Attn: Blowdog : Motorola Radios
28 March 2001, 09:14 PM
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Anyone know where to get these units cheap ? Was supposed to get some for last years RAC, but forgot, ended up using mobiles for inter-convoy voice 
Really should get around to getting some.
Cheers
Ian
Really should get around to getting some.
Cheers
Ian
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29 March 2001, 07:28 AM
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BTW chaps - you can use any PMR 446 radio. This is a short range European standard which any radio that is PMR 446 will talk to any other (as long as you are on the same channel/sub-channel).
I've got a Kenwood on my bike plugged into my Autocom intercom stuff and have two Motorola TA-200's (the slightly bigger but cheaper models) as well. Other popular models are the Motorola Handie Pro, ICOM and there are a bunch of cheapie types coming onto the market as well. Tandy do quite a selection, as do Maplin.
Matt
I've got a Kenwood on my bike plugged into my Autocom intercom stuff and have two Motorola TA-200's (the slightly bigger but cheaper models) as well. Other popular models are the Motorola Handie Pro, ICOM and there are a bunch of cheapie types coming onto the market as well. Tandy do quite a selection, as do Maplin.
Matt
29 March 2001, 03:40 PM
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Matt
Here is a snip from a radio web site. Not sure if it is true or not.
As you say they are all compatible at the end of the day.
Rich.
Ps. Also for all you ever need to know...
Here is a snip from a radio web site. Not sure if it is true or not.
As you say they are all compatible at the end of the day.
Rich.
Ps. Also for all you ever need to know...
30 March 2001, 06:08 PM
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For those up North, try the CB Shack (http://www.cb-shack.com/page5.html), just off M6 junction 20. I've got a Cobra PMR300 - excellent bit of kit!
See also
See also
01 April 2001, 07:35 PM
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Rich,
I *think* that's a load of rubbish!!!!
I have a Kenwood, I have friends with ICOM, Motorola Handie Pro, Motorola TA200's and they all work together fine and none of them sound much different from any other. We use them on the 'bikes when we all go out for a blast together and they all sound fine.
We even use them for bike to car as well with no probs...
Ta,
Matt.
I *think* that's a load of rubbish!!!!
I have a Kenwood, I have friends with ICOM, Motorola Handie Pro, Motorola TA200's and they all work together fine and none of them sound much different from any other. We use them on the 'bikes when we all go out for a blast together and they all sound fine.
We even use them for bike to car as well with no probs...
Ta,
Matt.
02 April 2001, 02:32 PM
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Sorry to ask a dumb question, but I'm interested in how you guys use the radios when out on bikes?
Other than the radios, what other kit do you need? Have you got special crash helmets with earpieces and microphones in?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Cheers,
Christian
Other than the radios, what other kit do you need? Have you got special crash helmets with earpieces and microphones in?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Cheers,
Christian
02 April 2001, 02:57 PM
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Christian,
We don't use em on bikes (or at least, I don't) They are primarily for use in cars.
I DO know that you can buy hands free/helmet ear piece kits for bike usage although I cannot comment from experience.
Cem
We don't use em on bikes (or at least, I don't) They are primarily for use in cars.
I DO know that you can buy hands free/helmet ear piece kits for bike usage although I cannot comment from experience.
Cem
02 April 2001, 03:13 PM
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OK, maybe I got my wires crossed. I inferred from Mutant_Matt's post that they were used on bikes too.
I don't actually ride a bike, but I was curious how you could use these radios inside a crash helmet - mostly for comms back to pits when karting or during track days...
I don't actually ride a bike, but I was curious how you could use these radios inside a crash helmet - mostly for comms back to pits when karting or during track days...
02 April 2001, 03:38 PM
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Christian - that's right - we (as in my friends and I (not Scoobynetters and I)) <B>do</B> use these same radio's on the bikes that BD and others use here. What you need is a quality intercom system which is not cheap - but then the job it does is pretty special!! (Have tried the cheap ones on a bike and they suck!! )
We all have Autocom intercoms of varying models. What you do is you buy a PMR 446 radio (take your pick as discussed above) and connect that to your Intercom. You plug the intercom into the Bike power and you mount (permanently) the Autocom stereo headset (slim speakers) and microphone (on a boom) into your lid. There are loads of options like Push To Talk buttons (I use VOX which is basically you speak and it works out you are speaking and auto-transmits), mobile phone interface (so you can receive calls whilst riding), stereo music input (so you can listen to the radio/cd/minidisc/MP3 player), pillion connection (so you can talk with your pillion) and there are more options that I have forgotten.
The *real* clever bit is that it's got noise cancellation so that when you are hacking it along your fav country road, you can talk to your riding buddies without loads of road and wind noise. The unit I've got is guaranteed to work properly up to 160mph and I may or may not be able to confirm that this or is not the case ...
I've also used it with M8's in cars and they have told me that they can't tell the difference between me transmitting whilst stationary with the engine switched off and me doing 100mph (on the track of course... ).
