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good deal on a two-way radio

16K views 76 replies 13 participants last post by  billmeek 
#1 ·
My wife and I have been shopping around for a good deal on a Voice activated two way radio system for the 400. The "chatterbox" systems are nice, but very pricey for us, so we've been looking to see what might work instead. Today, we finally settled on a pair of VOX radios from Audiovox that we found at Walmart for $39. It included the radios, rechargable AAA batteries for both, a charger base, AC adapter, cigarette lighter adapter, 2 boom mic headsets, belt clips and cases for the units. It works great. We had to change out the ear pads on the headsets (they were the cheap foam covers that do nothing for comfort) but we happened to have several molded rubber covers from our hands free cell phone mics that fit over it (with a little work) and now they fit very nicely, with a tight enough fit to block wind. We also had to snip off the "over the ear" attachments, because the pads in the helmets were making them dig in. Once all that was done, though, they're just what we wanted. The molded ear piece is comfortable, the pads hold it all in place, the boom mic runs right along the jawline and the chin strap holds the mic right up to the mouth for easy reception. I just drop the radio into my inside pocket of my armored jacket and run the cord up out the neck. The charger fits in the glovebox with the radios in it to recharge while we drive on long trips if the batteries die. You gotta put rubber bands around the base and the radios to hold them together while it's on it's side, but no problem for me. All in all, it's what we needed for a great price.
 
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#4 ·
Yes, they have a PTT function. When used, you can also have a "Roger Beep" sound when the PTT button is released to signal end of transmission. I forgot to mention that they have 10 shared GMRS/FRS channels, 8 FRS only channels, and 4 GMRS only channels, each with 38 subchannels. One question I have about it is are the channels standard between brands on two-way radios? In other words, if I were riding with people who had chatterboxes or another brand of two way, could we talk?
 
#5 ·
I looked at several different radios today at Target. Most that combined FRS and GMRS had the same number of channels in each band. But the best way to know for sure is to compare actual frequencies used.
FRS uses 462.5625 to 467.7125, with each of 14 channels seperated by .015Mhz.
GMRS uses 462.550 to 462.725, 467.550 to 467.725, and 462.5625 to 462.7125Mhz (same as FRS 1-7, but with more power)
CB uses 26.965 to 27.405, with each of 40 channels seperated by .01Mhz

What chatterbox uses depends on what model you buy. Theres are FRS and GMRS specific models, as well as other-frequency models available in other countries.

Dave B.
 
#7 ·
They have a 6 mile optimum range, so I assume they would do fine, reliably up to 2 or 3 miles in real world conditions. My wife and i are taking them out today to play with them off the bike and get a feel for what they'll do. They work fine side to side, and I'm sure that the distances between two riders together on the road would make no difference. By the way, for an extra $20 or so, they have models that have the NOAA weather alert frequencies on them, which might be handy for those of you in unpredicatble areas. Our region isn't prone to surprises, so we opted for the less expensive set.

I checked the frequencies in the manual, and it's right on the money. 462.5625 - 467.6375 in the same increments. Sounds like you can mix brands without a problem.
 
#9 ·
hrdillender,
Your Vox radio set-up sounds neat and, I assume nothing in the way of permanent installation in the helmets!?
Could you provide us with the Audiovox model/part#'s, etc...I know I would like to look into this type of communicator.
Enough with the hand signals when riding two-up.:roll:
Thanks,
GinDrinker
:D
 
#10 ·
ted clement said:
Hardillender, regarding the PTT: does it have a provision for a plug-in PTT cable that could then be attached to the handlebar?
No, I don't think they're that cool. Sorry. We went out all afternoon goofing around with them, and they do work pretty well on their own, though. We tried them at up to a mile, and they worked fine on low transmit power (which saves battery). They have a high power setting for greater distances, as well. Now my only question about them is whether the wind noise in our helmets is going to affect the VOX functions. Didn't on the first try, but I guess I'll have to go riding and see...
 
#11 ·
No, there's no mounting needed. The cheek pad and strap hold everything in place just fine. It's the Audiovox GMRS6000-2PK with Bonus Pack.
 
