Using Hand Held Radio For Bike Communications

[slo-ride]

So I've got several of those Audiovox/Radio Shack/Cobra type walkie-talkies that my family uses in and around the mall and shopping areas. They work great and they all have a voice activated control along with connections for microphone and earbuds. I got to thinking - why can't we use the VOX and ear buds for passenger/passenger communication with the walkie-talkies in our pockets? Has anyone done this? It's not a Starcom1 one or anything but hey, it's $50.00 for a pair versus $450.00 for the Starcom1.

 

[Patriot]

best to silicone glue cans to da helmets and run string between them :blink:

only cost a $1 or so

 

[MartyA]

So I've got several of those Audiovox/Radio Shack/Cobra type walkie-talkies that my family uses in and around the mall and shopping areas. They work great and they all have a voice activated control along with connections for microphone and earbuds. I got to thinking - why can't we use the VOX and ear buds for passenger/passenger communication with the walkie-talkies in our pockets? Has anyone done this? It's not a Starcom1 one or anything but hey, it's $50.00 for a pair versus $450.00 for the Starcom1.

I think that would work. However if you both wear ear plugs you will have to adapt the ear piece of the radio to seal better. Typically the are designed for staying in your ear when walking around not high speed motorcycling or snugged in by a tight fitting helmet.

I have not tried using 2 radios with Sally on back. I took a trip with a friend once who had an old set so we tried using them bike to bike. After one hour my right ear was in agony from the wind noise getting around the the ear piece and the ear piece being pushed by my helmet into my ear. I gave up and gave back the radio and put an ear plug in.

The VOX *might* be affected by wind noise. Again they are designed for walking around not noisy motorcycling.

I have Cobras and Midlands, and using one with the Starcom works fine for bike to bike.

 

[gski02]

So I've got several of those Audiovox/Radio Shack/Cobra type walkie-talkies that my family uses in and around the mall and shopping areas. They work great and they all have a voice activated control along with connections for microphone and earbuds. I got to thinking - why can't we use the VOX and ear buds for passenger/passenger communication with the walkie-talkies in our pockets? Has anyone done this? It's not a Starcom1 one or anything but hey, it's $50.00 for a pair versus $450.00 for the Starcom1.

I think that would work. However if you both wear ear plugs you will have to adapt the ear piece of the radio to seal better. Typically the are designed for staying in your ear when walking around not high speed motorcycling or snugged in by a tight fitting helmet.

I have not tried using 2 radios with Sally on back. I took a trip with a friend once who had an old set so we tried using them bike to bike. After one hour my right ear was in agony from the wind noise getting around the the ear piece and the ear piece being pushed by my helmet into my ear. I gave up and gave back the radio and put an ear plug in.

The VOX *might* be affected by wind noise. Again they are designed for walking around not noisy motorcycling.

I have Cobras and Midlands, and using one with the Starcom works fine for bike to bike.

My 3 cents - I'm on my second - IMC mit 30 unit. The first one I got took me forever to install, as in just never got around to install install it. Loved it initially, vox, music, helmet speakers $150. Yes you are wired, but it worked great. Until I kept plugging and unplugging the friggin min-din connectors and they feel apart, internally.

Got my replacement the other day. They fixed that problem, usb connectors! Yeah! Works great! Price is right. Music, Vox, wind doesn't bother, I can talk to my rider and the music will automatically cut in or out. I'm happy! :yahoo: It's an alternative....no batteries either!

 

[Neil San Diego]

I'm not positive, but I think you will be too close with the walkie talkies if you are trying to use them to talk with your pillion. IIRC, the units need to be seperated by several feet to work correctly.

 

[ionbeam]

I'm not positive, but I think you will be too close with the walkie talkies if you are trying to use them to talk with your pillion. IIRC, the units need to be seperated by several feet to work correctly.