It's great for keeping a bunch of you together when you get spread out on a run and is great for chatting about what's going on (e.g. I just did that Cossie good round that bend, watch out for that horse crap on the apex of the next bend.....)
Back to your query, this would be great for Karting comms between Kart & Pit or Track days as the small location of the track would guarantee good signal quality.... The cost for just this use though (unless you're minted) is a bit high. Having said that, next time we do endurance Karting, I'll have to try my little TA-200 with mic and earpiece (just like the mobile phone personal hands-free jobbies) as this will probably do the job OK.
Anybody want to know about Bike comms, I've been through the learning pain and now know a fair bit about it....
Bike comms are cool and make riding with a bunch of bikes so much more fun
Matt
)We all have Autocom intercoms of varying models. What you do is you buy a PMR 446 radio (take your pick as discussed above) and connect that to your Intercom. You plug the intercom into the Bike power and you mount (permanently) the Autocom stereo headset (slim speakers) and microphone (on a boom) into your lid. There are loads of options like Push To Talk buttons (I use VOX which is basically you speak and it works out you are speaking and auto-transmits), mobile phone interface (so you can receive calls whilst riding), stereo music input (so you can listen to the radio/cd/minidisc/MP3 player), pillion connection (so you can talk with your pillion) and there are more options that I have forgotten.
The *real* clever bit is that it's got noise cancellation so that when you are hacking it along your fav country road, you can talk to your riding buddies without loads of road and wind noise. The unit I've got is guaranteed to work properly up to 160mph and I may or may not be able to confirm that this or is not the case ...
I've also used it with M8's in cars and they have told me that they can't tell the difference between me transmitting whilst stationary with the engine switched off and me doing 100mph (on the track of course... ).It's great for keeping a bunch of you together when you get spread out on a run and is great for chatting about what's going on (e.g. I just did that Cossie good round that bend, watch out for that horse crap on the apex of the next bend.....)
Back to your query, this would be great for Karting comms between Kart & Pit or Track days as the small location of the track would guarantee good signal quality.... The cost for just this use though (unless you're minted) is a bit high. Having said that, next time we do endurance Karting, I'll have to try my little TA-200 with mic and earpiece (just like the mobile phone personal hands-free jobbies) as this will probably do the job OK.
Anybody want to know about Bike comms, I've been through the learning pain and now know a fair bit about it....
Bike comms are cool and make riding with a bunch of bikes so much more fun
Matt
02 April 2001, 04:18 PM
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Thanks for the reply Matt. It sounds a very cool way to communicate when out on a blast! The whole thought process was for kart endurance racing principally - handy for stuff like instructing the driver to do another lap when the fuel bay is full...
As for being minted, unfortunately not! I was thinking that at the end of the day 2-stroke karts aren't that noisy and at best we would be only doing 85mph, so the kit wouldn't have to be top notch.
I was hoping that it would be a reasonably cheap exercise between 3 of us to get a couple of radios for under £100 each and then some speakers and microphone (preferrably VOX as we do an 'arrive and drive' series, so mounting push to talk might be tricky) set for the crash helmets.
I guess the helmet stuff is the expensive bit? I've seen complete sets (including radios) going for £500, which I thought was a bit much!!
Anyway, I'd be interested in how you get on if you do use your radios when you go karting.
Cheers,
Christian
As for being minted, unfortunately not! I was thinking that at the end of the day 2-stroke karts aren't that noisy and at best we would be only doing 85mph, so the kit wouldn't have to be top notch.
I was hoping that it would be a reasonably cheap exercise between 3 of us to get a couple of radios for under £100 each and then some speakers and microphone (preferrably VOX as we do an 'arrive and drive' series, so mounting push to talk might be tricky) set for the crash helmets.
I guess the helmet stuff is the expensive bit? I've seen complete sets (including radios) going for £500, which I thought was a bit much!!
Anyway, I'd be interested in how you get on if you do use your radios when you go karting.
Cheers,
Christian
04 April 2001, 09:30 AM
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Christian_Driver:
<B>I was thinking that at the end of the day 2-stroke karts aren't that noisy and at best we would be only doing 85mph, so the kit wouldn't have to be top notch.[/quote]
You'd be surprised how much wind and engine noise there is at 85 (So you are talking about "proper" Karts then....) You could try using a radio with a personal hands free type VOX device (I've got an in-the-ear one for £7.99 from Maplin for use with a Motorla TA-200).
You may find the driver's radio will be transmitting all the time due to the noise level. If that is a problem then you could try taping up the mic so that the driver can only listen to you transmitting from the pits. The advantage of this is that you don't need to mount anything in the lid so you don't even need your own lid - you can use the ones supplied by them....
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>I was hoping that it would be a reasonably cheap exercise between 3 of us to get a couple of radios for under £100 each and then some speakers and microphone (preferably VOX as we do an 'arrive and drive' series, so mounting push to talk might be tricky) set for the crash helmets.[/quote]
See above....
