Taping a flight with audio??

[Smokehouse]

Ok I have a question.

I would like to be able to have a passenger video tape a flight with me. The problem is that the audio on the tape is just the constant sound of the engine and you can't hear any of the communication between the pilot/passenger/atc etc...

Does anyone know of a way that I can plug a cord into the MIC jack of my Handheld Video Camera and somehow connect it to the plane so that I can have the sound go into the MIC jack of my camera ??

Anyone ever done this.

We tried, I have DC 10h30 Headsets and found out that the fat plug is the one for intercom, so we went to Radio Shack and got a plug like it, only difference is the one we bought was pointed and the DC headset plug is rounded. I plugged the cord into the plane on the armrest (Cessna) and the other end into the MIC jack and tested it. When I got homw to review the tape, some audio came through but the little bit it picked up seemed to be overvolumed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

KGB

 

[wxman13]

You may need to get an audio breakout box like this:

http://www.studio1productions.com/xlr-menu.htm

While the boxes are mainly for XLR, they have line in jacks too, so you can adjust the volume of the signal before it gets to your camera. It would also help to plug headphones into the camera to check the signal level, maybe do this before you start the engine.

Peter

 

[ShawnC]

Here how some guys that made some good RV-3 spin videos made theirs.

I got the camera from www.supercircuits.com. It turns out they are located about 10 miles from my airport in Liberty Hill TX and they sell world wide.
They have quite a few small camera's that would work.
The one I used was PN PC181XS, which costs $119.95. It uses a Sony CCD (charge coupled device) chip so it is all solid state (no moving parts). and is .98 x .98 inches x 1.25 inches (about 1 inch cube).
It uses only 120 mili amps of 12 volt power.
I powered it with 'AAA' batteries (or you can use AA ) or connect to your aircraft 12 volt.
I wanted to make sure no surges on aircraft bus would harm it so used a small battery pack.
The battery holder is BP12AAA and cost 4.95.
I used a CON-4 ($2.95) to connect the camer BNC connector to the camera RCA cable.
All parts are from supercircuits.
The "expensive" item is you need a digital camcorder and it MUST have video input capability.
Many do not have input. All the Canon ZR-40 or 45 or 50 series etc. do. (which supercirits sells)
I ended up buying a Sharp VL-NZ100 model (the -50 model does not have video input) from Circit City store.
I think that cost me about $450 or so after a $100 rebate. Its a nice cam-corder and will also take digital 'still' shots onto a memory card that comes with the cam/corder.
I taped the cam-corder to my left leg with foam under it.
For the audio, I used a portable aircraft intercom (self powered with 9volt battery) and put my headset into it and then connected via a 'recorder' output jack on the intercom to the audio input on the camera.
Another way is to connect a small remote microphone into it. I bought one of those to try, as it is only 12.95,
part number PA3 but have not tried it yet. I think I also got a CON-5 (1.95) adapter to connect it to the camera
but you can get these RCA to RCA female barrel connectors at radio shack or even wal-mart.

I guess I should do an article for the magazine if you think it would be usefull.
I learned how to do this from a friend who set up a similar system in his Cub, Joel Utz, who is also on this list.
Its kind of a blast.
I made a small aluminum bracket (just about a 3 inch by 1 inch piece ) that had a 90 degree bend in one end and
taped the camera to it and velcro'd it to the earpiece of my headset.
It takes about 15 min to get "all wired up" and I have most of it taped to me or the parachute harness in case I have to bail out for some reason.
Herman Dierks

 

[kaufhaus]

If the ext mic socket on the camera is the right size you can plug a set of earbud headphones in and tuck them inside the earcup of your headset. I've actually done this myself in a very loud airplane with surprisingly good results - not too much background noise and they clearly picked up the intercom communications. Simple, easy, and best of all cheap

 

[Smokehouse]

I think I am going to try the suction cup thing that was posted earlier and see how it works. I will keep this forum bookmarked and try the others if it doesnt work.


BTW what makes you think I would fly a passenger as a student?

 

[dmspilot00]

Sorry, I deleted my post because someone already suggested the same thing.

Smokehouse, just checking, you said you tried it already, but your profile says student pilot. We get some weird people on here from time to time that would do such a thing!

 

[Smokehouse]

Oh, I actually tried it on the ground after pre-flight when I went out on a solo

 

[Tim47SIP]

It works!

Use the small earphones (the kind that fit right into your ears) and simply plug them into the mike plug on the camera and stick each ear piece into the earcup. ATC transmissions and intercom will be heard on the audio. Only costs a coupld of bucks for the cheap head sets. I used this method in the CH-47 with great results. 8 hours of video from Desert storm one, 6 hours special ops in south america and several hours in Hawaii.

Easy, and works real good!

 

[skiddriver]

For better sound quality go to Radio Shack and by a powered lapel mike (uses a camera battery). Slip it into your ear cup and you'll get what you want. We did this when I was a Test Pilot at Pax River to record our data calls, though we hooked it to a microcassette recorder set on VOX to last the entire flight.