Posted: 3/22/2009 2:20:50 PM EDT
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I thought I'd share my latest project. My wife and I both ride BMW motorcycles and we decided that we needed to be able to talk to each other while riding. That's simple enough, but as usual, I made it more complicated than it needed to be but made it a lot better as well. Instead of just having bike to bike comms, I can now hit repeaters that are 15 to 20 miles out. Its really changed my ride.
What I did was to start with a bike intercom system by Autocom. The Autocom system allows you to plug in a phone, i-Pod, GPS and any number of electronic devices. It includes speakers that mount in the helmet and a boom mic. Most guys use it with Kenwood FRS radios because Autocom seems to prefer Kenwood. Its nealy impossible to find a Yaesu attachment, but Icom isn't bad. I bought a Kenwood TH-2AT 2 meter radio. I also bought a cable to run the radio directly off the bike's battery. That means I don't have to bring it in every night for charging and on long trips, I will not run low on power. Next was the antenna. I started out with a rubber duckie remotely mounted to the hand guards. With no ground plane, it worked fine for bike to bike, but was very weak into the repeaters. I bought a Diamond 1/2 wave antenna for 2 meters and mounted it to a trunk lip mount on the back of the bike. The 1/2 wave requires no ground plane. I ran all the wires under the gas tank and up next to the handlebars. The radio is in a bag that is on a crossbar. The power cable, antenna wire and Autocom cable all come into the bag where they connect to the HT. The results have been fantastic. With just 5 watts, I'm able to consistently hit a number of repeaters that are 15 to 20 miles away. Audio reports are very good. People can't believe I'm on a bike and moving at 70 MPH. It seems that the mic on the Autocom keeps wind noise almost completely out of the audio. While I do have a small amount of clicking from the ignition in my headset, that doesn't make it into the transmission audio. The only problem is the VOX. I can't cough nor sniffle without kerchunking the repeater. Flipping up or down the face shield does the same thing. Autocom does make a PTT button, but its not cheap. It runs $75 and I'm not sure I like where it fits on the handle bar. I may get it eventually though. Here's some pics of the install: 
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I'd like to do the same but use at Yaesu FTM-10R
http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=106&encProdID=AF7E08DC3F2467B1B4B2CB4DA49BCF88&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0 |
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GREAT setup! You did a good install there. VOX is useless in most cases, as you said it's either too sensitive, or not enough. Some of the honda goldwing systems are nice, but on the BMW you'd probably have to rig a PTT switch on the handlebars.
I put a 2m antenna on my shadow's luggage rack for my tiny tracker. Works great. I've never tried it for anything else though so not sure if it works on the local repeaters. Now that I have a VX8, I'll probably mess with some sort of radio mount. Link: SHADOW ANT MOUNT |
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Yeah, I'll probably upgrade to a PTT at some point. The VOX isn't horrible. It takes some getting used to though. The Autocom system is interesting in this. You can hear your voice in the headphones. When you stop talking, you first hear the speakers go silent but it delays about another second before it unkeys the HT out of transmitt. That gives you time to keep talking before you drop the repeater. If you are careful with your pauses and use "ummm" and "ahhh" at the right times, you can carry on a real conversation.
The PTT would obviously be better from a radio standpoint, but not really from a riding one. I rather like not having to move my hand from the business of riding in order to be on the radio. Its a trade-off. |