fanman

I think you put the wrong symbol in front of the 10mph there!

http://www.aerothrustppg.com/products/h ... ness.shtml Jock, I bought one of these in medium size (the medium is quite large). it does not come with carabiners and you have to make your own seatboard (310x360mm ply) as stated in the advert. What the advert fails to state is that it doesn't come with the bottom part of the ground handling straps either. It cost me a couple of quid to get some 1" webbing and a couple of buckles to make this up. It is a copy of the APCO harness which was originally designed for use on a machine powered by a Top80. Consequently the 2 torque straps built into the front of the harness are for torque steer in the wrong direction for me so I intend to remove mine. There are 2 possible hook in locations on the shoulder and these have a small range of adjustment by changing the length of the shoulder strap. I shall be testing on a FB Simo initially before then trying on a Monster. I have flown several machines with hangpoints in this position and far prefer them to the J bar position. Best of all I can fly them without having to use the lower brake pulley and lengthened brake lines. Launch is much nicer too. It may be necessary to fit comfort bars for spacing but I'll wait to see if it is necessary first. The harness has facility for fixed comfort bars or you could copy the FB sliding bars. There are quite a few J bar FB owners waiting for the results of these trials as the FB machines are brilliant but older ones are unfashionable because of the hang system. If this addresses that then it could bring them back into fashion.

It's not uncommon to replace the heavy wingman harness with something else. Have you got the original wing attachment carabiners? If not you are looking at £46 for a pair of FB originals. I am experimenting with an alternative that will be of interest to you and Alan K. It is a cheap complete system replacement for J bar FB paramotors that gives soft shoulder hook in allowing flight without extending brake handles. New harness based on Apco system for around £150. My system is ready to go now but I am busy with a couple of other projects. I expect to be testing over the next couple of weeks.

If you want to run a 130 prop then I think you'll need a Javelin frame rather than an Arrow.

I did try that but on reflection I think it was before I changed the mic from tip to ring so it warrants another try. Another thing I have realised is that if I can't get the sidetone working in conjunction with the PTT then there is a separate remote switch for selectable sidetone within the MA headset. It would mean it is on all the time (it is used for tandem work normally) but it is an answer.

Pitflyer, listen to what the guys are saying. Get a decent wing for flying with and learn how that specific wing handles.

This sport is versatile... but not that versatile! There are very few people in the UK that paramotor tandem, maybe 10 perhaps, and that includes me. Tandem really needs a motor designed for the task. You can do it on solo machines but you are only making life difficult for yourself. Consequently on the odd occasion I fly my tandem motor solo the thrust is so great that you have to be very careful with the throttle. I always prefer to fly a solo machine when it's just me. Similarly with the wing. Yes you can get away with the largest solo wings but you are expecting a lot from your passenger. This difficulty factor becomes a square law when you mate that with a motor not designed for tandem. You need a proper tandem wing (40+ sq m) for tandem which you really don't want to be flying solo. Also for solo flying reflex is a plus which is not so much the case with tandem.

Hmmnn... soldered it all up and nothing on the mic front! Took it apart and reconnected the previous except this time using terminal block for all connections rather than twisting. Nothing until I swapped the dip switched from mic on tip to mic on ring. Now I have the earcup PTT working perfectly but no sidetone I can live with having to change the dip switch setting, am pleased to have earcup PTT but I would like to have the side tone.

