SIP Intercom for noisy environment ...
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We're looking at adding an intercom solution to facilitate conversation between our operators on one side and on the other side truck drivers that are waiting on a truck scale while product is being loaded. I can work with a direct point to point intercom or we do have a FreePBX phone system and the operations room already has a phone in that location that could be used for that side of the link.
The concern I have though is that the speaker/microphone on the truck scale side will be in a fairly noisy environment since even idling those trucks generate a fair amount of noise. The proposed mounting position for the equipment on the truck scale will be a good 3-4 feet from the driver as they are sitting in the cab of their trucks and I'm concerned that may be too far away for them to hear or for the microphone to pick up what they are saying.
Has anyone worked with a vendor that makes an intercom speaker/microphone solution that would work well in a noisy environment such as this? I would prefer a SIP solution but would consider other if that's what is needed.
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That's a tough one, I've not worked with any speakers for that specific kind of application.
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@BraswellJay said in SIP Intercom for noisy environment ...:
We're looking at adding an intercom solution to facilitate conversation between our operators on one side and on the other side truck drivers that are waiting on a truck scale while product is being loaded. I can work with a direct point to point intercom or we do have a FreePBX phone system and the operations room already has a phone in that location that could be used for that side of the link.
The concern I have though is that the speaker/microphone on the truck scale side will be in a fairly noisy environment since even idling those trucks generate a fair amount of noise. The proposed mounting position for the equipment on the truck scale will be a good 3-4 feet from the driver as they are sitting in the cab of their trucks and I'm concerned that may be too far away for them to hear or for the microphone to pick up what they are saying.
Has anyone worked with a vendor that makes an intercom speaker/microphone solution that would work well in a noisy environment such as this? I would prefer a SIP solution but would consider other if that's what is needed.
While I was driving truck, the only microphone that ever worked well (even for truck with "quiet" motors) were those Blue Parrot bluetooth headsets. Those aren't a practical solution here.
You're best bet is a directional microphone of some sort, so it doesn't pickup as much environmental noise.
Speaker wise, just about any speaker can get loud enough to be heard over an idling truck motor (even a loud one.)
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Technically, this is simple. But the sound issue is jsut something I have no idea about. I have not dealt with anything except standard intercom systems for that type of application. Never a SIP based solution.
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@BraswellJay Basically, find a good outdoor intercom unit. Trying to find something that gets rid of the noise is basically impossible. Proper gain adjustment will be the key.
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Very familiar with scale houses. I had planned on experimenting with an outdoor SIP intercom speaker for this exact purpose. I was going to mount it on a pole at the average height for the truck's driver-side window.
In the end, they just put up a sign letting the drivers know what CB channel to talk to the scale house on. It worked fine and was of course cheaper.
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IF your intercom unit can be inside and you can hard-wire your mic input and speaker output from the SIP Intercom device, here is what we use for this same scenario:
Speaker:
https://smile.amazon.com/Indoor-Outdoor-Horn-Speaker-Impedance/dp/B002UL0WH8Mic:
https://smile.amazon.com/Mono-Stereo-Parabolic-Microphone-Standard-060-Polycarbonate/dp/B00GGX3X7WBecause it is parabolic, it doesn't have to be close to the subject. We install them about 10' feet away.
These mics are so focused, we don't hear any engine noise, only the driver.
We build a gable roof (roof only) over the dish and the roof has only one end. We place the dish at the far end (the capped end) from the vehicle. The roof is sized so the disk is completely up/inside the roof line. The open end of the roof is at the vehicle side of the setup.
The mic array detects sound from air flow through the mic element, so you have to protect the mic array inside the dish from unfriendly weather while still allowing sound vibrations to get to the mic itself. This is why the roof with an open end. We used to cap both ends and cut a 22" circle at the vehicle end, but, for the extra work, it didn't really provide any additional protection from the elements.
Eventually the mic gets ruined. So we just replace the mic, while using the same dish, mount, and roof.
Wildtronics has a weatherproof mono parabolic coming out sometime next year. When that happens, you can do away with the roof.
The black dishes are less expensive that the clear dishes.