Depends on the model. I was using Motorola Talkabouts at one point and found that three of the four radios worked together just fine at close range, but one radio couldn't handle the signal strength when too close together. The non-motorcycle radios were coupled with motorcycle specific headsets & microphones. The mid priced headsets & mic's were adequate for ease of use and function. The radios were inadequate for handling the motorcycle's noise and wind noise in the VOX mode. There are wires that run from the helmets down to the radios which had to be dealt with every time he helmets came off. By the time we added yet more wires for PTT buttons we might as well have used a motorcycle mounted com system. Finally my wife said niet to all the wires. The radios did work adequately for bike to bike communications as long as we used PTT buttons. Perhaps a better quality FRS radio would have performed VOX and noise management better.

We have been successfully using Scala Q2s for some time and they have been fine for our limited needs. The Q2s are very good mono devices for personal communications but may be limited in range for bike to bike use. The built in FM receiver is only just barely adequate for FM radio, but when the Q2s are FM coupled to the MP3 player in my Garmin the sound is acceptable. We have been on a number of >14 hr rides and they have never run out of battery. The only real issue that I have is FM coupling the Q2 to the GPS. Here in the New England area it is hard to find a really open FM channel to use for coupling to the GPS.

 

[MotownJJG]

My son and I used ham radio walkie-talkies on a VHF simplex frequency and communicated pretty well between bikes as we rode down to Salinas a few years ago. We used the booom-mike/earpiece that had a switch we clipped to our jackets. Sorta screwball but worked OK as we rode. Sure was cheaper than a dedicated motorcycle unit...

 

[slo-ride]

My son and I used ham radio walkie-talkies on a VHF simplex frequency and communicated pretty well between bikes as we rode down to Salinas a few years ago. We used the booom-mike/earpiece that had a switch we clipped to our jackets. Sorta screwball but worked OK as we rode. Sure was cheaper than a dedicated motorcycle unit...

Are you a Ham?

 

[slo-ride]

Just when I thought all hope was lost, an amateur radio friend showed me this website https://www.bikeintercom.com/ . Has anyone ever used their products for rider-to-rider or bike-to-bike communications. Apparently, it uses hand held radios and VOX microphones.

 

[gski02]

Just when I thought all hope was lost, an amateur radio friend showed me this website https://www.bikeintercom.com/ . Has anyone ever used their products for rider-to-rider or bike-to-bike communications. Apparently, it uses hand held radios and VOX microphones.

If you don't mind wired and you want to keep cost down then I like the IMC intercoms.

Vox rider to rider, music, cell option. Music is decent, vox works well, cuts music down and then out if you continue talking then fades it back in.

https://www.sierra-mc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=IMC-MIT-30

 

[2006FJR]

Go check out Motocomm and you can get 2 systems for about $100 and use your current radios. I used this for the last 2 years until I upgraded to the Autocom this last week. If was about $700 with everything but I am glad I jumped in head first. The Motocomm worked well but not over 75 with all of the wind noise.

 

[2006FJR]

Just when I thought all hope was lost, an amateur radio friend showed me this website https://www.bikeintercom.com/ . Has anyone ever used their products for rider-to-rider or bike-to-bike communications. Apparently, it uses hand held radios and VOX microphones.

These are EXACTLY the same at the Motocomm I used this last year and I met these guys at the Long Beach show his year. These are the best deal for the money but don't expect too much. They will work and they are fun to use on a ride.

 

[slo-ride]

Well, I jumped in head first and bought a Scala Rider Q2 bluetooth. Budget be darned! <_< I rode in with it this morning and placed and received a couple of cell calls. It works as advertised but I've not tried the rider-to-rider function yet. Stay tuned.

 

[2006FJR]

Well, I jumped in head first and bought a Scala Rider Q2 bluetooth. Budget be darned! <_< I rode in with it this morning and placed and received a couple of cell calls. It works as advertised but I've not tried the rider-to-rider function yet. Stay tuned.

If you have gone this far over your budget what is a little more. Get an Autocom.