How do I feed audio into a laptop from the chapel audio system?

We have a sister who cannot hear but has an app on her phone and laptop that will convert audio to text. The problem is that there is too much noise around her for the software to be effective. If I could wire audio directly to hear device (laptop seem easier), that would help. Any suggestions?

I'm aware of two practical options:

• On most reasonably recent systems I have seen lately, there is a 1/8" phone jack labeled "record out" or something similar somewhere in the chapel. I have seen it under or near the sacrament table or next to the pulpit. You'll want to make sure the signal level is right for your application.
  
  You _could_ take the output of one of the radio receivers intended for assisted listening. You should be able to adjust the level with the volume control on the receiver.

jrgorman wrote:If I could wire audio directly to her device (laptop seem easier), that would help.

rmrichesjr beat me to it. I would just add that the direct method probably would work best. If you use an assisted listening device you will regularly be changing batteries.

You can also look for an output near the clerk's table, if your meetinghouse is old enough to have one of those.

While the suggestions above would work for sacrament meeting, they're not likely to work for Sunday School or Relief Society (unless it's held in the chapel).

I'd suggest experimenting with a plug in microphone. A better mic with some directionality and gain might be enough to get it to work, be more portable, and more useful in different situations.

I posted in another thread about Google's Live Transcribe for Android app. Maybe I'll remember to give it a try on Sunday. As I recall, it works pretty well as long as things are loud enough.

Hi,
I’m new in this forum and don’t really know too much about audio solutions, but we have a similar problem as jrgorman. How did you solve it? I know this is an old post but maybe some of you still remember this situation or have acquired new knowledge in the area.

I don't think there's anything that would change the above suggestions. While connecting to the sound system would work for sacrament, I haven't seen any such connections for PH/RS rooms.

Sorry I am a bit late to this thread. You may want to try the following.

The new Listen assisted listening receivers have two audio jacks. Plug a headphone into one of the jacks. The Listen receiver will detect that the headphone is plugged in and not turn off. (The alternative is to have the right person reprogram the receiver to not auto turn off when headphone is disconnected.) In the second headphone jack take a 3.5mm stereo male to 3.5mm stereo male cable and plug it in. Next purchase one of these
https://www.amazon.com/Headset-Buddy-Li ... 149&sr=8-4

This will attenuate the audio and provide the correct resistance so that an iPhone will detect that a microphone has been plugged in. (If you just plug this in the resistor will make the Listen receiver not detect that anything is plugged in and turn off as noted above) The headset buddy adaptor has the necessary TRRS connector to send mic audio to the phone. I have not tested this with an Android phone.

This will let her sit anywhere in the chapel that she would like.

Good luck.

I use a TECSUN FM radio with 72.1 MHz ($30 Amazon) for recording from the ALS to an MP3 recorder, that should also work with a computer. A line connection doesn't work well with Android but might with apple. The radio has an antenna and works about 1/3 mile away and does not need a low impedance load connected like headphones to turn it on. It is also rechargeable. (not all of the TECSUN radios have the "old Russian" FM band). A Baofeng ham radio could also work but make sure the ham frequency is unused or the FM will get interrupted. The TECSUN sounds amazing at home!

There are several TECSUN model numbers that seem to fit the description. Which model do you recommend?

level43 wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:07 pmA Baofeng ham radio could also work but make sure the ham frequency is unused or the FM will get interrupted.

Probably not the best idea as you won't be able to ID every 10 minutes per FCC rules.

TECSUN X3 sounds the best and is small. The D3 will also work. Both of those models are listed on Amazon for 32.00 and 25.99 respectively. Each uses a different Li-ion battery that are available on ebay. Both Amazon listings currently say "64 - 108MHz". I have seen the X3 with the 64-108 range and with just 88-108 frequency range, so make sure it says 64-108MHz.

The D3 is cheaper and had analog volume. X3 sounded much better, especially in high frequency range, and has digital volume. Both will run on an adapter or external battery with/without internal battery. (mini USB power input)

Tips: to extend the receiving range beyond the building, add a few feet of wire to the antenna with an alligator clip. For the X3, if reception does not work as expected, enter the frequency again ("7 2 1") -no decimal.

Another possibility to solve the original question is to use an external mic on a long extension. A little extra work but should work well anywhere, and with phones as well. We still use this method for sacrament meeting zoom with Android phones. We put a small carpet over the long cable.

Mikerowaved wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:44 am

level43 wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:07 pmA Baofeng ham radio could also work but make sure the ham frequency is unused or the FM will get interrupted.

Probably not the best idea as you won't be able to ID every 10 minutes per FCC rules.

FCC rules do not require ID every 10 minutes or even a license to receive ham radio transmissions or FM broadcasts on any radio or transceiver. Only transmissions require a license and ID/10m (including automatic transmitters such as repeaters). Anyone can buy and listen to a ham radio without a license.

level43 wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 12:55 pm TECSUN X3 sounds the best and is small. The D3 will also work. Both of those models are listed on Amazon for 32.00 and 25.99 respectively. ...

