Pocketpc Phone Can Do It All...

[BrunDog]

OK, if you don't have one, grap a cup of coffee (a.m.), or a beer (p.m.), because this is going to be long and painful.

I have a PocketPC phone (Sprint PPC-6600 to be exact). I ride with it in my tankbag's map window. This way, I can look at it to see if the LED has gone green --> red indicating I got paged, or have a voicemail. I can hit the buttons (on-screen and top hardware) right through the window. It is also waterproof, so this works well.

I have been thinking about a GPS, and adding an Autocomm mixer for audio control. Then, I realized: the PPC can do everything: phone, music, and GPS navigation.

First the power. This is easy. I will m akea power cord from my powerlet to the tankbag, where I will power the PPC. With the right setting, I can program the PPC to be on and backlit as long as power is applied.

Second the GPS. This part is also easy. I would get a GPS receiver (either wired or Bluetooth, but probably Bluetooth so I can transfer it to the car as needed). In the bag it would eacily get line of sight to the satellites in the sky. I would also power it off the 12V power cord in the tankbag.

Third, memory. I currently have a 256MB card, which isn't really much but enough for some tunes in the short term. I could easily upgrade to a 2 GB card, which would probably be needed for an adequate amount of maps, anyway.

Now, the problem: Audio. How do I get the audio (sound out) into my ears and the microphone input (sound in) to work well? I could use in-ear headphones like etymotics, but I am concerned about these for three reasons: 1. pain in the ass having to put them in and take them out with each helmet don/doff, 2. pain in the ear which will inevitablly occur after 1 hour of wearing these things, 3. reduced safety due to damping of ambient noise. Also, with units like these, how do I handle the microphone part? Obviously an in-helmet solution is in order.

So, I could buy a helmet kit I have a full-face) and put in the speakers and the microphone, but my concerns are these: 1. Will the PPC phone be able to put out enough power to drive the speakers so that I will be able to hear them? If not an amplifier would be in order. 2. Would the microphone be able to pick my voice up without too much background noise?

These two issues could easily be solved with an Autocom Easy-7 unit, but then I have another problem: the PPC sends the phone output and the stereo sound output through the same connector. The Autocom would not be able to switch between phone operation and stereo operation. If I permanently hooked up to the Autocom's phone input, the phone would work fine but the music would be in mono. If I hooked up to the stereo input, the microphone will not work.

Hmmm. What to do? If any of you have done this or have any thoughts in general, I would certainly appreciate them!!

-BD

 

[ock913]

BD, I see no way to resolve your issue in a way that would be acceptable to me. The mono music would be a no no. If it were me, I would say to save the memory card for maps and buy you an inexpensive MP3 player. You can get one with AM-FM built in so you have a choice of MP3 or radio. You would still need something to manage the inputs though. A Mix-It 2 would work well for your audio, but for the price, an AutoCom Active 7 would do it as well and give you the microphone solution at the same time. I have the the Active 7 and the Mix-It 2 and it works great. The Active 7 only offers 2 inputs and then you can buy adapters to add more. For the price, the Mix-It 2 was cheaper than a bunch of adapters and boosts the volume to overcome windnoise. Just my.02 YMMV

 

[RonBB]

I use the J M CB with their integration module for cell phone, music, etc. They send the cell phone ring signal through only one earphone. Then you merely flip a switch which mutes other inputs, etc. & turns on the second helmet speaker to the cell phone circuit I think it also reroutes the microphone between the cb & cell circuits as well. Food for thought. Good luck.