Turning a Bose QuietComfort 25 into a headset for the ICOM IC-7300
I have been doing SSB contesting for more than 20 years, and I have always used a Heil headset. After my last trip to CQ WPX SSB in March 2023, however, I decided it was time to look for a new headset.
Maybe it’s simply a matter of getting older, but for some reason the Heil Pro Elite had become really uncomfortable to wear for two 15+ hour contest periods. My ears were seriously hurting after the contest.
Outside of SSB contests, I use a Bose QuietComfort for music, noise cancellation on airplanes, and CW contesting. The Bose is much lighter and, as the name suggests, very comfortable to wear.
After doing some research and getting a tip from other operators, I discovered the Antlion ModMic on Amazon.
Disclaimer: I am not making any money from this. This is simply my personal experience.
So I bought the microphone from Amazon and used the supplied magnetic holder to attach it to the Bose. Done!
Settings on the radios
I use an ICOM IC-7300 in Madeira and an IC-7610 at home. The result was identical on both radios:
- Gain: The microphone has very high output, so you need to turn the microphone gain down.
- Equalizer: I had to increase the high frequencies and reduce the bass. This may vary depending on your voice.
- Non-contest operation: For normal operation, you may want to keep more bass.
- Receive audio: I really like the Bose’s RX sound.
The result
Upside: I really like the sound, and wearing comfort has improved by at least 300%.
Downside: The microphone is very sensitive. Touching or adjusting the headset creates microphone noise and can activate VOX.
VOX
Yes, I use VOX all the time during an SSB contest.
I made more than 5,100 QSOs, which means at least 11,000 TX cycles. Have you ever tried pressing a bulky footswitch 11,000 times? Then you probably use VOX, too. 🙂
Here is a short recording
Overall impression
Overall, I am very happy with this solution, and I plan to use it for the next couple of years.
Hopefully, it will prove to be just as rugged and reliable as the Heil headset I used for more than 20 years.
The microphone is stored in a small case and is only attached to the Bose when I am operating an SSB contest.
The only thing you have to live with is the small magnet attached to the Bose.
Using the microphone with Yaesu radios
Yaesu generally provides 5–8 V DC on pin 2 of the front 8-pin microphone connector.
I connected this voltage to the Antlion microphone through a 2 kΩ resistor, and from there connected it back to the microphone input of the Yaesu.
No additional components such as capacitors are required.
(Information from the BCC reflector — without guarantee.)
73,
Helmut DF7EE
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