2-Way Radio Suggestions
 

All,

Can anyone suggest a good set of 2-way radios? I have started to ride with friends in and around london and it would be nice to be able to talk to each other instead of dubious hand signals.

I am hoping to get a voice-activated set so there are no fiddly buttons etc to push as some of the people I ride with are a bit novice so need to keep distractions down to a minimum.

Havn't thought too much about what they cost etc so if you know any prices with your suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

best you can go for is autocom and then starcom

prices are from £150+

yeah but no but, teh autocom and starcom systems dont come with radios as standard you have to buy them seperate, i think hes just looking for a straight radio, with a mic and earpiece atachment rather than a rider pillion type setup..............

Captain Nemo - you are right. Basically looking for a bundle which comes with 2 Radios and some headsets and preferably voice activated. I have seen one on the Costco website over in the US -cheap and Cheerful

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...v=&browse=&s=1

A couple guys selling the same thing on ebay for £50 which could be an idea but don't particularly want to buy something cheap if its going to be rubbish.

Midland are a good name for radio kit - they certainly used to be a big name for CB radios (played around with CB a bit about 15 years ago - think I still have the Rig in the garage somewhere)

I wonder if there is much difference on the US vs UK versions - as US sites have them for $59.99 while they are £59.99 here - and as the exchange rate is almost 2 to 1......

David

Mr K,

Try Maplins, they have a rage of radios etc and headsets for helmets etc
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...29m8&source=15

The link above will give you some idea.

Hope this helps fella.

you can buy all the bits in maplins if you know what to buy, orrrrrrr-go oto e-bay ,theres loads on there autocom /starcom and the like are just a'control centre'for the signals ,the radios have to b added /bought seperately ,ive got the cobra ones 100£iirc,theyr good up to about 60mph any more than that and the wind roar overpowers the speech .i think the dearer units like autocom /starcom have some electronic trickery to cancel wind /road noise ,im gonna add a autocom unit to mine cos right now the radios themselves are pretty useless :roll: cos when somebody keys their mike to talk to u at 50-60 + all you (i)get is a wind noise (no,not farting ) :lol: alan and midland are big names in the comms game or pay a fortune (£250 ishfor 1)and get a motorola radio ,theyr the best app ,but how good du need? 8)

main problem is legally you can only use licence free PMR446 radios which have 0.5w of fart power, bugger all range.

If there are a few of you who ride together, I would be tempted to buy matching illegal 5w radios that include the PMR ranges. But as they are illegal I would never advise you to buy them. :wink:

I've got a Vixen headset and they are rather cool... though you have to buy the radios separate.
They have 2 types... one that's just a tubes, no batteries, for rider to pillion and one that's plugs in to intercoms. Mines just a 2.5mm jack so it even plugs into my phone and I can hear people calling me. I've got MULTICOM Junior radio set which seem to work rather well.
http://www.backchat-vixen.com/upload...s/overview.jpg
I bought the Oxford ones and taken them back cus the range was cack. The Oxford Rider to Pillion was good but the electrics blew after a few months, as did the replacement.

I have a box full of stuff in the loft from when i tried to set up something for 3 or 4 riders. I've argos type walkie talkie radios with and without vox, a pair of kenwood 8 watt jobbies, earpiece combos made from nokia bits, maplins offerings etc.

On the whole, nothing really worked well. The kenwoods were pointless, maybe huge range but heavy and need a proper charger, the cheapy walkie talkies were AA powered and enough range. None of the headset permutations really worked when in motion, vox was too tricky to set up, and ptt was awkward to operate on the move. Readability with various mic combinations was generally poor.

I think this is a tricky problem to solve sucessfully, I'd like to see what a comfortable and workable solution looks like. I've watched TV documentaries where the bikers are linked to cars/bikes, and even they have trouble, and I assume they have the best kit. The radios dont seem to be the problem, range is irrelivent since you will likely be within a few hundred yards - its the comfort, clarity and practicality thats the issue.