• Welcome to the new B.I.R.D. Forum. Please be sure to read the "New Member / New Registered ? Please Read" thread in the Coffee Shop. This contains some important information. To become a full member ( £5.90 a year ) simply click on your user name near the top on the right I hope you enjoy the new site ................ Jaws ( John )

bike to bike communication

  • Thread starter doughnut
  • Start date
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doughnut

Guest
Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a set of bike to bike communicators...I know that Autocom are meant to be the best...but i am not in the position to part with about 500 quid, however , balenced with that i want a system that works well...or there is no point to it really.

So if someone has any ideas or experiences i would like to hear ....cheers..

P.S the can of beans and string are on stand by..lol

all the best Dave:h
 

Jaws

Corporal CockUp
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
Right... myth laying time...
ALL 446 pmr radios are made to perform to MPS1307 ( CE 0560 ) standards...Apart from physical issues they are all ( at least all those that are under 400 quid a pop ! ) the basic same thing...
However, AutoCom does have a great little circuit on board to help cut down wind noise, and tha, combined with their excellent headsets, is what sets them apart..
So what to do ?
Get any pair of 446 radio units that have TWO sockets in the top of them and that will support an external PTT switch ( Press To Talk ). One such that springs to mind is the Cobra 100 things.. real cheap and work well !
Once you have saved shite loads on the radios, it is well worth spending a little extra on a GOOD headset.. If you can afford the AutoCom setup, then do so mate..it will be money well spent as I am sure others will tell you !
Failing that, shop around and buy the best quality headsets you can afford.. It really is a case of the more you spend the better you will hear and be heard.
Oh, and do not worry about having multi channels and sub channels and sub tones..
Apart from the fact that there are REALLY only 8 channels allowed to be used ( and all the units do in reality only have 8 channels.. all the sub channel malarky is just that.. malarkey Grrrrr !! ) the national UK bikers channel is ( and has been for the past 3 years ) channel three, with NO subtones or any other doodads..
 
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doughnut

Guest
Cheers John

Thanks for that m8, good points made....this cobra system......where will i find them?

Are you in doors this afternoon m8?

thanks again

Dave
 

richard

Cool as a Cucumber
Yup I use an Autocom and 2 Motorola euro 446 radios with no probs m8 range about 1mile






cheers

richard


:yo: :yo: :yo:
 

Jaws

Corporal CockUp
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
Cobra units are found all over the place mate ! I would keep an eye on Ebay.. Bewteen a few of us on here I reckon we must have bought about 8 sets from there !
Could try Maplin too, or even Currys !
The cheaper radios usually only have two channels ( 3 and 8 ) which is perfik for our use...

Am I in.. well sort of.. but not for long as I have to drive up to Harlston to collect some bits for Jimster.. He ordered a load of stickers which Lings sent me.. but there are two short so I have now gotta an 80 mile round trip to try and collect them !
 
W

Wiz

Guest
I just bought two of the latest Cobras from Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000087H99/qid=1046096842/026-6536404-6277216

?54.99 for a pair and free delivery. The MT700 is a good one to get for a bike 'cos it has a rider/pillion socket.

As for the headset. I am currently developing a microphone and headset specifically for use with PMR radios for bike to bike in conjunction with Coles Electroacoustics Ltd You won't know them by name, but they make the noise cancelling microphones that all commentators (Like Murry Walker) use for sports events. In fact, we have a tape of Murry using one of their mikes behind a revving F1 car and you can hear him as clear as a bell but not the F1 car at all.

I was out testing our first prototype on Sunday while I was waiting for the data to copy back for the site. At 130 mph (on a private road) you could only hear my voice (really clearly) and a faint buzz from my race can in the background, but no wind or road noise at all. I'll try and post a recording of it later tonight.

I should have the headset in production in the next 3 months, I doubt you can wait that long but it's worth knowing we should at last have a solution that's is better than Autocom and a fraction of the price...

:beer:
 
D

doughnut

Guest
wow ...you are a wiz

wiz...

from what you are saying i think me and me mate will hang on untill you have done your testing...if you can mail me when you are done i would be obliged:bow:

if when you do you could let me know the best handset etc..etc for your system


Thanks again all......always coming up trumps


Dave R#?
 
T

traceline

Guest
from a different angle

Chaps

Was thinking about getting the autocom setup mainly due to the plug in to mp3 / minidisc / radio ability that they have.

Was wondering if there was a similar workaround for this (intercom'd be nice - and it could bolt onto the autocom stuff, so initial expense'd be reduced)?

Would a set of autocom headsets plugged str8 into the mp3 player do the same / decent job?

Any thoughts would be welcome

Ta

Andy
 

birdinflight

Registered User
Autocom etc

i have beenthinking since the weekend after Dereks puncture how handy it would have been to have had bike to bike then at least I would have known :rolleyes:

We have autocom headsets and there is an old autocom system on the bird. It is not expandable so we would need seperate handsets. The cobras or similar sound good.

What I would like to know is, could we use our existing headsets with them? We have the old 5pin din plugs on them. Would they be compatible? We would not want to modify as we need them for when wer're two up.

Thoughts Wiz..................anyone????????
 
B

Bruce

Guest
I have a Autocomm bike to bike and it works well

I can ride of and leve the wife to her own devices and still be in contact when we need to meet again!

the Mobile phone bit works as well, I did a big deal with a customer while riding to London and at the end of the call he was blown away that I was riding a bike and doing buisness at the same time.
 
W

Wiz

Guest
Re: wow ...you are a wiz

Originally posted by doughnut
wiz...

if when you do you could let me know the best handset etc..etc for your system

I just bought the Cobra's because the look like the right spec for our headset. That is, they have VOX (voice activated transmission) and the facility to plug in a pillion headset for rider/pillion and bike/bike communication. They also use a standard jack socket for charging, so it will be easy to buy a cheap 12v - 6v transformer and wire it into the bike power supply.

VOX doesn't really work with a normal headset because the road and wind noise is so loud, it keeps triggering the radio to transmit even when you don't want it to. This is why most headsets come with a PPT (Push to talk) button. However, the internals to our microphone are so good at noise cancelling, the VOX will work fine, alleviating the need to keep pressing a PPT button, you just talk and the PMR transmits.

The way it works is simple enough, we do not use a conventional diaphragm like in most microphones, we use broadcast quality ribbon mic. internals. The ribbon is completely open both sides, so if any noise hits it, it hits both sides of the ribbon simultaneously and therefore the ribbon doesn't move, 'cos the sound-waves cancel each other out, therefore no sound is picked up. If however you talk into it from just an inch or so away, then the sound waves hit one side of the ribbon before the other, the ribbon then vibrates giving clear, broadcast quality speech.

Audio input is something I haven't investigated fully yet. Providing a socket so that you can plug in another device like a MP3 player or even a mobile phone is dead easy, but the electronics needed to cut out the PMR and MP3 input when you get a phone call etc could start jacking the price up and putting back the launch date. I want to start by offering a solution that will make good, clear bike to bike communication dead cheap. Taking on Autocom head to head might be something we do in the future though, depending on the success of this first product.
 
M

Melvyn Pearson

Guest
COBRA

If you do buy the 2 x Cobra handsets what exactly headset wise do you need to talk bike to bike.........bike to home.........bike to pillion. Is it the Autocom headsets that you can plug straight in. Where do they retail at and what part numbers?


Is the full autocom system a dawdle to fit or is it an all day really good DIY er job.

Really like the Cobra idea.....How long does a charge do with minimum chatter :dunno:
 
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