#13 ·
We didn't want anything we couldn't upgrade later. That Motocomm thing looks awesome. We had to flip a coin between music and a radio, cuz we didn't want to spend more than $50 on the project right now. This way, we're not out too much to change later to something cooler, with all the inputs. Full-duplex would be really cool, too. These are single duplex, of course.
 
#14 ·
hrdillender said:
Full-duplex would be really cool, too. These are single duplex, of course.
I could be wrong, but I think they're simplex: transmit and receive on the same frequency, and only one way at a time, rather than full- or half-duplex.

hrdillender said:
...they have 10 shared GMRS/FRS channels, 8 FRS only channels, and 4 GMRS only channels, each with 38 subchannels. One question I have about it is are the channels standard between brands on two-way radios? In other words, if I were riding with people who had chatterboxes or another brand of two way, could we talk?
As far as I know, they should work with other brands. The true "channels" (frequencies) are standardized. The 38 "subchannels" are actually "privacy" systems, and not true frequencies, but I think the manufacturers standardized on those, as well. (Since they aren't true channels; if you're using, say, channel 1 code 38 and someone nearby is using channel 1 code 15 (or whatever) you might get some interference. But at least you wouldn't be hearing each others' conversations all the time.)

Let us know how it handles wind noise at highway speeds. It sounds like a great way to get intercom and bike-to-bike at entry level prices.

 
#15 ·
Nice to know the appropriate terms. I tend to put things into the contexts I'm familiar with, which in this case is internet Voice over IP. Services like paltalk refer to themselves as single duplex, but given your definition that would make sense, since they are not on the same channel. simplex makes more sense in this case. So I guess the "of course" in my earlier post isn't really. :wink:
Actually, I got my channel counts wrong as well (that's what I get for giving statistics off the top of my head). It's 7 GMRS/FRS, 7 FRS, and 8 GMRS channels with 38 "sub-channels" each.
 
#16 ·
O.K. all of you techie junkies, I have a few simple questions. I don't need to speak to anyone since I don't do 2 up riding. My question is if I were to somehow strap a portable radio to the steering column would I be able to hear the music? What type of radio have people bought? Or would I be better off getting a head set and listening to the music that way. I usually don't like additional noise to my ears because I am already hurting from the windscreen and have not been able to find decent ear plugs that work. Or else I am just not putting the plugs in my ears correctly.

Evelyn
 
#18 ·
I found some noise-cancelling headphones at Walgreens a fw months back. They basically listen to noises in the room and send a cancelling noise along with your music to your ears. The effect is that you only hear the music and nothing else. The processing is all done in a little module in line in the cable, not in the headphones themselves.

It occurs to me that I could cut/paste this module in line with my helmet headset and it might eliminate all noise from the wind or any other sources other than what's piped into my ears. BUT, everything I've read suggests that one should always be able to hear surrounding traffic and any sirens and such. My deaf brother might disagree, but the logic still sounds valid. I think some states ban helmet headphones because of the distraction or failure-to-hear sirens principle.

Any opinions?

Dave B.
 
#19 ·
I was thinking about the same thing a few days ago when I saw some noise-cancelling headphones at a Brookstone store. I think there might be a problem to overcome trying to adapt this for motorcycling. The nose in your helmet is probably different from various places around your body on the bike. So the sensor should be inside your helmet, where it can pick up the actual in-helmet sound pattern and work to cancel that. If the sensor is outside the helmet, it will be 'hearing' the outside noise, creating an inverted wave to cancel it, and piping that into your helmet. But if that sound is different from what's going on in your helmet, it could actually be adding to the noise.
 
#20 ·
Good point, frugality. In the house the module is in the same "space" as my head is. Assuming there's a microphone in the module, the solution may be as simple as burying the module in the helmet, or extending it's mic into the helmet. It can't be right at the ear, or it will hear the music coming from the headphones and cancel that. It may even create a feedback loop.

I haven't yet ridden on the highway while trying to listen to anything, so this all may be a moot excercise.
 
