[SCCC] FW: Headphones?

[Steve Harrison]

On 4/27/2022 7:53 PM, Marty Woll wrote:
>   
>
> Ah, yes, the old Superex headset, with sweat-inducing plastic ear covers.  I actually used to put a Kleenex tissue over each earpiece before using them in a contest, but that’s not a good look for a photo.

I still use them exclusively. I now have two pairs but each has been 
rebuilt over and over again over the years. Yes, those stiff plastic ear 
muffs get tiresome and my ears ache after a few hours (which is one 
reason I'm not a good man to do long BIC). But I've tried most of the 
newer replacements and unless they have actual speakers for the 
transducer, they're just not loud enough, or their frequency response is 
too weird and they don't sound right. One pair, I don't even rember what 
they were, I thought were the Holy Grail until after a long weekend of 
CQ WW CW, when I removed them, at supper-time, I found my ears had been 
shocked and I could not hear or understand normal dinnertime 
conversation for some hours afterward; I was effectively deaf even with 
my hearing aids on. I theorize perhaps the muffs sealed so well that the 
sound pressure shocked my eardrums over the hours I used them.

That compared to the time back in 1968 when I wanted to operate 
Sweepstakes but only had a Galaxy V transceiver, without RIT. So I 
borrowed an old HRO from WB6AQF. The HRO only had high impedance audio 
output, so I used a pair of high-impedance Army Air Corps Trimm 
headphones. I forget why, but the AGC in that HRO just didn't sound 
right, so I resorted to running with it off... while monitoring the 
keying of the Galaxy V's transmitter directly. Man oh man... after just 
an hour, my poor ears had taken such a beating from that audio that I 
gave up for the night because of the pain from my abused eardrums. I was 
worried I'd ruined my ears for all-time, and went in and watched TV with 
the rest of the family that night. But around bedtime, my hearing began 
returning... I didn't operate any more SS that weekend, though... when I 
would put the headphones back on and turned up the audio, the sound 
would cause my eardrums to give sharp pains. That eventually went away 
after a few days and I could check into SCN again without using a speaker.

Steve, K0XP

ex-WB6PKA