Wind noise in starcomm

[Richouse]

I just got back from about a 400 mile day trip through the Ozark mountains of Arkansas. It as fun but alittle hot at times. Any way. I was on the Feej and my dad was on a VTX 1800. We both have new Starcomm units using FRS/GMRS radios and he kept complaining about static when I tried to talk to him but he came in clear to me. We switched bikes for alittle while so I could hear what he was talking about and and immediately recognized it as wind noise. I am using a HJC AC12 helmet. I'm wondering what some of you have done to keep the wind noise out of the starcomm? I noticed if I raise the "stock" windshield all the way up it helps, but it gets hot that way so I normally ride with it almost down.

Thanks...

 

[Toecutter]

I've found my Respro Foggy Mask to be very helpful in quieting things down around the microphone, in addition to keeping the shield clear in the cold weather....

 

[caryt]

Ear plugs work great at killing the high frequencies

 

[Richouse]

Ear plugs work great at killing the high frequencies

I mean the mic in the helmet is picking up and transmitting the wind noise to the other rider making the transmission sound static and garbled.

 

[mattster31]

Ear plugs work great at killing the high frequencies

I mean the mic in the helmet is picking up and transmitting the wind noise to the other rider making the transmission sound static and garbled.

have you referred to the instruction manual? I believe you can adjust the sensitivity of the microphone.

 

[Hudson]

Adjusting the sensitivity will help, but takes some trial and error. Most get the PTT switch and turn off VOX, which eliminates the problem.

I've got VOX enabled now, but on windy days or passing semis, it can get annoying.

 

[exskibum]

Adjusting the sensitivity will help, but takes some trial and error. Most get the PTT switch and turn off VOX, which eliminates the problem.
I've got VOX enabled now, but on windy days or passing semis, it can get annoying.

Well, turning off the vox and using PTT might eliminate the problem he mentioned -- specifically, wind noise over the bike to bike radio. But it doesn't eliminate the wind noise problem on the intercom between the passenger and the rider. Just did a week with GF on back in varying conditions across several states, and it was a significant problem. More so for me, since her HJC CL-14 from the pillion position seemed to generate a lot more wind noise than my Shoei RF-1000 from the rider seat. She reported only occasional wind noise from my mic, but I had to turn the handlebar volume control way down to get rid of the wind noise from her mic above 35 mph or so.

(I'll watch this thread, since I'll need to address this (and Jeff of BikeEffects is the guru on most of this), but I have no time right now to even completely unpack the bike and shouldn't even be on here now.)

 

[Richouse]

I have the Push To Talk button. I have the vox all the way down and the mic sensitivity down. the wind noise is being transmitted over the frs radios bike to bike. I dont know about the intercom part since I have not had a pillion to try it out. I know its wind noise because the transmission is crystal clear when stopped and when at speed (hwy speed) if I have the windshield all the way up and duck down some to get out of the wind it really clears it up. I guess that is what Im going to have to start doing.

I have a HJC AC12 helmet. I was torn between that one and a Shoei RF1000 and decided on the HJC for the price. I have never rode with the shoei. Have any of you used BOTH of these and post a reply on how the wind noise compares??

 

[wfooshee]

My wife and I run the AC12 helmets. I like the lid, fits well, great price for a Snell-rated helmet, and in my one impact had no headache, stars, or anything like that. (Lowside put me face-first into the road.)

But it's noisy!

We have a Scala Rider Teamset wireless intercom and she turns hers off at speed. She won't wear earplugs. I wear plugs and it's tolerable, but at speed there is a lot of noise picked up in the system.

 

[Alex]

Boy, this sounds too familiar. I've owned the Starcom unit for 3 years now and had the same problem at speed. My wife's mic would kick in and transmit wind noise to me at interstate speeds. (Mic sensitivity. on minimum rotation) I have the PTT installed and my brother has the same setup on his bike. He would constantly complain that I wasn't speaking clearly (which would really piss me off after 2-3 week of riding with him!!

About 3 months ago I started to ride around without earplugs which forced me to turn down the volume of the Starcom. Problem adverted. Damn thing works perfect now both bike to bike and rider to passenger. I have the Zumo 550, Bluetooth BlackBerry, XM radio etc.

Her mic will still kick in from the wind but we have to be riding in some pretty crappy wind. We just got back from a 5K trip and were very happy with its performance. My only gripe is that finding the correct position to plug in the connections with gloves on is a pain. I'm really good at it after so much use, but my wife managed to break off the center plastic guide then jammed it together in the middle of our trip. Luckily I was able to straighten out the pins and use the other end of the coiled cord for connecting/disconnecting.

I hope this helps someone. Keep tweaking the dang box till it works best for you.

 

[Fred W]

Very timely post. I've been struggling with this issue too.

As you folks that have been around a while know, I'm no stranger to messing with the Starcom1 Advance, having worked through the PTT-03 / VOX inhibit issue with the engineers from Starcom and Jeff at Bike Effects.

