PTT switch rear stick

this is the point in the thread where I make a wild ass guess.

you might want to send the serial number to Sigtronics and ask if that model has a rear seat PTT. if it's an older version or a basic version, it might not even have that functionality.
 
It has the rear seat PTT wire. The problem is when it was installed in 2017 the guy that installed it ran the front PTT switch wire to the front mic were the head set plugs in. From what I'm hearing that is pretty common installation. I talked to a radio guy, he said go to the rear mic and tap into the PTT at that point. I tried; I clip on to all the wires one at a time to try to connect the switch with no luck. I'm doing some more testing tomorrow to see if there is anything happening between the two headphones jacks. We'll, see??
 
here's what i don't get. you said there's nothing for the blue/white wire to connect to after it enters the plug. are you saying there's another way to trigger the co-pilot mic that wouldn't need the blue/white wire?

just reading along for sport i guess!
 
The wire in the harness is only on one side, the intercom side. The other side of the connector is blank. Also I have an update on this god offal back seat PTT. I called Sigtronics (finally) come to find out my I-Com radio is not totally compatible with the SPA400. In order to get a back seat switch I need to install a relay between intercom and radio. I have all the luck !
 
Put the GTR in. Way better intercom, self-contained.
The Narco 810 in the Decathlon is dying, and I shall be slamming my spare 200 in there soon. I will yank the intercom.
 
The wire in the harness is only on one side, the intercom side. The other side of the connector is blank. Also I have an update on this god offal back seat PTT. I called Sigtronics (finally) come to find out my I-Com radio is not totally compatible with the SPA400. In order to get a back seat switch I need to install a relay between intercom and radio. I have all the luck !
Here is the problem I believe you'll run into due to the way its wired currently: without the rear PTT wire going to the intercom there's no way to trip the relay to enable the rear headset microphone.
To get the rear mike to transmit you need to do two things at the same time: turn on the rear mike AND key the radio transmit line (so the "tx" light on the radio goes on). When the intercom is wired per the schematic the white/blue wire (PTT) pulls the mike relay and the radio key line (white wire #5) relay in at the same time. This is how the radio knows to transmit and that only the rear mike is hot.
The only way to get this intercom to work correctly is to have it wired per the schematic. Anything else is gonna drive you crazy.
And I've used this I/C with the A200 and it worked fine. I've heard of problems with the -210 though but can't verify that myself.
If I were going to the trouble of rewiring the whole system I would ditch the 400 for a stereo version with an aux input...but that's just me...mono sux!

Chris
 
Last edited:
The wire in the harness is only on one side, the intercom side. The other side of the connector is blank. Also I have an update on this god offal back seat PTT. I called Sigtronics (finally) come to find out my I-Com radio is not totally compatible with the SPA400. In order to get a back seat switch I need to install a relay between intercom and radio. I have all the luck
Here is the problem I believe you'll run into due to the way its wired currently: without the rear PTT wire going to the intercom there's no way to trip the relay to enable the rear headset microphone.
To get the rear mike to transmit you need to do two things at the same time: turn on the rear mike AND key the radio transmit line (so the "tx" light on the radio goes on). When the intercom is wired per the schematic the white/blue wire (PTT) pulls the mike relay and the radio key line (white wire #5) relay in at the same time. This is how the radio know to transmit and that only the rear mike is hot.
The only way to get this intercom to work correctly is to have it wired per the schematic. Anything else is gonna drive you crazy.
And I've used this I/C with the A200 and it worked fine. I've heard of problems with the -210 though but can't verify that myself.
If I were going to the trouble of rewiring the whole system I would ditch the 400 for a stereo version with an aux input...but that's just me...mono sux!

Chris
Thanks Chris, it does make sense for sure. I wish you lived in our airpark! I did run a jumper wire from the white wire to the blue/white and when I grounded it the tx on the radio work I thought I had success but no, no sound in the headset, so that is when I called Sigtronics and found out my radio is not compatible with the intercom without the relay added in the circuit, damn I thought I had it for sure. I wish I could somehow send you the keyline modification schematic they sent me so you could see what I have to do. I would change out the unit, but when I look under the panel and see bundles of wire I panic, it might be just above my pay grade.
 
What I did was I removed the blue /white wire out of the connector being there was a blank hole on the other side of the connector. So, the wire was at that point not connected to anything. I connected one of the wires from the PTT co-pilot to that wire and the other to ground. With your headset on when you connect the two wires the headset goes dead, like it is shorted out. Un-connect the wires and it is live again and works normally. So I will connect the blue/white wire to the intercom case as you mentioned and see what I come up with. I just went out and tried to connect the blue/white to the intercom directly, it seems that all screws and switches are insulated from being grounded to the plane, so the only ground is the black wire in the harness. still a big mystery ??
Chris finally got it, what should have been a 3-hr. job turned into a week project. After talking to Sigtronics it turns out the intercom being 12V and the I-Com 220 radio internally is 7V it would not handle the second PTT switch. It did handle one, but not two. And the guy that installed the new radio and intercom had it wired very different than the schematic, being a voltage thing, I guess, but the front PTT did work. So, I had to pull most the wire out and the radio out to get the right pin locations and splice in a 12V relay in line from the #5 white wire to handle the voltage difference from the intercom to the radio. Rewired the whole system per Sigtronics, after all that it works great. The voltage was the problem and my luck the I-Com 220 is the only radio out there with that problem. Thanks for your help along the way!
 
Icom does that with their portables too. They purposely make each unit so that common accessories like ptt, power cords, headsets, etc., don't interchange. I won't buy Icom stuff because of that.

And the A6 is so difficult to program it might as well not have frequency memory.
 
Does anybody have pictures from a rear stick PTT install? I’m putting one in my ‘75 7ECA and am curious how people have routed the wiring. I assume it goes up the left post by the window then back down the left side of the windscreen to behind the panel? I haven’t taken anything apart yet to look where the front stick PTT comes out, just looking for some input before I get to the project.

I’ve got the PTT switch wired up and ready to start the install
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9912.webp
    IMG_9912.webp
    152.7 KB · Views: 10
I put the rear switches on the wing root panel (front switch in the J3s). Reason: if you take kids flying they will grab on to that button and never let go. Second reason: if you are instructing you need to be able to transmit without touching the stick. I am sure there is a third reason, beyond just being easier.

You can put a parallel switch on the wing root, and a “kill” switch on the stick switch circuit, eliminating both my reasons.
 
Back
Top