Communication systems

[TravisBickle]

Hi guys

Wanted to pick your brains

I watched Ryan F9's video on the subject here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uevmJCDXlME and decided to invest in a pack of the UK-version of the Motorola walkie talkies he featured on his channel. The exact ones he featured aren't abailable to the UK market, the UK ones are called the T92 H2O and as far as I can tell are basically the same I think but yellow instead of green and work on a different frequency to be complaint with UK laws.

Never got round to using them yet. For the simple reason I don't know what 3.5mm earphone/mic setup to use with it inside the helmet.

Seems to me most 3.5mm earphone/mic products designed for phones etc. would have the mic dangling outside the helmet, and therefore no good for communicating. Ryan didn't mention in his video which 3.5mm product he uses with his walkie talkies.

I've asked around and nearly everyone I speak to uses either Cado or Sena. The walkie talkie option just seemed so much more versatile to me as the range, battery life and ruggedness cannot be beat by any of the other motorcycle-specific solutions out there. Plus can be used for other uses.

I need to find something specific to the purpose but in a world revolved round Bluetooth devices I'm struggling to find something appropriate.

Can anyone give some advice? Anyone else out there use walkie talkies or am I the only one?
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2024 BMW M1000XR
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S
2016 Triumph Tiger 1050 Sport

[MarJay]

I got walkie talkies like that. They are shit.

I have a push to talk handlebar button, an earpiece and microphone for helmet. You want to google PMR446 motorcycle headset to get those parts.

However, don't use them. The push to talk has a delay of around 2 seconds, and the range is line of sight, just about. I used them when my GF was a learner, and since then it's just too much faff, we much prefer hand signals and silence.

I'd much rather have a decent bluetooth intercom setup than use the PMR radios, they are just too much messing with cables and batteries and things for a poor audio quality, a 2 second delay before you can speak and a generally glitchy low range. Life is too short for that kind of hassle.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[MarJay]

Something like this will work:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123138924761
____________________
British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Easy-X]

I was thinking "hang on, we used radios when I was bike training" but they were the higher powered "business" radios; also run on a different frequency.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[TravisBickle]

Well these are allegedly the most professional grade ones you can get on the consumer market.

Ryan F9 recommended them, so...

We use them for Parish Council events as well and they work well around the village with buildings and trees in between.

Maybe you just had a poor set of walkie talkies?

I'll look into that link though, thanks! I'm willing to give them a try at least, especially now I've invested in them.
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2024 BMW M1000XR
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S
2016 Triumph Tiger 1050 Sport

[Ste]

Does this mean your DRZ is back on the road?

[TravisBickle]

Ummm... No!

Going to France on the MT10 next week.
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2024 BMW M1000XR
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S
2016 Triumph Tiger 1050 Sport

[A100man]

[A100man]

[Easy-X]

There's only so much you can get out of the licence-free radios, 500mW to be exact. As a technology it's been done to death so there's only aesthetics and the general execution to differentiate between products. TBF though voice activation might be better on some radios but push-to-talk is all the same.

Business radios can do 2W or more and can also run in VHF as well UHF. If your needs have to be radio rather than mobile phone I still have an installer licence. £75 gets you a 5 year licence from Ofcom.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Ste]

[MarJay]

[MCN]

You need.....

Comms-Pal ®
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[MarJay]

[A100man]

[TravisBickle]

[Easy-X]

A business radio licence entitles you to use a handful of specific frequencies. One would hope that someone at OFCOM is allocating on the basis of not clashing with other licenced businesses in your area but it might be random for all I know

Anyhoo, you would get allocated some frequencies in the VHF band and some in the UHF band, the performance of each band varies with geography. Very easy to test for static sites but for a moving target it's pretty much suck it and see i.e. spend a week pissing about finding out which channels work the best.

An alternative to radio is running something like WhatsApp or Viber via mobile data but I doubt that's a good fit for the target audience
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter