microphone earbuts button extension for walkiie talkie

[Dries]

Hi Guys,

I bought myself a pair of walkie talkies, and they come with earbuts with a microphone and button on the cable for comunicating silently.
Now I wanted to use thes walkie talkies to cummunicate in freefall when I'm skydiving with my friends.
So my first thought was to use VOX (voice operated switch) to communicate, because constantly pressing a button to speak in freefall limits our movement in freefall a lot, since we are using our arms and intire body to fly, so bringing your hand to a button is not very practical.

But I soon realised that the vox function won't work very well in freefall because of the sound of the heavy wind we encounter. We actually have full face helmets which block out the wind completely, but there is still a lot of noice created by it, that will trigger the VOX, so the other person can not talk until the vox is shut down, which it won't because of the noise...

My final option was to actually use a button, but by making a small modification to the cable so I can have the button in my hand and the microphone mounted inside my helmet, together with the earbut.

Now the cable has 1 earbut, and a bit further a small case with a hole for the microphone and a button to talk, much like those earbuts you get with your mobile phone, which have a button to pick up calls and a microphone to talk.

So my question is, can I open up that small case, remove that button and leave the microphone where it was. Then just make an extensioncable and a new button which I can hold between my thumb and indexfinger, and which is connectet to the case where that button previously was.

It sounds like a very simple task, it's just extending the connection of a button, but what would be the best method to do that?
I have quit a lot of soldering experience and I know some basic electronics, but I'm a bit afraid of opening up the microphone/button case, because it's very fragile and I don't want it to break...

Thanks in advance,

any answer would be appreciated

here's an image of the walkie talkie set I bought:

 

[jiripolivka]

Your case is difficult as you want a "standard" walkie-talkie in a high-noise environment.
Once I bought a pair of such devices for tourists, with built-in speaker/microphone and a micro-switch to transmit. The cost was like $10 for a pair. Such devices can easily be modified, and no damage caused.
Try to get them,then you need not be afraid of a possible damage.

I guess for parachute jumpers there is a professional walkie-talkie available, possibly for renting- this is designed already for such use.

 

[betwixt]

I'm an expert in falling down but not sky diving. I have experienced similar problems with mobile ham radio on a motorcycle where the engine and road noise operated the vox circuit. The best solution is vox with a throat microphone, one that sits inside a loose fitting elastic collar. It goes under clothing so the wind rush doesn't reach it and being close to your skin means it is isolated from much of the outside noise.

Brian.

 

[BrunoARG]

I think you should protect the microphone from the (not electrical) noise coming from the wind. If you could trigger the communication switch then your friends won't hear anything more than wind.

Maybe a switch in your hand or somewhere you don't use a lot for flying is the solution to activate the transmission. Take into account that it's a noisy environment so you could pass the wires near your body (inside your clothings) to minimize failures.