The last few times I have ridden 2-up with the spousal unit I noticed that there seemed to be excessive amounts of wind noise coming through from my wife's microphone to my headset at highway speeds (75 and higher). At 2 lane speeds 45-65 mph) no real problems. Since we like to ride those kind of roads more it hasn't been a huge issue. Also seems much worse in the turbulent air you get on the freeway. My wife claims that she doesn't hear any wind noise from mine. We both wear the same exact matching helmets (KBC VR-1) though my fat gourd fills my helmet shell more fully than hers does. The VR-1's are not the quietest helmets around, but they aren't the worst either.

I was beginning to think that maybe the mike in her headset was much more noise sensitive for some reason, but maybe just turning down the Starcom1 volume as far as practical and then pumping in higher volume from the peripherals is the answer? I know from prior fiddling, that is the way to go to get the AVC (automatic volume control) to work the best.

 

[rocketdoc]

Our Starcom works great with our Shoei RF1000 helmets, but with the HJC flip when I am solo, the wind will cancel my tunes as if I am talking. So rarely use the HJC anymore. We both wear ear plugs, and find the setup works great. At warp speed I will adjust the windscreen to minimize the wind noise and this seems to work fine.

Keep trying until it works, when it does, it is one sweet system.

 

[VanHarlan]

We just got are Stacom1 Advance a few weeks ago - been playing around with it a little - we found that adding a chin curtain to your helmet will cut down on some bad air coming up into the mic area - the rest has been some trial and error - but getting closer to finding the sweet spot.

I like Fred's idea of jacking up the volume on the peripheral inputs - I'll try that next.

 

[dcarver]

I tried everything suggested, still no real joy. The pillion's Mic is always 'on' at speed > 50 and all I hear is noise. My next step, unless you fart smellers can figure it out better, is to place a push to talk switch on the side of her helmet. When she wants to talk, she'll have to reach up and hit the magic button.

....interested to see what comes of this thread, I hope someone comes up with a better solution.

(Oh, as a reference, the sound system on the 1991 HD Ultra works puuurfect, just sayin') :lol:

 

[Fred W]

Harlan,

What did you use (or make) for a wind curtain? I tried using a piece of packing foam behind the microphone in my wife's helmet to get the mike closer to her lips (no help) and then another piece as a sort of wind block below her chin (little help). Maybe a piece of cloth or neoprene to go all the way up to her neck? Just wondering what you came up with.

I also wonder if this problem (with the pillion wind noise) is related to the required volume level of running with ear plugs. Maybe someone that uses the in-ear speakers, and therefore sets the Starcom1 master volume control far lower, might comment on wind noise from their pillion's mike.

 

[VanHarlan]

Fred - my Shoei helmet has a chin curtain; Lori just got a Scorpion EXO 700 & I purchase the option chin curtain for her helmet - hopefully that will keep some of the draft from swirling around the mic - I'm going to try some fine tuning later today & let you know how I make out. I use ER6 earphones and she has the helmet speakers - but she does have the extra pig tail for ear phones which I may try next to see if I can then lower the system volum overall. I'm really trying to avoid the PTT route.

 

[Fred W]

Ah, OK. You mean the little rubber dealio that sticks into the bottom front of the helmet then? My HJC helmet has one of those too, and that helmet is significantly quieter than the matching KBCs we use two up. I never thought it was due to that.

I'll check back later for your results.

 

[VanHarlan]

Well finally it looks like I have eliminated the wind noise from the passengers mic: (1) added a chin curtain to my wife's Scorpion EXO-700 helmet (Iuse one on my Shoei as well). (2) set mic 2 (passenger's mic) sensitivity all the way to the right (my mic sensitivity is set in the 12 o'clock position which the manual refers to as "normal" setting.) (3) turned to VOX setting just a hair to the right so we can speak into the system without it cutting the music out. (4) used the source (i-pod, sirius) to control the volume as much as possible before turning the Starcom up too much - the Starcom volume is about 20%.

It took us several attempts - and trying to use a logical process of elimination - to get it right: but we're finally wind noise free.

 

[NSrider]

My wife and I run the AC12 helmets. I like the lid, fits well, great price for a Snell-rated helmet, and in my one impact had no headache, stars, or anything like that. (Lowside put me face-first into the road.)
But it's noisy!

We have a Scala Rider Teamset wireless intercom and she turns hers off at speed. She won't wear earplugs. I wear plugs and it's tolerable, but at speed there is a lot of noise picked up in the system.

I'm glad I saw this post. I am having the same problems as everyone else, My wife could hear me fine(until her headset quit working period) and she came thru very distorted and unreadable. I was considering purchasing the same Scala Rider but I guess I will save my money for now. We just completed a 19,000+ KM trip and it sucked that we could not carry on a conversation unless we were stopped.