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| Digitalize |
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 Digitalize Nearly there...

Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Karma :     
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| Nai |
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 Nai World Chat Champion
Joined: 18 Apr 2010 Karma :  
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| Digitalize |
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 Digitalize Nearly there...

Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Karma :     
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 Posted: 23:20 - 07 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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Bluetooth range is generally about 10 meters.... Its a restriction of the format AFAIK. One of use has a Bluetooth headset, can't remember the brand, sits on the outside of his helmet, lets him speak to pillion if they also have one, and phone. Was about £400 for the pair though  ____________________ 1998 CB600F Hornet |
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 Nai World Chat Champion
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| Teflon-Mike |
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 Teflon-Mike tl;dr

Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :    
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 Posted: 23:37 - 07 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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what you are talking about is PMR, the little walkie talkies like you get given to do CBT, only the 'high-street' veriety that dont quite have the same clarity or range.
And for £50 a hand-set, you WILL struggle.
NOT intended as comment for bike-to-bike, but car to car, green-laning in Land-rovers, THIS on my webby may make interesting reading.
PMR the little 'licence exempt' walkie talkies you get in bubble packs at Aldi for a tenner a pair are pretty crap, and working up the market to the kind of Pro kit thats still licence exempt that MIGHT just have the balls for the job, you are looking at around £100 a hand-set PLUS £50 or so for a decent head-set to make it work in a helmet.
CB Radio, slightly bigger, slightly bulkier, but DEFINITELY more 'beefy' has 16 times the power and WILL get the kind of range you want.
Hand-Held CB sets though start at about £100, and again you'll need head-sets, AND probably PTT switch on the bike handl-bars.
Voice activation isn't common on CB's.
But on either you CAN 'group-talk.
If you want to get seriousely CYBER though, SOME-ONE mentioned to me mobile-Internet, and the possibility of using a web-phone or small web-enabled device like a net-book, fitted with blue-tooth headset and running a Skype type program, essentially so you could get a 'conference call' via mobile phone, but without the charges..... maybe a nerd, but I'm not THAT big a geek, so THAT notion is WELL beyond me!
3x the price you mention though, and NOT legal, but something I have been considering is a 'modded' VOX PMR and head-set.
Expensive, illegal, but ideal, you get CB power, and Range from PMR sized and specced package. And the one I have been toying with, has option of 'open', transmission or 'encrypted', so you can talk to on eperson or selected group with access code, or any-one on the waves.... encryption is ALSO illegal though as far as I know, but there is a loop hole... not that it'll make uch difference on an illegally modded PMR! ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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 Digitalize Nearly there...

Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Karma :     
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| Teflon-Mike |
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 Teflon-Mike tl;dr

Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :    
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 Posted: 00:28 - 08 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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| Digitalize wrote: | Hmmm, hadn't looked into CB that much.
Could be quite fun i guess, would a mounted one be able to fit under a fairly large seat? Is it roughly the size of a Car Radio, or bigger?
Could somehow create an aerial around the bike, wrap it round the front headlight or something.
Article mentioned 1W Motorola PMRs, whats the chance of being caught, or what is required to get a license? |
The 1w Motorolas I had were.... VERY illegal, they operated on the up-link frequency for weather satalites!
You'll struggle to get any into the country unless you can get some-one to smuggle them in from Oz or the like in thier main luggage, and even then, tricky, if it has batteries, comes up on X-ray it WILL be opened.
Ship mail order, has to state on the shipping manifest, if theres no Certificate of Conformity to UK regs, it will be impounded.
Hence 'modded' PMR. he-he.
Works on the same frequency as 'Taxi' radio, which uless you have an operators licence you cant use at that power.... but whats the chances of getting cought? Its a mobile transmitter, on a 'busy' frequency, transmitting at a power WITHIN that permitted for licenced operators..... they would be hard pressed to pick out transmissions from a bunch of bikers talking about traffic snarl ups, from taxi-drivers, wouldn't they? and they'd be even harder pressed to get a triangulation fix on you, AND get a mobile unit out to you......
ALTHOUGH... you do have to be careful, as the air-wave police ARE more likely to monitor that frequency, for unlicenced taxi operators, and hence more likely to HAVE a mobile rig to send out after you.
Your call what you do, if you get a tug and they start searching you and asking awkward questions about a walkie talkie!
Radio I've been looking at, could be modded without any obviouse sign of tampering, and I'd plead ignorance and just say, 'must be broken mate!?" But the penalties CAN be high, If they chose to enforce.....
CB IS the safer bet, and Yes, Yes and probably!
Hand-Held CB sets now aren't MUCH bigger than a PMR, the Maycom unit would fit into the side pocket of my riding jaket, or into the pouch of my tank-bag.
Had the advantage that it has jacks to take a head set.
A 'mobile rig' ie car set, is smaller than a conventional car radio, but normally has the speaker in the set. Some have an out-put jack for an external speaker, though.
YES could be bike mounted, though I doubt youd get one under the seat of many bikes. Could easily go on the pillion squab under a cargo net though, but the main problem would be erecting the antene... are.. oh bugger it! The 'twig'! Arial (probably spelt that like the wshing powder but DILLIGAF!)
Bit of a laugh, but whey back when, I did my rider training with 'Star-Rider', before CBT was invented and we had the two part test.
Star rider were one of the consultants for CBT and they were also exponents of rider to student radio, curtecy of two radio ham, biker cops who instructed with them.
I was one of thier guinee pigs, and remember when they blagged some old police radios to try it out!
Imagine riding a Honda H100 with an old army amo box and a bludy great car battery bungeed on the pillion with a four foot areal stuck outthe top of the ammo-box!
Modern kit..... idea that fits would be to make a small box to bolt under a sports rack, and attach a tab to take an areal mount.
But changing channel and levels would be a bit awkward, especially if you didn't have the hand mike becouse you'd wired for a head-set and PTT switch.
Do-able.... but personally I'd base on a Hand-Held to make it easier. Could still jack-lead to an external bike mounted 'super-twig' to max the range & reception if you wanted; could even cut the fag-lighter plug of the 'battery eliminator' and wior to the bike battery for max power transmission.
Though, stuck in the pocket, running off internal battery, and nothing more than a helmet head-set, would work and should give adequete range. Remember its 16 times more powerful than a PMR, and you can get a 'good' six to ten miles out of CB even without 'line of sight'.
Group riding, mainly with 'line of sight' and only 2-3 miles max range... even with duck-tail areal, SHOUKD work OK, and be perfectly legal.
Its JUST expensive and a tad more cumbersome.
Think youd make more problems than you solved trying to adapt a car mount rig, TBH, and to make it work probably not save any money, on the job.
Car mount rigs start at about £50, but then you need to add an areal, and cabling, and you are looking at £75-£100 realistically BEFORE you adapt it for bike use.... so no great savings.
PMR.... top end, £90+ hand-sets, plus head-sets. same KIND of legue for limited performance, but more user-freindly and more compact.
Mod, they are illegal.... risks up to you...... cost of modding? Well depends on teh hand-set, WHETHER it can be modded, how you mod it, and who mods it......
Do one 'properly' go uprated transistors to get full 4w power, and matched antenea for the frequency to get the most out of it, you MIGHT easily double the original hand-set price...... IF you can even do it, or know some-one who can do it for you! ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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| multijoy |
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 multijoy World Chat Champion