Having woken up at 4am some further testing has taken place! I have a Jingtong JT208 radio (2.5W transmit power 2m band) that has a single pin (stereo 2.5mm) for headset. A few years ago I found a Maplin connector that allows the MA headset to operate fully giving full use of earcup PTT and therefore its sidetone as well, so we know now it can be done! I used my multimeter like before to identify the wiring in this adapter and found that again it has both MA sleeves connected to the Jingtongs sleeve, the MA 3.5 tip to the Jingtong ring and the MA 2.5 tip to the Jingtong tip. On the basis of this I disconnected the Puxing 3.5mm sleeve to MA 2.5mm ring and left this open. The effect on operation was zero so obviously not required for basic transmitting and must be part of the earcup PTT circuit (and therefore sidetone). So then I changed the Puxings 3.5mm mic connection so the Puxing 3.5mm now has its ring to the MA 2.5mm ring and the sleeve to the MA 2.5mm tip. I now have use of the headset PTT and sidetone but the received audio (on another radio) from transmission through the MA mic using the earcup PTT is poor. This may well be because the wiring is just twisted together while I establish the connections! Perhaps it's time to go to solder. The dip switches in the headset are currently set for - EQ gain off Mic gain medium Mute sensitivity off Transmit level high Second radio lead mic output high PTT type resisitive ground Mic audio on tip Mobile phone transmit level high Mobile phone receive level high These are the standard settings for the MA headset as it comes from the factory and are the settings for... Some Icom airbands, PMR sets, Alinco 2m radios, Vertex Standard airbands and various other 2m band radios.

Some very interesting developments on this one! Yes the MA paramotor headset does have 12 dip switches inside one earcup. I'm splitting this project into 2 parts and calling part 1 a complete success... I had a spare CT44 cable lying around. This is an adapter with a 2 pin MA socket to connect to Yaesu/VS radios with single pin (tip, ring, another ring, sleeve). I cut off the Yaesu end and did some circuit continuity testing with the 3 wires and the shielding that remained. The shielding was wired to the sleeve of both 2.5mm and 3.5mm sockets. One wire went to the 3.5mm tip (MA speaker), while the other 2 went to the 2.5mm tip and ring (MA mic). So... I hooked up the audio as planned... Puxing 2.5mm tip to MA 3.5mm tip and Puxing 2.5mm sleeve to MA 3.5mm sleeve. Tested at this stage and the audio was coming out of both headset speakers nicely. I then went to connect the mic. I connected the Puxing 3.5mm ring to the MA 2.5mm tip and then misread what you wrote next! I connected the Puxing 3.5mm sleeve to the MA 2.5mm ring. This happened because my wife has hasseling me to clear the dining table for dinner and I rushed! Anyway, when I then tried it it all worked!!! So what is the current state of play? Well, it works a treat and doesn't require any switching of the dip switches from using Vertex Standard airband radio, PMR radio or Alinco 2m sets. So I declare phase 1 a success. So why do I need a phase 2? Well at present the only functioning PTT is the one on the side of the radio itself and the sidetone in the headset is not functional (sidetone allows you to hear your transmission to stop you thinking you need to shout!). Having got the basic architecture in place, is there an enhancement to allow the earcup PTT to function which should bring the sidetone into play? Failing that can a separate PTT be incorporated into the adapter for ease of access, (although I suspect a separate PTT will not enable sidetone)? These radios cost me £25 each brand new for 5W transmitting power 2m band radios that are at least equal to the Alinco except they have lithium ion batteries with intelligent chargers, are smaller and much lighter. The Chinese companies bought the license to manufacture Kenwood radios under their own names so many of them are quality pieces of kit. The downside has always been that the Kenwood mic/speaker jacks have no commercially available adapter to work with Lynx or MA headsets and experts will tell you it can't be done, however now we know it can!

Alan, it's actually a Puxing PX777 2m band VHF which is effectively a Chinese copy of the Kenwood sets. Here is a website showing the radio connections for a headset... http://www.swharden.com/blog/2009-04-22 ... schematic/ I'm happy with the crossover of the speaker from 2.5mm Kenwood to 3.5mm MA, it's how to swap the mic from the 3.5mm Kenwood to the 2.5 MA that I am unsure of. I know the Kenwoods 3 parts to the 3.5mm pin are tip - 5v supply (to be left disconnected), ring - mic, sleeve - ground. How the mic and ground connect to the tip, ring and sleeve on the 2.5mm MA jack is what I need help with.

