Mr_Ewann Posted November 30 Posted November 30 Hello, I am looking to buy a microphone of this type (see photo) for SimRail. Do you have any references to give me? I am looking for one with good sound and the PTT button must be connectable to software (JoyToKey for example). Thanks in advance.
LycanAnanas Posted November 30 Posted November 30 Buy microphone from Yaesu or Icom. Used or new.. But still it is a lot of work to get this working with PTT. So good headset is better,
Gazz292 Posted November 30 Posted November 30 (edited) The problem will be getting the PTT button to operate, in a walkietalkie it shorts out 2 of the pins in the mics plug to work, but a computer does not have that functionality in it's microphone input socket... you might be able to mute the mic with the ptt button... thats about as much as a computer expects from shorted pins on the mic input socket (if you short the right ones with the PTT button that is) So you will need to make / buy an adapter box to plug the mic into that separates the PTT pins and audio, leaving the audio from the mic on all the time and the PTT button sends a signal to the computer via a USB board like an arduino. There are a few sites that can be found by googling where people have made walkietaklie mics work with computers.. for digital HAM radio stuff, flight sim stuff etc. they would be able to tell you best which mic to buy that works with their adapter box. If making an adapter box yourself, you will also need to check if the walkietalkie mic breaks the mic connection when the PTT button is not pressed.... CB mic's do this, Some computers will 'uninstall' the microphone when it detects the mic is not in circuit... so you would be forever getting the windows 'du-ding... di-dong' sounds as you press and release the PTT button and the mic is installed and un-installed. : An alternative if you have access to a 3D printer is to do as i did, and make a replica Radmor style microphone (the one used in the older trains in the sim) this uses a coiled USB cable that plugs into any USB port on the computer, and inside the mic is a single button board that handles the PTT switch, and a USB microphone dongle, https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/forum.simrail.eu/monthly_2024_05/image.thumb.png.9752c6c128b4aaab887d80fd1f0d6dbf.png I have been using my 3D printed Radmor mic for a year or so now, and published the files needed to make it : Edited November 30 by Gazz292
Mr_Ewann Posted November 30 Author Posted November 30 I had seen your achievement but unfortunately I do not have a 3D printer. If you have links to the famous sites you are talking about, I am interested. Thank you for your response.
Gazz292 Posted November 30 Posted November 30 below is just one link i found by searching for PTT computer mic, https://simplehrr.com/simple-ham-radio-remote-project-remote-ptt-mic they all pretty much do the same, break out the PTT and microphone connections, use an arduino to handle the PTT interface by sending a keystroke when the mics button is pressed, and routed audio from the mic to the computer. Most of the sites i've seen show you how to make the circuit yourself, so you need to be able to solder, some places that i saw a while back who sold plug and play interfaces wanted silly money... like £200 for an assembled box, it contains a £5 arduino and some connectors at the end of the day, plus some simple arduino programming.
Gazz292 Posted November 30 Posted November 30 (edited) also, you could try searching for 'USB PTT mic' ali express seems to be selling some walkietalkie mics with a usb connector for around £10, how well they work i have no idea but it could be a starting point of a project. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004316599302.html Edited November 30 by Gazz292 1
jeroezie Posted November 30 Posted November 30 3 hours ago, Gazz292 said: also, you could try searching for 'USB PTT mic' ali express seems to be selling some walkietalkie mics with a usb connector for around £10, how well they work i have no idea but it could be a starting point of a project. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004316599302.html Compared to a fancy 200 pound one, it will probably have a better prise/quality ratio, even when it is garbage. 200 pounds for some DIY electronics, insane.
Gazz292 Posted November 30 Posted November 30 yeah, the expensive ones are more aimed at people using them for amature radio operations where they want the best clarity they can get for talking to people around the world (using the computer as their radio... where the analog voice input is turned into digital signals immediately anyway) But when some HAM radios cost thousands, and some microphones for them can be multiple hundreds, i guess a 'specialised' electronics box for £200 sounds ok to them. That's why i got into 3D printing, finding and buying real train parts is very very expensive, and they all need adapting to work with a computer anyway, so now i 3D print my own controllers and accessories that are designed to operate with USB input boards from the beginning.
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