Record Communication Cockpit

[LimaRomeo]

Hi guys,
I'm a student pilot (C172) and I would like to record the radio communication in/from the cockpit on an mp3 player (or another small device with a simple LINE IN jack). So, not only the things pilot and co-pilot say to each other but also air-ground (atc) communication.

I think I'll need a splitter of some kind or a special cable that hooks up the headphone/microphone with the LINE IN, right?

Need some help here, I guess ...

Thanks!

LR

[davidatter708]

I'm not sure If you want to record yourself but if you want to record others use a hand held and it can go in the headphone socket. But I would be guessing you would want it of the intercom. You could use the one from the back seat and only use the headphone one as the intercom will do the rest. I might be wrong but headphone is normal 1/4 inch and therefore you need a line cable plus a jack. no connection but this sort of stuff
http://www.trianglecables.com/35minsterfem.html
http://www.trianglecables.com/2footminster.html
personally I woukld use a MD recorder so much better quaity butonly sony sell them and only one at £200ish
Hope this helps
Dave

[DaveW]

Use a button microphone and place it in one earcup of your headset.

The results will be quite acceptable, and you won't be faffing about with jack plugs, splitters or balancing impedances etc.

[IRRenewal]

This comes up every so often. This is what I answered in the past:

I often use a little digital voice recorder to record the intercom during airtests. Saves me from having to write down the numbers during the 5 minute climb (although people have wondered about me talking to myself).

Made an adapter lead with a 3.5 mm plug on one end to connect to the voice recorder and a 6.3 mm plug on the other end to plug into a spare headset socket. In the lead I placed a 67 kOhm resistor and a 47 uF capacitor in series to adjust the output level of the intercom to the required input level for the mic input. Should work on other equipment that would normally use an external electret microphone (as most modern equipment does).

[Genghis the Engineer]

Go with DaveW's approach, I've been using this for years with excellent results and minimal mucking about.

G

[Whopity]

Get a portable intercom unit then plug the recorder into one of the headphone jacks, it will record everything selected on the radio and intercom that it is plugged into. This will ensure the recorder does not affect the volume of any other equipment. Note that you should use the "line input" to a recorder to prevent overloading it, the "mic input" is usually too sensitive and may need attenuation.