Hatz Biplane Association

My Glasair was like riding in a tin can before I added the interior. Maybe not the wind noise but turning to look out the side opened the mic with hissing and sometime squealing from feedback. I upgraded the intercom to a PS Engineering PM1200 made for high noise levels. I also added leather covers on the mic of my DC headset. Not ideal but tolerable.

I traded in my DC for Zulu ANR. That made a huge difference. I lent them to my wife and she wouldn't give them back. Go figure! I went crazy and bought a Bose A20. I didn't notice a huge difference but I lent them to a friend and he said it was a big mistake as he didn't want to go back to his Zulu's.

In the mean time I upgraded my PS PM1200 and iCOM 210 to a GTR200 with built in intercomm. That didn't make a lot of difference. It was the ANR headsets. I won't go back to passive noise reduction. I did do away with the leather covers for the mic but would put them back on in a windy environment.

I'd like to improve the intercom in my Hatz. It's a basic Sigtronics SPA-400 with VOX, but it requires careful playing with the intercom squelch, I can set it on the ground but I have to adjust it after takeoff and even then it's marginal.

On the noise side, replacing the gel ear pads on my generic DC headset made a big difference. While I was at it I painted the shells brown, which looks a lot better than the pale green headset poking through the brown leather helmet.