The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Anybody using bluetooth with your cell phone? What kind?

I still have difficulty getting FSS atleast 50 % of the time would be nice to open and close out.


W.

What are you asking W? Are you looking for some type of bluetooth to hook your cell into your aircraft audio?

We use our cell phone all the time to get clearances while on the ground. Just dial the phone and stick it under our helmet.

We've also used it as last resort from the air when all radios fail for one reason or another.

I can't hear very well anyway that's what my wife says

I've seen the little box you can use inline with your headset and plug your cell phone in but that sure seems like alot of wires. Then there's this blue tooth thing that people talk about where you don't have to use wires. My new fangeled "Blackberry" does that stuff. I tried the under the headset thing but I still ended up yelling in the phone thinking the guy on the other end couldn't hear me either
like the one guy said a while back we are in some kind of blank area here. I will call to activate my flight plan as soon as I clear airspace and the other day I was 15 minutes into my flight before someone came back from FSS.


W.

W,
It's not cheap, but I use a Lightspeed Zulu headset that has an audio jack that you can use to connect your cell phone and it works great. You talk and listen through the noise canceling headset so the audio quality is very good. I've asked the people that I called how they hear me and they have all said they had no idea that I was in an airplane. When finished with your phone call, you can then plug in your ipod and listen to some tunes......

It won't help a bit if you don't have a cell phone signal, of course, and it does have one more wire to connect. The biggest obstacle is the $850 price tag. Also, when researching these, I read about several people who raved over the good customer service when they sent their Zulu back to be repaired..... but as one David Clark owner pointed out, he had no idea how good the DC service was as he had owned them for years and had never had to send them back.

So.. they may not be as stout as the DCs but so far mine have performed flawlessly and the ability to make phone calls has come in handy a couple of times.

(don't laugh at my old cell phone... I'm kicking and screaming trying to avoid becoming too modern)

If the cell phone has Bluetooth, the Zulu headset can connect to it without the wire. That also works well, say friends of mine who use them. (I haven't sprung for one yet.)

jrenwick wrote:If the cell phone has Bluetooth, the Zulu headset can connect to it without the wire. That also works well, say friends of mine who use them. (I haven't sprung for one yet.)

That is correct.... I had forgotten as I don't use the Bluetooth function ... but it will work wireless.

K

Are we talking about intentionally using the cell phone while in the air?

That is still not legal according to the FCC. When I've seen the law broken the coverage is very spotty at best though I have been amazed a few times when it did work. I certainly would count on it in the air.

N9149A wrote:Are we talking about intentionally using the cell phone while in the air?

Hearsay, but I've been told that if your cell phone is airborne and it connects to too many towers on the ground system, it will be electronically blocked. The experience of my friends who have tried it seems to confirm this as it won't work above a couple o' thousand feet.

It works just fine on the ground though.

Before you spend the $$ for a Blue Tooth devise, I would find someone with one and try it to see if you can hear it adequately. I have one that works with my cell, but even in the car with road noise I have to push it into my ear a bit more than it normally does to be able to hear conversations. I doubt I could hear much of anything in the plane. Thus I rarely use it. It certainly isn't as loud as a bug you put in your ear. (And like all these gadgets, it has to be charged every so often.)

How many bluetooth devices can you have going at once? My portable moving map already receives it's GPS and weather data via bluetooth.

Miles

As far as the cell phone seeing more towers than it needs and by doing so using more equipment than necessary and adding additional burden the system was not designed for, you are correct. But your cell will work fine. Unless of course someone else is using all the tower space. The tower usage is why the FCC makes this illegal.

As for you phone being blocked at higher altitudes it is more likely you are just to high for the towers antennas to see your cell phone as they are aimed at the ground where the customers are suppose to be, not in the air.

This according to a friend who works in the business of installing cell phone antennas among many other things in the communications business.

Miles could you expand on what portable equipment you have that receives GPS and weather data via bluetooth?

Bruce

I just as soon not use a cell phone in the airplane, there is enough people on the ground trying to hit me while driving and talking on their cell let alone in the air. I go flying to get away from it all and relax. However as someone ( I think from Ah Ras Ka) said on this forum I live in and area as he called it some part of a Moose body,Moose Lips, or was it Moose Hip....Moose Knuckle.....anyway it is a problem area for coverage and I would sure like to be able to get ahold of someone when needed. Maybe I will just have to add 15 or so minutes to the fight plan and call b/4 run up
Most of the time when I am on the ground I carry 2 cell phones so I really look forward to getting away from it

W.

This discussion is rather amazing to me. How in hell am I able to progress through life this day in age when I'm not "Hooked Up" to anything? No music device, no Ipod, no Blackberry, no Blue Tooth, and no cell phone. However, I do, sometimes, carry a GPS ground navigation device on my Vespa Motor Scooter so that if I can remember my home town and address, I can find my way home.

blueldr wrote:... if I can remember my home town and address, I can find my way home.

Two elderly couples were having dinner and after the meal the women got up and moved to the kitchen and began cleaning up the dishes. The two men began a conversation, and one of them said, "We ate at a really good restaraunt last night."
"Which restaraunt was that?", the other responded.
The first fellow thought and thought and finally asked his friend, "What is that long-stemmed flower we sometimes give on Valentine's Day?"
The second fellow replied, "Are you talking about a rose?"
"Yes! That's it!", the first fellow said, and then he turned toward the kitchen and shouted,
"Hey, Rose! What was the name of that restaraunt we ate at last night?"

Bluelder I amd more and more convinced lately that those who are not "hooked up" are the truely blessed ones. I just returned from a family reunion in East Texas. Spending time with my East Texas relatives always puts things back into proper perspective for me.