BMW (J&M) compatible with Midland FRS/GMRS?

[fitsman]

I have the BMW (J&M) headsets with the PPT button I got from my dealer. I have it attached to a brand new Midland GXT600 unit. Of course the Midland has the mic and speaker backwards from J&M (3/8" and 1/4" swapped - The rest of the world uses 1/4" for headphones except BMW) but a couple of converters solved that.

I receive signals in the speakers in the helmet, but the PPT and mic do not work with the Midland. Is my PPT button not working? ARe the compatable? I put in the cheapo headset and mic that came with the midland and it works just fine. I see the TX light come on when I push the button on those. But nothing when I hook up the BMW PPT button.

Anyone ever try to integrate these two brands? Am I stuck going with a kenwood to get this to work?

[bruce2000ltc]

What intercom do you have?

Bruce Hodges

[fitsman]

What intercom do you have?

Bruce Hodges

I do not have any intercom. I bought this specifically for bike to bike (frs/gmrs). The BMW dealer did not say I need the intercom unit. I have the headsets hooked directly up to the midland radio.

[bruce2000ltc]

OK, I see what you're doing.
What/how is your BMW PTT switch connected to the Midland radio? Sounds like the PTT is not hooked up correctly. I'm pretty sure the Midlands short the + side of the mike to the common (-) to activate transmit. I'll have to check though. Hang in there, we should be able to figure this out.

Bruce Hodges

[fitsman]

OK, I see what you're doing.
What/how is your BMW PTT switch connected to the Midland radio? Sounds like the PTT is not hooked up correctly. I'm pretty sure the Midlands short the + side of the mike to the common (-) to activate transmit. I'll have to check though. Hang in there, we should be able to figure this out.

Bruce Hodges

Its all BMW cables. There is a pigtail like cable that plugs into the helmet on one side, has the 1/8" and 3/8" plugs that come out the other side as well as the plug that the PPT button goes into. Everything can only go one way, but that does not mean midland is looking for something else like you said. Thanks for looking at this for me.

[kellenbenz]

Not sure if this will help or not....buttt... BMW has generally worked best with Kenwood FRS radios. They made a connector for motorola also, but it didn't work as well for me. I tried wiring a midland also and came up with the same results as you. I do know that it is completely different from the Kenwood or the Motorola radios.

Mine is a 2003 LTE with the J&M built CommSystem in it, but I just bet that the factory harness you got from the dealer is for either a Kenwood or Motorola radio. You are probably using the same PTT button that I am. Mounted under the clutch reservoir.



HTH

Ron

[bruce2000ltc]

Try setting your Midland to VOX mode and then push the BMW PTT and speak into the mike and see if it transmits.

Bruce Hodges

[fitsman]

Try setting your Midland to VOX mode and then push the BMW PTT and speak into the mike and see if it transmits.

Bruce Hodges


Tried that, no go.

[fitsman]

Ok, did some checking. Checked the PPT button that came on the cheapo headset and mic that came with the Midland. I Ohm'd out the 3/32" plug and when I push the button the circuit does close (on the tip), like it should. On the BMW unit while doing the same with the 1/8" plug (both the tip and lower band) when I push the button the circuit is open, never closes..which is why it does not work.

Can someone else with the BMW FreeTalk Harness (the 6 pin version that plugs into the BMW Headset) verify that mine is messed up. Like I said in my first post, the 3/32" plug is wired to the speakers in the headset, but the radio's output is 1/8" (like everything else in the world). I cannot verify that the mic is even wired right to the 1/8" plug as it does not ohm out correctly. I think My wiring harness was made wrong at the factory. Can anyone else out there verify this for me?

[Bob]

Look at the PDF I have attached.
the push to talk button should go inline with the Mic ground.
tell me if this helps!

[Bob]

Can someone else with the BMW FreeTalk Harness (the 6 pin version that plugs into the BMW Headset) verify that mine is messed up. Like I said in my first post, the 3/32" plug is wired to the speakers in the headset, but the radio's output is 1/8" (like everything else in the world). I cannot verify that the mic is even wired right to the 1/8" plug as it does not ohm out correctly. I think My wiring harness was made wrong at the factory. Can anyone else out there verify this for me?
Does this help?
See the PDF.

[fitsman]

Does this help?
See the PDF.

Very interesting...if you look at the Kenwood, it is BACKWARDS from the rest of the world. The 1/8" does go to the mic and the 3/32" goes to the speaker. Also, if you look the speaker connections are exactly the same, which explains why when I swapped the connectors, it worked. But the mic wiring is different so swapping would not work, and did not. I have to have my EE friend take a look at this and see what we can come up with. I may have to sell the midlands and get a kenwood. I have all the parts to make up a custom pigtail connector and now with these diagrams all I need to do is map these pinouts to the 6 pin connector to from J&M.

Does anyone have the wiring diagram for a 6 pin connector from J&M?

Does anyone have a kenwood in CT I could swing by and test? I just want to make sure that would work before I buy yet another part.

Thanks Brian