Joined: 03 Oct 2008 Karma :   
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 Posted: 09:01 - 08 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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OFCOM enforce radio licensing, rather than the police. I doubt very much your standard copper would even be aware that there are laws governing radio transmission.
OFCOM'll do you if you're persistently blocking broadcast/avaiation/other dedicated frequencies, or if you're jamming the CB spectrum with some sort of insane spark-gap transmitter. Other than that, it's simply a case of 'don't be a dick' and you'll get away with it.
If you've simply got an overpowered transmitter, it's very unlikely that you'll get a tug, especially if you use it mobile.
However, the issue with using PMR channels requiring an operator licence is that these cost money, and people are paying for the right to use them. If you're blocking up someone's taxi channel with 'yeh blud, innit.' then, if persistent, someone will investigate. I'm not sure what the fines are, mind.
CB & high-power PMR is great, but if all you want to do is chat with the mate you're riding with, any one of the maplin specials will be fine.
The difficulty is at the user end, and that's where you're paying the money- the noise cancelling microphones, channel priority, decent sounding output- this is the pricey bit.
I've got a pair of the scala g4 helmet to use with the missus. Not cheap, but they work well- bluetooth intercom with about ~500m range. It's not a fantastic range, but when it drops out you simply use the mobile phone- voice control is great, the iPhone is fantastic with it (the missus can do all sorts with the ipod part of it) and we're intelligible to around the tonne. Might work better with a quieter helmet!
With this sort of thing, you get what you pay for. The £50 kits with ptt are limited, but will probably do the job for mooching around town. CB & PMR you'd need to use on top of an autocom/starcom unit, I reckon. ____________________ '11 CBF1000A, '99 C90, '98 CB500
silky666: He rode amazingly well considering his bike is the weight of a small van and had slicks on. |
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 Nai World Chat Champion
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| GeneralXcepti... |
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 GeneralXcepti... Nova Slayer

Joined: 03 Sep 2008 Karma :     
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 Posted: 15:02 - 08 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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The Scala Rider G4 system that I use is Bluetooth based and has a range of up to 1 mile.
However, that's if the land is flat and there's nothing between each of the riders - in practice a good few hundred feet in built up areas is about the max that you'd get but certainly more than 10 metres  |
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 Skudd Super Spammer

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 Alexio World Chat Champion

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 Stevie GooGs World Chat Champion

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 Digitalize Nearly there...

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| Teflon-Mike |
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 Teflon-Mike tl;dr

Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :    
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 Posted: 16:42 - 08 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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KNIGHT CB
worth checking out. Helpful bunch and got lots of kit. Theres also Thunderpole and a few others if you ggogle them.
https://www.kcb.co.uk/shop2/contents/media/hm200.jpg
Thats the 'default' headset, they do a boom mike and button mike variant for open/full face lids. £19.95
https://www.kcb.co.uk/shop2/contents/media/ah27_000.jpg
Maycom CB Hand-Held. £89.50
Alternatively, same head-set; and PMR. Plenty of chocce from a pair of Cobra 'Semi-Pro' units for about £70 (pair) up to full pro, Alen handsets at £150 each.
Talking to the snowtigeress about it last night, she reckons on the Maycom CB's for us. She likes the idea of the greater range, and less 'traffic' on the channels, after having a play with CB out green-laningin the Rangie. And having used PMR on bikes before.
Her 'femanine' precis of the idea... "So the CB's cost as much as a PMR, dont need messing with, and work better?"
You cant argue with a woman really, can you?!
Idea of modded PMR's was becouse of 'compatability'.
Having PMR means you can talk to any-one with another PMR.
Having a hi-po one means you can talk to people a long way away from you.... downside is unless they have hi-po PMR too.... you wont be able to hear thier reply! ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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 Digitalize Nearly there...

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 salty21 World Chat Champion

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 iooi Super Spammer

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| waffles |
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 waffles World Chat Champion

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 Posted: 09:24 - 09 Jul 2010 Post subject: |
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Myself and the other half have a set of Starcom BT GO's, clip to the outside of your helmet, bluetooth, range of about 100m when moving over flat open land and goes down to about 60m through hilly hedge-lined roads.
Quality is good but at high speeds you need to talk slowly or repeat yourself. Oh, and you can sync your phone and ipod if they have bluetooth. ____________________ Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125 |
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 16 years, 70 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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