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>I guess the helmet stuff is the expensive bit? I've seen complete sets (including radios) going for £500, which I thought was a bit much!![/quote]
It is expensive but if you use it regularly, well worth it. Cost break down is something like this:
Autocom Intercom including all leads and stereo headset and mic - £300
Decent Bike Powered Radio - £200
Of course, if you want to speak to your pillion then it's another £50 for another headset/mic combo and £10 for the lead - if you want Push To Talk/VOX switchable, that's about £15 for that lead and PTT button - if you want to connect your mobile to the intercom then that's about £10 for that lead....the list goes on and on.....
Matt
<B>I was thinking that at the end of the day 2-stroke karts aren't that noisy and at best we would be only doing 85mph, so the kit wouldn't have to be top notch.[/quote]
You'd be surprised how much wind and engine noise there is at 85 (So you are talking about "proper" Karts then....) You could try using a radio with a personal hands free type VOX device (I've got an in-the-ear one for £7.99 from Maplin for use with a Motorla TA-200).
You may find the driver's radio will be transmitting all the time due to the noise level. If that is a problem then you could try taping up the mic so that the driver can only listen to you transmitting from the pits. The advantage of this is that you don't need to mount anything in the lid so you don't even need your own lid - you can use the ones supplied by them....
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>I was hoping that it would be a reasonably cheap exercise between 3 of us to get a couple of radios for under £100 each and then some speakers and microphone (preferably VOX as we do an 'arrive and drive' series, so mounting push to talk might be tricky) set for the crash helmets.[/quote]
See above....
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>I guess the helmet stuff is the expensive bit? I've seen complete sets (including radios) going for £500, which I thought was a bit much!![/quote]
It is expensive but if you use it regularly, well worth it. Cost break down is something like this:
Autocom Intercom including all leads and stereo headset and mic - £300
Decent Bike Powered Radio - £200
Of course, if you want to speak to your pillion then it's another £50 for another headset/mic combo and £10 for the lead - if you want Push To Talk/VOX switchable, that's about £15 for that lead and PTT button - if you want to connect your mobile to the intercom then that's about £10 for that lead....the list goes on and on.....
Matt
04 April 2001, 10:11 AM
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Thanks again Matt. It is certainly tempting to try the in the ear setup, although I would prefer for the driver to communicate with the pits too.
We all have our own lids, so having the proper mikes and speakers inside the helmet wouldn't be a problem (other than £££). Not sure about the power source to run all this though - it would have to be all battery powered as we don't have our own kart, so couldn't wire it up beforehand...
Proper karts is about right though! We've just started racing with Club 100 who do arrive-and-drive series for the direct drive (no clutch) 2-strokes, which are like rocket ships in comparison to the lawnmower outfits that you normally get. The Club 100 website states they have the same power to weight as a F3 car, so they are fairly quick (5mph to 60mph in "under 4 secs")...
Great fun, can't wait for the next race!
Cheers,
Christian
We all have our own lids, so having the proper mikes and speakers inside the helmet wouldn't be a problem (other than £££). Not sure about the power source to run all this though - it would have to be all battery powered as we don't have our own kart, so couldn't wire it up beforehand...
Proper karts is about right though! We've just started racing with Club 100 who do arrive-and-drive series for the direct drive (no clutch) 2-strokes, which are like rocket ships in comparison to the lawnmower outfits that you normally get. The Club 100 website states they have the same power to weight as a F3 car, so they are fairly quick (5mph to 60mph in "under 4 secs")...
Great fun, can't wait for the next race!
Cheers,
Christian
04 April 2001, 02:13 PM
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Christian_Driver:
<B>We all have our own lids, so having the proper mikes and speakers inside the helmet wouldn't be a problem (other than £££). Not sure about the power source to run all this though - it would have to be all battery powered as we don't have our own kart, so couldn't wire it up beforehand...[/quote]
The headsets and in-the-ear type headsets are powered by the Radio which is usually powered by batteries so that wouldn't be a problem.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>Proper karts is about right though! We've just started racing with Club 100 who do arrive-and-drive series for the direct drive (no clutch) 2-strokes, which are like rocket ships in comparison to the lawnmower outfits that you normally get. The Club 100 website states they have the same power to weight as a F3 car, so they are fairly quick (5mph to 60mph in "under 4 secs")...[/quote]
Can you give me details of this website - I'm interested in giving that a go...
Ta,
Matt.
<B>We all have our own lids, so having the proper mikes and speakers inside the helmet wouldn't be a problem (other than £££). Not sure about the power source to run all this though - it would have to be all battery powered as we don't have our own kart, so couldn't wire it up beforehand...[/quote]
The headsets and in-the-ear type headsets are powered by the Radio which is usually powered by batteries so that wouldn't be a problem.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>Proper karts is about right though! We've just started racing with Club 100 who do arrive-and-drive series for the direct drive (no clutch) 2-strokes, which are like rocket ships in comparison to the lawnmower outfits that you normally get. The Club 100 website states they have the same power to weight as a F3 car, so they are fairly quick (5mph to 60mph in "under 4 secs")...[/quote]
Can you give me details of this website - I'm interested in giving that a go...
Ta,
Matt.
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