DIY Baofeng Radio Dual PTT for 3.5mm Headsets

After buying a pair of UV-82 Baofeng radios for communicating, I found myself in need of a good headset. While there are cheap alternatives to what I'm going to build, I liked the aesthetics of professional comms in video games (like Escape from Tarkov). The only thing I build is the circuit for the Push-To-Talk, which are rather expensive to buy, especially dual ptts, compared to the radio. You can use whatever headset/headphones you like with a standard 3.5mm audio jack with TRRS configuration.

There aren't any complicated chips/components involved:

• 2.5mm TRS (tip ring sleeve) audio jack - you can cannibalize it from old headphones or get them from AliExpress
• 3.5mm TRS audio jack - much more common
• 1 meter of old Ethernet Cable - I used an old UTP Cat5E cable
• Perf board/ copper board - I used perf board since it's faster to prototype with. Next version is going to include a copper board circuit
• 10K potentiometer - used for volume. I wanted to have audio controls on the PTT, since my headset doesn't have one built-in
• 2 SPT buttons for the voice channels
• 3.5mm TRRS (tip ring ring sleeve) mother connector - this is going to be the socket in which your headset will be plugged in
• Materials for the case of the PTT as well as the kenwood connector - I used a 3D printer

I scoured the internet for the wiring of the 2 audio jacks which comprise the kenwood connector, and I found this site on stack exchange. I wired about 40cm of ethernet cable to the 2 connectors and I made a quick case for the Kenwood connector. Mind that this model MUST be inversed in Cura or other 3d printing software for G-Code generation.

I designed this diagram on Easy EDA, it uses the simple color coded wires found in the UTP cable. The output audio jack MUST be TRRS with a configuration of Left Channel/Right Channel/ Ground/ Microphone. The difference between TRS and TRRS is that TRRS has a microphone channel. After inserting any connector into the radio, the internal microphone/speaker will be disabled, so it's important having both of these enabled on the output. Beware of different wirings on some headsets. Some may have the TRRS configuration, but they switched Ground with Microphone or something else. This is the difference between a TRS and TRRS. TRRS has 4 poles, while TRS has 3.

The case is made from 3d-printed parts. I will not include case parts, since they are very badly designed, my 3d printer fails in printing complex designs. I screwed the potentiometer and audio TRRS connector to the case to add some stability. Also, I printed covers for the SPT buttons to reach out of the case.

In this step you can include any kind of headset including a microphone (in that specific TRRS form). I used my gaming headset for this.