Thank you very much for the model numbers.

level43 wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:56 pm

Mikerowaved wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:44 am

level43 wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:07 pmA Baofeng ham radio could also work but make sure the ham frequency is unused or the FM will get interrupted.

Probably not the best idea as you won't be able to ID every 10 minutes per FCC rules.

FCC rules do not require ID every 10 minutes or even a license to receive ham radio transmissions or FM broadcasts on any radio or transceiver. Only transmissions require a license and ID/10m (including automatic transmitters such as repeaters). Anyone can buy and listen to a ham radio without a license.

Of course, but I'm not talking about the receiver. When you post: "...make sure the ham frequency is unused..." it implies something is being transmitted on the ham bands. That something is required to ID.

Mikerowaved wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:26 pm

level43 wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:56 pm

Mikerowaved wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:44 am

Probably not the best idea as you won't be able to ID every 10 minutes per FCC rules.

FCC rules do not require ID every 10 minutes or even a license to receive ham radio transmissions or FM broadcasts on any radio or transceiver. Only transmissions require a license and ID/10m (including automatic transmitters such as repeaters). Anyone can buy and listen to a ham radio without a license.

Of course, but I'm not talking about the receiver. When you post: "...make sure the ham frequency is unused..." it implies something is being transmitted on the ham bands. That something is required to ID.

Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand your assumption. Correct, I was referring to "something being transmitted" on a frequency but only in the context of receiving that transmission. The Baofeng radio has an annoying feature whereby FM Broadcast listening is interrupted every time a transmission is received on the ham frequency set before switching to FM Broadcast band. It would be similar to a scanner with a priority channel feature, but with the scanner, that feature can be turned off. It would also include 2 ham frequencies if dual monitoring before the switchover. The worst case: if I select the 2 most busy ham repeater frequencies in dual monitor mode before switching to FM Broadcast, my FM Broadcast listening will be interrupted frequently because the radio will treat those preset ham frequencies as priority channels, automatically switching over to listen and back to FM Broadcast. Even quiet repeaters would interrupt with periodic ID. The best case to to set the radio on a quiet simplex frequency in single monitor mode with no ham traffic or any RFI. That was a cheap way to do it with ham radio. There are other more expensive ham radios like Yaesu VX2/VX3 or a portable scanner with 72.1 MHz FM wide that could work better without that annoying feature.

level43 wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:22 pmThat was a cheap way to do it with ham radio. There are other more expensive ham radios like Yaesu VX2/VX3 or a portable scanner with 72.1 MHz FM wide that could work better without that annoying feature.

Ahhh, now I understand what you were referring to. Not having owned a Baofeng, I wasn't aware of that annoyance. Having looked at MANY ham radios on my HP analyzer, I can say with certainty that most don't have a very flat audio response (allowing for deemphasis).

other possibilities include the old Comtek receivers that power-on with just plugging the audio cable in (no load needed), or a cheap language translation radio from a convention.

level43 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:28 pm other possibilities include the old Comtek receivers that power-on with just plugging the audio cable in (no load needed),

It may depand on the model, but some need to see less than 100 ohms to turn on. See
Using a Comtek for sound when broadcasting Sacrament

There's also some discussion in Where to get personal ALS equipment

russellhltn wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:22 pm

level43 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:28 pm other possibilities include the old Comtek receivers that power-on with just plugging the audio cable in (no load needed),

It may depand on the model, but some need to see less than 100 ohms to turn on. See
Using a Comtek for sound when broadcasting Sacrament

There's also some discussion in Where to get personal ALS equipment

The tan coloured 9V single frequency units - model PR72b (I have 2) just requires an audio cable plug-in. There's quite a few on ebay for cheap. The 2xAA frequency scanning units need earbuds connected (with a Y cable if necessary for recording) to power-on.

But if you can lay your hands on a Listen Technologies unit, they're programmable about the earpiece and have DSP that really knocks the hiss out of the signal. I haven't listed to see what the music sounds like. But they're nice little units.

They should be transmitting digitally but I don't know if anything is available or not for this application. Seems like it should be. So much old technology.

level43 wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:02 pm They should be transmitting digitally

Huh?

Not sure what "huh?" means but if you were not aware, analog radio transmissions such as this are slowly being phased out of existence and being replaced with narrow band digital formats such as DMR, P25, NXDN, ATSC-DTV, etc. Public service, BYU, ham radio, Broadcast TV, sattelite radio, etc. have switched over. These Comtek systems are bandwidth hogs.
It was previously mentioned that a receiver with DSP was useful in filtering out noise for this application and I just added that digital transmissions would further enhance the experience or even reduce the need for DSP.

level43 wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 9:46 am I just added that digital transmissions would further enhance the experience or even reduce the need for DSP.

Ok, so you were talking about a future direction rather than what's happening now.

The main drive for going digital has been to find space for cell phones. The latest causality being C-band satellite making way for 5G. However, I don't think there's much interest in 72 MHz.