#21 ·
Evelyn said:
My question is if I were to somehow strap a portable radio to the steering column would I be able to hear the music? What type of radio have people bought? Or would I be better off getting a head set and listening to the music that way. ...
Some people have installed speakers where the glove boxes are, and have reported good results, at least at low speeds and when parked. A portable radio might work just as well, but if it were small enough not to interfere with handling it might not have enough volume to overcome wind noise. (A lot will depend on your height and type of windshield.)

Headphones are what many riders choose, but you have to check the laws for your state, because some ban headphones or limit you to just one.
 
#22 ·
we went for a ride with the radios today, and I'm not as happy as I'd like to be with it... several issues I'm looking for workarounds for:
1: Wind noise is way too much for the voice activated function. It causes the front radio to broadcast continuously.
Fix I tried: Push-To-Talk is easy for the passenger, she just had the radio handy and pushed when she had something to say. For me, I strapped it to the left handlebar with a few thick rubber bands (if this ends up working I'll come up with a more aesthetic mount) in a position that suspended it below the grip so the PTT button was right by my thumb and it wasn't in the way of the controls, the brake or my ability to grip the handlebars. Not bad at all, and it eliminates the annoying "word drop" at the beginning of each transmission that goes along with a voice activated system, which bugged me anyway.
2. Broadcast quality is fine up to about 40 mph, then wind noise kicks in and overwhelms the audio.
Fix I tried: I tried bending the boom mic up into my cheek pad to block wind noise, but then my speech is muffled. bad fix. We shopped all over for foam covers for the mics to block wind noise, but could not find any at radio shack or at any cell phone retailers. Anyone know where you can get one by itself?
My conclusions - I think the $30-40 cost is reflected in the quality of headset. radio shack has adapters that will allow us to plug cell phone handsfree sets into the two-way radios, so we are researching better quality noise-cancelling mics and ear pieces. Seems like a good set that works for convertibles will run about $30 a piece, so now we will be up to about $100 for the project, assuming that works. That's what it needs, though. Some kind of noise cancelling mic. The upside to trying it is that the better headsets will work with our cell phones, so it's not a total waste to buy them even if they don't improve the radio situation. All in all, I have rather mixed feelings about the things. They work great while not riding, and they work pretty good while moving at lower speeds, but as-is they aren't up to the task of highway speeds (or anything close to it). It's gonna take more fiddling, which may have to wait until my next paycheck. So, given all that, does anyone have any ideas for improving the sound quality in the face of wind blast?
 
#23 ·
hrdillender said:
...So, given all that, does anyone have any ideas for improving the sound quality in the face of wind blast?
I don't know what kind of helmets you have; 3/4, full-face, etc. That plays a factor.

All the GW riders I know who have 3/4 helmets have boom mics with great big foam bulbs around their mics, and great big windshields, too.

As for "word drop" in VOX mode, you learn after a while to start every sentence with "Uh..." :wink:
 
#24 ·
I Googled the issue, and here is one very nice looking option, although it is pricey for me.

http://www.motoguide.com/motorcycle_gp_headset.shtml

Voice induction mic with headset speakers that temp mount into the helmet. $99 a piece.

Will work with VOX and my current two-way radios.
Also comes with finger PTT buttons.

Here's another that temp mounts into a full face helmet:
http://www.alfenterprises.com/motorcyle ... adsets.htm
There are several, so look at the RF limited's Motocomm headset. Looks good if the noise cancelling is adequate $55 each.
 
#25 ·
Throat mics were "standard issue" on B-17s and other aircraft from WWII up to the jet age. They did a good job of transmitting voice without transmitting engine noise.

I had a radio not long ago that used bone conduction in the ear to transmit. I was surprised how well it worked; voices sounded completely normal, and since the mic and speaker were combined in one ear-piece it worked perfectly under a helmet. I don't know if they are available anymore. It was made by NADY.
 
#26 ·
We're using full face helmets. My wife and I started a habit of prefacing everything with "sweety" or darlin" or some such other gesture of affection. Begins broadcast AND helps our marriage :lol: .
 
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