This question is aimed at Alan but anyone else with knowledge please feel free to help. I have just realised (partially because I was trying to remember the MicroAvionics headset jack from memory rather than seeing one) that I have a problem with the mic side of an adapter I am trying to make to connect a MicroAvionics headset to a Kenwood 2 pin radio. The Kenwood has speaker on the 2.5mm socket and I have no issue with making the speaker part from a 2.5mm pin to a 3.5mm socket. The radios 3.5mm mic socket supplies the pin tip with 5v with ring for mic and sleeve for ground. I need to make a 3.5mm pin to connect to a 2.5mm socket. I thought the MA headset jack used a mono 2.5 mm pin but it is stereo. I was planning to leave the 5v supply (that the Kenwood is trying to push through the tip) disconnected as it is not wanted in the headset and had thought that I needed to connect the ring to the 2.5mm mono jack tip and the ground to the 2.5mm mono sleeve. Now I see there is a ring there on the MA headset (the 2.5mm is stereo not mono) so I presume this is for the earcup PTT. Would connecting the mic tip and ring together work meaning that the only PTT available is on the radio itself? Is there a way of wiring this so the headset PTT can still function?

Thankyou, an excellent explanation. I am in the process of making some adapters right now and will look at using these but the space to fit them is exceedingly tight (inside a 6 pin mini-DIN connector). Also can I verify that is 1 nano farad?

Alan, what do the 2 x 1nF capacitors do in the circuit?

Those would appear to be the ones that Bailey use as standard. The only thing that slightly concerns me about this thread is that you must be aware that if you have a diaphragm fuel pump it is vital that this connection must seal perfectly and does not allow any air into the fuel system. Not an issue if you have a float carb.

I wonder if a low mounted tank as fitted to most machines would hold you upside down in the water. Also Fresh Breeze come with 2 fuel caps, one for when not flying which seals the tank and another with a vent hole in the cap for when engine is running. Looks like they used the one that is sealed here so perhaps not fully representative. Still very interesting though.

The compatibility issues I heard about were mainly between mixing a fully synthetic mix with a mineral mix in the same tank. Might be an idea to consider using the Stihl oil all the time rather than an occasional use when usually using synthetic.

I have on occasion used other oils because I haven't had any TTS. The only thing I do in this scenario is I drain out any other mix I have in the tank rather than add to it so as not to mix different types of oils. Maybe it's overkill but I did hear that some oils didn't mix too well with others.

Being a scaredycat I am in the TTS camp... but I have many friends who have been paramotoring for years using all sorts of cheap oils and yet they have no higher record of problems than the rest of us.

If you're prepared to go to the hassle of drilling your exhaust to fit an EGT sensor you would be better off fitting a Supatuna analyser. It will sense oxygen levels in the exhaust gases and use coloured LED's to indicate whether you are rich or lean. It will tell you useful info at any point in the rev range.

Vince, ask Piotr Dudek directly. He will tell you from the horses mouth! No need to suppose anything when the designer can tell you.

Thanks, sorry to be a pain! There are many people that like their wings to be free of reflex at slow speeds (like Paramania and Apco) similar to those who like to have it in place (like Dudek). Neither is right or wrong, just a choice to be made according to how the pilot likes to fly.

Vince, can you explain to me how a Paramania or Apco wing is 'auto pitch stable' when at the slower end of the trim range? These wings are not full time reflex wings and that is something your buyers should be made aware of.

I use exactly the same sources as Dan above however I also find RASP from the Leeds University boys and girls absolutely invaluable... http://rasp.inn.leedsmet.ac.uk/RASPtable.html This brilliant website is particularly useful for thermal updraft velocity forecasts at any time of the day by click of a button. Glider pilots use it to plan the best parts of the country for their cross country tasks but I have used it for the last few years to easily see what times of day are going to be too thermic for me to operate. Some fine days are flyable right through the day while others are not and this site helps you identify those. You will have to find your own personal level of what thermal strengths you tend to find acceptable (and of course some days have greater sheers than others) however I find light yellow and below (blues and greens) are fine but oranges and reds are stay on the ground for me.

It only takes a few moments to swap those harnesses over. That's what I'd have done.