
https://www.ukppg.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1464783 @ £168
https://www.sportys.com/faro-stealth-audio-link.html @ $145 plus shipping & tax

If these questions have already been covered in another thread please send me the link.

Background

• our aircraft group already has PAW fitted
• our avionics engineer informs us that there are no available ports left to hardwire a connection into our radio system
• group members use a variety of personal devices for navigation, some of which are bluetooth enabled, some of which are not e.g. skydemon+iPAD
• group members use a variety of headsets, some of which are bluetooth enabled, some of which are not
• group members have differing views on audio alerts, some find then useful, some find them distracting, some will want them enroute but will wish to silence in a busy circuit
• we need to cater for these different permutations
• some will wish to pickup bluetooth directly from PAW, others from their tablet/iPAD/iPhone
• volume control will be required as individual pilots will wish to turn up or turn off according to personal preference
• we would like to avoid individuals fiddling around unnecessarily with PAW setup/configuration options

Thanking you in advance!

[mariko]

Many headset have an aux in female connector on a side.
If your headset has it, you can use a cheap adapter to feed bluethooth audio in

[exfirepro]

Hi Hil,

Unfortunately I don’t think there is a simple fix for your multiple device / multiple headset scenario.

PilotAware Rosetta already has a built-in Bluetooth Audio option, by virtue of its Raspberry Pi3 Motherboard, which wasn’t available on the PAW Classic (which is based on a Raspberry Pi2). Bluetooth-equipped headsets can therefore (at least in theory) be connected directly to receive the Rosetta’s PilotAware Audio Alerts, but this facility is still in a ‘Beta’ version and has to be configured and setup in the PilotAware Configure Screen to suit each individual headset. Also it doesn’t always retain the previously configured connection, so isn’t therefore ideal and certainly isn’t appropriate for multiple users with their own headsets as it would have to be reconfigured in PilotAware/Configure each time the user / headset changes. It is also not generally possible to connect separate audio sources to a single headset via Bluetooth, but read on...

My solution to the multiple audio sources issue is to use a small audio mixer to combine separate audio feeds hard-wired from my Rosetta and Tablet - in my case to combine the audio warnings from PilotAware and from SkyDemon on my iPad mini, (but it works just the same with a variety of android devices). The combined output from the mixer is hard-wired into my intercom, though I can see no obvious reason why this output couldn’t be fed direct to your headset via a Bluetooth transmitter such as that suggested above by Mariko, though I have to stress that I haven’t actually tried this myself.

The audio mixer I use (also used by several other PAW users) is the ‘Maker hart JUST-MIXER’ - available from Amazon. I have also tried the ‘newer’ Just Mixer 2 from the same company, but personally didn’t find it as effective.

The significant advantage with this setup - apart from being able to boost/balance the audio levels from the different devices is that if the audio alerts become distracting at a critical point in the flight, they can be instantly turned down or muted via the ‘Master’ slider.

I do have a couple of Bluetooth transmitters similar to the one Mariko has suggested somewhere, though I haven’t used them since moving to Rosetta. If I can find them I will try using one to connect the output from the mixer to Headset and see what happens, but I can’t promise how soon I will manage this.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards

Peter

[bladeslapper]

...in my case to combine the audio warnings from PilotAware and from SkyDemon on my iPad mini...

Does SkyDemon not give audio alerts of traffic itself? I just assumed it would but have no direct experience of this.

[mariko]

...in my case to combine the audio warnings from PilotAware and from SkyDemon on my iPad mini...

Does SkyDemon not give audio alerts of traffic itself? I just assumed it would but have no direct experience of this.

Yes, it does and I use those alerts instead of the Pilotaware alerts because SD also warn me about obstacles, airpaces and other.

[exfirepro]

Hi bladeslapper / mariko,

As you say mariko, SkyDemon gives excellent ‘anti-collision algorithm based’ warnings for known-position traffic, as well as warnings for airspace and obstacles (depending on your chosen settings) which is why I want to hear them, but unfortunately they don’t provide audio warnings for ‘bearingless’ Mode-C or un-multilaterated (if that’s a word) Mode-S traffic. This is particularly significant if you opt to use the GDL90 protocol as GDL90 doesn’t display bearingless traffic visually either.

PilotAware gives excellent range and altitude based audio warnings for both known-position and bearingless traffic, but doesn’t give airspace or obstruction warnings as that’s not what it was designed for.

By using an audio mixer, we can combine the two and have the benefit of both sets of warnings - whilst maintaining our visual scan outside the aircraft. It also has the added bonus of acting as a volume control to allow rapid muting should the warnings obtrude inappropriately over radio messages or prove a distraction during critical stages of the flight - but don’t forget to turn the volume back up as soon as practicable.

Best Regards

Peter