Australian ATC Headsets
 

Hello Everyone,

I work for Rio Tinto near the airport in Perth and have a question regarding headsets you use.

We are hunting around for possible replacements for the headsets we have (plantronic single ear pieces via bluetooth), and am just wondering what type of headsets they use in ATC, and what you think of them.

Can you manually adjust decible input, bass, etc?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

SpeedHumpCat

Plantronics. Wired. No adjustment.

The double ear Plantronics I have has bass/treble adjustment independently on each ear. I can't hear any difference though. Physical quality and looks wise it reminds me of an early walkman headset, sound is fine. Couldn't find a picture on the website, so it must be a really old model.

I wan't my minilite back though (if its good enough for Han and Ripley...)

Trainees are being issued Verbatim headsets at the academy, about $11 worth. I doubt that's what we'll be taking into the field, but they seem okay for our use so far.

Airways NZ issues Sennheiser double ear headsets. They're excellent. You can find them on the Sennheiser website.


http://www.sennheiser.com.au/au/home_en.nsf/root/professional_aviation_tower-headsets_500467

I had one of these

Plantronics H81 TriStar Voice Tube Headset (29406-11)

Then this

Plantronics H101 Encore Binaural Headset (43466-11)

First one would not stay in my ear, second one, I could not hear a thing going on around me (3rd ear)

I put my hand in my pocket and bought my own the same as before we moved systems back to one of these

Plantronics H31C/D StarSet For Controller And Dispatch Apps. (43674-01)

The most useful by far. Mine has tube mic though. I can't do double ears. Can't hear squat around me. Our intercoms don't do different ears to A/G

Not really useful for you at Rio though I expect.

Spain: Plantronics single-ear, wired, no adjustment. Works fine.

Check them out:

Plantronics HW251 SupraPlus Wideband Monaural Headset (64336-31)

It's not the same as the ones in the field. These won't even plug in to the field consoles.

Thought that'd be the case. Plantronics seem to be the way to go, that's what I used in a previous job with a big telecommunications company. Single sided with tube mike, but not the stick-in-your-ear type.

I've used the single, in-your-ear type since we moved into TAAATS. When necessary I can stick my finger in my other ear to filter out all the conversations about footy, rosters, etc.

I prefer double muff. I've had the same Plantronics H101 headset since 1998. The stretchy cord has been replaced once due to the plastic covering splitting and the cable below the in-line press-to-talk failed through years of flexing. Other than that it's done the job nicely.

Mine has the bass/treble tone settings & they actually work, but there is no in-line volume control.

As mentioned by Plaz we have a choice of the binaural/monaural H101, the H31 or H81.