Autocom - bike to bike conversing while hearing GPS & Radar Alerts

[Iris]

Does anyone have a bike to bike set up (using Autocom) and are you able to hear the GPS and Radar alerts and still able to communicate to the rider on the other bike?

Jim and I are having an issue with this. The Radar and or the GPS goes off and it cuts off our microphones. It's frustrating because we can't warn each other of upcoming directions or bogies.

We currently have Autocom Pro Sport 7 and a bunch of little accessory boxes(from Autocom) that plug into the main unit.

Does a newer version of Autocom alleviate this problem?

 

[TomInPA]

Does anyone have a bike to bike set up (using Autocom) and are you able to hear the GPS and Radar alerts and still able to communicate to the rider on the other bike?

Jim and I are having an issue with this. The Radar and or the GPS goes off and it cuts off our microphones. It's frustrating because we can't warn each other of upcoming directions or bogies.

We currently have Autocom Pro Sport 7 and a bunch of little accessory boxes(from Autocom) that plug into the main unit.

Does a newer version of Autocom alleviate this problem?

I use the Autocom Pro Avi unit, and the auto-mute function did cause the bike to bike conversation to be muted under some circumstances. The solution for me was to remove the resister 221 on the motherboard that caused the system to auto mute. The solution was developed by Keith of Tulsa Truck, and posted on the ST1300 forum. This was kinda like micro-surgury, and I used a very good magnifier in order to be able to see the connections I was working on. The removed resister is about the size of a flea, but the system has worked flawlessly since.

Note, this solution is only documented for the Pro AVI and Active Plus, I don't know about the Pro Sport 7. The Autocom Super Pro Automatic does not suffer this issue, but it ain't cheap. I really like the Autocom, and almost gave up on it due to these issues. I now enjoy bike to bike (Kenwood TK3101), GPS/Phone/XM, MP3 and Radar, and every thing works flawlessly, except the music and GPS no longer auto-mutes on bike to bike, but it does prioritize for RD and phone.

The images on the ST1300 forum are member only, so here you go:

Autocom ProAVI Detail

Autocom Pro AVI Schematic

Autocom Active Plus

 

[Fred W]

Hi Iris,

I have a Starcom1 (not Autocom) but it does the same exact same thing. Any time the RD came on it would mute everything else, including phone audio if I was engaged in a call through the zumo gps!

My fix was to buy a stereo audio Y cable (get them at Radio Shack for a few bucks) and plug the male end into my Starcom1 audio port (where the GPS was) as that has the lowest priority for muting. The zumo audio goes into one female side of the Y cable and and the RD audio goes into the other. On a Starcom the RD audio cable is an isolated cable with a mono connector on the RD end and a stereo mini-connector on the other.

What ends up happening is that the audio never gets muted when the RD goes off, but you only hear the RD in one ear.

Not positive it will work on the Autocom, but it is worth a try.

 

[Iris]

Very helpful. I guess I'll take a peek inside the unit and see if it's the same (or similar) to the photos or diagram. I would really like to get this issue resolved because it's quite a nuisance.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bluestreek]

I have an older unit and this has not been a problem.

 

[TomInPA]

I have an older unit and this has not been a problem.

Does your unit automatically mute lower priority inputs, and do you have devices on those? This is a well known problem on the Pro AVI and some others. Hopefully there is a workaround for the OP on this. It can be maddening to know you're missing a bike to bike transmission because of the auto mute.

 

[Bluestreek]

I have an older unit and this has not been a problem.

Does your unit automatically mute lower priority inputs, and do you have devices on those? This is a well known problem on the Pro AVI and some others. Hopefully there is a workaround for the OP on this. It can be maddening to know you're missing a bike to bike transmission because of the auto mute.

Yes

I know my mike does not get cut off because I have warned other riders of radar hits and they have warned me.

I use a push to talk button if that matters.

 

[Iris]

It doesn't matter if we use Push-to-talk or voice activated.

If we turn our radar detectors down real low we can talk and hear each other. This is how we've been running it over the past several years. The only problem with that, is that when traveling at higher speeds, the wind noise is so great that it muffles the RD alert. The possibility of missing an alert is too great in that scenario.

We have completely disconnected the GPS audio cable, because when she is (by 'she', I mean the GPS girl) giving directions, the gps blocks all communication between me and my husband.

All I want is the VOX or push to talk to be the priority above all else.

 

[Iris]

I figured it out!!!! I didn't do any operating on the unit and I didn't remove any resisters, etc.

I decided to see what would happen if I took all my leads and ran them into the "music" input (instead of the "aux") and it worked (well sort of).

The music, the gps and the radar all compete with each other now, but at least the microphones (for bike-to-bike) over-ride them all.

The only issue is that if the music is too loud and the gps is not loud enough, then I can't quite make out what the gps is saying. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[TomInPA]

Glad you got it sorted out Iris. That priority 1 aux can be a bit tricky with bike to bike radios. .