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From: DPHARP01@ulkyvx.bitnet
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Plantronics LiteSet
Message-ID: <telecom-v09i0360m05@vector.dallas.tx.us>
Date: 8 Sep 89 03:24:00 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 360, message 5 of 7


        I received one of these for a birthday a few weeks back.  Initally, I
didn't like it, but with a few modifications described below, I find it to be
an indespensible tool.

        The first thing I noticed about the Liteset was the fact that I
couldn't get the thing to stay in my ear comfortably.  I went through all nine
earpieces with marginal success.  The cone type seemed to work ok, although it
was a little uncomfortable.

        When using the Liteset, I was annoyed by the amount of background noise
that the microphone picked up.  Since the actual mike element is several inches
from your mouth, they boost the gain to compensate.  This also boosts the
volume of any noise in the room.  I haven't tried it, but I would imagine using
one of these things in a computer room would be very annoying to the person on
the other end.

        To compensate for the background noise problem, I took a 2" piece of
insulation from a 50-pair phone cable and slipped it over the end of the
microphone.  This made the voice a little tinny, but cut down on the noise a
great deal.

        I used it this way for a few more hours and still couldn't get used to
something hanging free in my ear like that.  So, I took the Liteset ear/mike
assembly apart, desoldered the leads from the little circuit board inside,
disassembled an old Plantronics Starset ear/mike assembly and soldered the
wires to it.  The various impedances matched pretty well.  In fact, the Starset
volume is actually higher than the Liteset.  The microphone is crystal-clear
and loud on the other end...plenty of gain to punch through a noisy
long-distance phone call.

        Aside from the lousy ear/mike assembly that originally comes with the
unit, it's a great cordless phone.  The keypad dialing is nice, along with the
mute button.  An earlier posting mentioned the ability to listen to other
cordless phones by disconnecting the power on the base unit while off-hook.  A
much more elegant way to do the same thing is to press and hold the mute button
while powering up the cordless unit with the on/off switch.  The base unit does
not go off-hook, but the receiver in the cordless unit turns on, allowing you
to listen to other phones on the channel.

        If anyone is interested in the details on how to modify the Liteset to
use a Starset capsule, send me mail.  I'll respond directly, and if there are
enough inquiries I'll post to the net.

                        David Harpe
                        University of Louisville

                        DPHARP01@ULKYVX.bitnet