Broken Headset – Do you know anywhere that does repairs?
 

Hi, I have a David Clarke headset but one of the plugs is dodgy and needs either re-soldering or replacing.

Does anyone know of anywhere that fixes headsets? I am in Manchester and the only place I can find is a company called Headset Services on the south coast who have quoted me £100 (what I paid for the headset)!



Information on anywhere welcome (especially if you know somewhere in the Manchester area, if such a place exists).

Thanks,
Cavok86.

I sent mine back to the manufacturer (DC) where they promptly replaced plugs, ear seals, headband, mic etc & all for $75. Only problem is the cost of shipping it to them.

I had a simliar problem with my headset and had it repaired by Headset Services at Shoreham earlier this year. They did it for free under the David Clarke 5 year guarantee. Any chance yours are less than 5 years old?

I cannot believe a quote of £100.00 for a headset repair, just for a broken plug. Try a local independent radio shop or your flying club, simple soldering job to fix on a new plug. I would think £10.00 would be more than adequate.

Can you not do it yourself! I know the plugs are moulded on but you can snip them off. Earshot communictions supply the plugs at nominal cost and it is a case of cutting the wire, using a test meter (standard ohm meter) to sort out the center pin etc then put the new plug on. The mic plug is an oddball but the earphone is a standard 1/4" mono plug. If the cable is damaged then replacement cables complete with plugs are available and easy to fit. I get all my bits from Earshot very good very efficient prices seem fair www.earshotcommunications.co.uk

HS will honour the DC 5-year warranty. I believe they can check age against the serial number.

HS will also sell replacement leads for you to have fitted.

Before you do that though are you sure it's definitely the lead/plugs?

One of our group asked me to look at his headset with a similar problem and a bit of metal polish on the plug did wonders for his connectivity! It only takes a small bit of grot to cause the problem.

I've also had problems with older Peltors that had a mic held on by two tiny screws. Effectively the boom terminated in a small two-pronged plug. The mic had a pair of matching holes and was held in place by two tiny screws that also made the connection. One screw done up tight prevents the mic falling off, the other being loose causes a dodgy connection. 30 seconds work with a jeweller's screwdriver to fix.

Mike

Broken Headset
 

Cavok86

Check your PM's

Mikes is right, a bit of Brasso does wonders. Make sure you regularly massage your gel seals also. :O

You could drop this guy an e/mail he is based in Sheffield does all the microlight vhf comms gear intercoms ect, he is a radio engineer done many jobs for me his e/mail is,

[email protected]

and his web site is,

http://www.airbands.co.uk/

Tell him nick axworthy put you onto him.

Nick.

I didn't realise DC headsets had serial numbers - I'll have to look closer at my two pairs! Best bet would be to contact them first.

Anyhow, it's very straightforward to solder on a new plug connector, and it would cost you less than a loaf of bread to get one (www.maplin.co.uk). I can see that you are in the Manchester area - drop me a message, and I'll solder it on for you and do a good job for you for nowt.

T.

Contact Adams Aviation and ask for a copy of their aviator catalogue, it has a break down of the headsets and spares, the jack plug itself is about £5.00 if memory serves correct, then any high street radio repairshop should be able to replace it for you.

£5 ?! (plus postage too?)

Blimey, that's a fair good markup.

Is it the microphone or the headphone one that is giving grief?

The standard GA headphone socket is a 1/4" (or 6.3mm in metric) mono socket a suitable from Maplin is given here. (£1.07 at time of posting). In the Greater Manchester area alone, there are shops in Stockport, Bolton, Cheetam Hill, and Oxford Road (Manchester, opposite the BBC) - so just find your nearest one. If need be, take in your headset and show them the connector. Another option would be to buy online from Farnell. (34p at time of posting, you can get a 'pro' version for 63p too) or say, from Cricklewood for 30p. I found a cheaper one again from 'JPR Electronics' at 17p so it's getting silly! (never dealt with them). Don't be put off by these low prices, they are making a healthy margin on these, and are most probably coming from the same factory.

As Nutloose said, any radio repair shop could do it for you but they can be a little bit scarse on the ground. Another option (if you don't get to contact me) would be to find your nearest 'Amateur Radio' club, any one of them would be more than happy to freely help you.

T.

Do it yourself - buy a small soldering iron, try out some practice solder joints and then do the repair. Far cheaper and more fun.

I recently fixed a headset for someone - it was not a DC (cannot remember the brand) - they wanted $100 to fix it. Brought it home - took a few minutes to take it apart and found the wire from the volume pot had broken. Took a few more minutes to solder it back and it was as good as new. Zero cost for parts

For the UK another place to consider buying from is RS components - it used not to be the case but I think they now do sell to the general public.