Sigtronics Intercoms: Can you "split" them

AggieMike88

AggieMike88

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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
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On some of the aircraft I've recently browsed, they have the "added" Sigtronics intercoms, often two place only.

On that particular box, Is it possible to add a Radio Shack Y-splitter to the passenger side of that box so that I could add intercomm capacity to the rear seat
 
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My plane had a 4 place installed, but they had only wired the front two, so I just had the other two wires installed. Intercomms are pretty cheap, though. I would imagine swapping it out, if it is two place, would be the way to go. Check the model first, though.
 
"splitting" a two place to a four place, with a plug and play "Y" jack could be opening up a can-O-Worms, but never tried it.
It's cheap, give it a go and report back on the results. My guess would be negative.
 
AggieMike88 said:
On some of the aircraft I've recently browsed, they have the "added" Sigtronics intercoms, often two place only.

On that particular box, Is it possible to add a Radio Shack Y-splitter to the passenger side of that box so that I could add intercomm capacity to the rear seat
Click to expand...

Yes. Did it on mine for 12 years. Never got around to wiring up backseat jacks.
 
LDJones said:
We used a cable similar to this:

http://www.ruggedradios.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=81
Click to expand...

Well there you go. Before I put my back seat jacks in, I tried to split it using an external comm and it was always problematic. It usually ended up messing up the PTT on the jack you plugged it into. I finally got tired of messing with it and ran the wire. Even if you need a new comm, they are pretty cheap. Also, the comm I have lets me play music through an aux port and has the auto dim thing, when someone talks. That feature might help in the decision to replace.
 
bluerooster said:
"splitting" a two place to a four place, with a plug and play "Y" jack could be opening up a can-O-Worms, but never tried it.
It's cheap, give it a go and report back on the results. My guess would be negative.
Click to expand...

LDJones said:
Yes. Did it on mine for 12 years. Never got around to wiring up backseat jacks.
Click to expand...
The correct answer is, YMMV. Count me as one who tried it with my Sigtronics SPA-400 with negative results. (I used a single cable with places for three headsets, intending that to serve the co-pilot and up to two backseat passengers.)

My experience: Performance was fine with just a copilot--same as plugging into the panel jacks. However, degradation occurred as headsets were added. At best, volume for all headsets dropped with each additional headset plugged into the cable. Mic pickup from the headsets on the cable was very weak. (This was using all DC H10-13.4s.) At worst, mic pickup didn't work for anyone (this was when I used the cable and my QT Halos were plugged in).

I sent an email to QT asking about the issue, and basically got an earful back from them about how that was terrible for the headset and I might break the mic and don't ever, ever, do that again and send them the headset back for repair if I notice any lingering issue (I didn't).

The next annual, I took the opportunity to extend the previously-unwired 3rd and 4th channels of the intercom to the backseat. Works great, now.
 
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Jim_R said:
The correct answer is, YMMV.
Click to expand...

That.
There are so many variables in intercom model, how it's wired, etc, that there is no single, simple answer.
I did it for years in rental birds. In some it worked flawlessly, in some it worked well enough, in others it did not work at all. In one it caused the PTT to open.

No way to know until you try it.
I knew which birds it worked in and which it did not, so I knew which birds to rent when I needed the ability.
 
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