Starcom1 Digital help needed

[Mark K]

I'm getting a lot of wind noise over bike-to-bike communications and during phone calls. The other party reports that it is very difficult to understand me at highway speeds. I can even hear wind noise from the passenger mike -- it sounds like the mike is open.

 

I reset everything to factory defaults when I installed it, but had to change the music mute to high as the buffeting would interfere with the music. That much works great now.

 

We have full-face and/or modular helmets and the mics ar properly positioned.

 

What setting(s) do I need to change to cut the wind noise?

 

 

[terryofperry]

You are going to have to play with this thing to get it right.

You are going to need to have a lot of patience.

Once you get it right, it is great and well worth it.

 

If you have the remote it can be easier as you can set it up and test changes as you ride. The garage is OK for some settings but real world is everything.

 

Play with the VOX, and the mike sensitivity is important.

 

If you are hearing buffeting all the time naturally the mike is open. If only with conversation then it probably is sensitivity.

 

Again, be patient and play with the sensitivity and VOX and believe it or not, volume control especially with the phone. Too much volume will distort the conversation.

 

Patience, you will get frustrated but when you get it right it is very good.

 

Be careful as you ride, please do not put yourself in a position to tumble, pick an open road with no traffic.

 

Terry

 

[wbrissette]

+1 to everything Terry said. I have a Starcom Digital on my RT and the Starcom Advanced on my Buell Ulysses. I found the digital a little more forgiving with the wind noise/open mic issue and I didn't have to play with it quite as much, setting up the unit initially was a huge pain. However, once it is setup correctly, you don't have to mess with it again, and things should sound great.

 

Wayne

[Pletch]

I have the digital on my 06 RT and I love it. Two things I did have to do that made all the diffrence in the world; 1 take the foam thingy off the mic and make sure the mic hole is facing directly toward your mouth, trust me here, little thing with big impacts. 2 was to buy a different new wind thingy, one a bit bigger and more dense than the original. I went to a Harley dealer and picked up one from them for the open face helmet mics. It is a bit bigger, and more dense, so expect some compromise in the fitting inside your helmet, but it relieved 99% of all outside noise. Cost me a whopping $1.50 so it wasn't to bad of a deal.

[Mark K]

Frustrating is right! Also emailing back and forth with Alun @ Tecstar for some help. We're getting there, but there is a ways to go. I think I'll try to locate a larger wind sock -- maybe that will speed things up.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and calls for patience. If you think of anything else, please let me know.

[Mark K]

Play with the VOX, and the mike sensitivity is important.

 

Ok. Just got back from a trip where I got to try everything -- bike/bike, rider/passenger, GPS, XM, a second audio input, phone -- what else is there?

 

Bike/bike worked very well. I was told my mic would open at times due to wind noise. I turned off the radio VOX and that seems to have eliminated that problem since I'm using PTT.

 

Rider/passenger is still fraught with wind noise at speeds above 50-60MPH. Same with the phone. In addition, the XM coming from my Garmin would also occasionally mute (I'm assuming) for the same reasons. I'm assuming it's the MIC VOX I need to adjust, correct? I see no adjustment value available for sensitivity, Terry.

 

Default is LO. Change this to HI? The way I read the instructions, OFF would mean the mic is always on.

 

 

Also, with in-ear speakers (ER-6's), does anyone still find it necessary to use the AUTO VOLUME?

[wbrissette]

Mark... Start with the basics.

 

First, start again with the default settings (just so you know exactly where everything is).

 

I personally hate the mute thing, so I disable the mute for VOX. This way both my daughter and I can talk and we still have background music. That's a preference of mine, but it also meant that I had to tweak my settings a bit more because you don't want to scream, but you do want to hold a conversation at times as well.

 

Anyhow, I do have my mic VOX set to high, I think a combination of mic vox, volume, and music volume are the key for tweaking this right.

 

I have my mic volume fairly high (I think, hard to say since I haven't compared it to others), the mic vox set to high, and the music somewhere in the middle. I still need adjust the walkie talkie volume some because I know that's a bit too low, but my wife and I just don't use the bike-to-bike all that often.

 

Try to spend some time playing around with those three settings initially, then add the mix of other items.

 

On the auto volume, I can't answer. I don't like the ER-6 (or 4's which I own) for riding, they simply cut out too much other traffic noise for my taste. I use the speakers and do have auto volume enabled.

 

Wayne

[Mark K]

Thanks, Wayne! I'll give that a try.