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Just took a nice 3 day ride with some friends from Port Angeles WA, up and around the Olymic National Park and down the coast Hwy to Astoria OR. Since this was our first 'major' ride (1000+km), I thought it would be nice to get some radio's and headsets/mic's for the trip.
I DON"T like FRS radios becasue of the poor range not to mention all the other yabbos yammering away on damn near every channel. So I wanted something a little more 'industrial'. A few years back another friend and I each purchased a MotoComm MC-554 helmet headset/mic kit to use with our Motorolla UHF radios. We only really tried it once around town and it was ok.
So for this trip I ended up purchasing 4 Motorola SP10 VHF radios off eBay.
These are industrial 1 watt portable radios (aprox 1 mile range) with the CTCSS (Private Line) board installed so you can use the one channel (151.955 MHz), but set a specific "private code" so that your radio will only un-squelch/un-mute if it receives the proper CTCSS tone. Since there are something like 30 different tones to choose from, the chances of someone else using the same freq and same PL tone is few and far between.
I got my friends to each purchase a MC-554 Full Face Headset/PTT System.
The two speakers fit flush inside your helmet and self attach to the liner by means of velco backing and the mic gets velcro'd to the inside chin area of your helmet.
The wiring (that has a quick disconnect) then hangs out the back of your helemt about 6". You can easily tuck in and tidy up all the extra wiring into the lining of your helmet.
The PTT switch wraps around and mounts to your left handle bar grip. Then you simply plug in the MC-554 into the radio and presto, instat communication between riders!!
We all put the radios in our tank bags for easy access (turning on/off and adjusting the volume). With this setup you had to remember that you were 'attached' to your bike via the cords! You could have put the radios in your jacket or on your belt if needed, but you are still attached via the PTT cord.
COST:
The cost was very acceptable IMHO. I was able to get the 4 radios, each with batteries (already had a charger) for $70.00 US.
The MotoComm MC-554 Full Face Headset/PTT System goes for around $50.00 US. So you are looking at around $70 per rider.
It was great being able to communicate back and forth with my friends while riding, especially when navigating in town. It made navigating that much easier and less stressful. It also helped if you got seperated or needed to stop for some reason.
PROS & CONS for this particular setup (Motorola SP10 + MotoComm MC-554):
Pros:
- easy to install, setup and use
- no interferance with other radio users (private)
- long range (aprox 1 mile depending on terrain)
- long battery life. Each charge would last a whole day and then some!
- great to be able to communicate with friends/riders in your group
Cons:
- Almost unuseable/unauidable at highway speeds. There is just too much wind noise to be able to clearly hear one another. Really need a noise cancelling mic.
- have to remember to turn off radios when off the bikes (breaks, end of day, etc.)
- each rider has to have the same setup in order to communicate (same radio freq anyway).
I DON"T like FRS radios becasue of the poor range not to mention all the other yabbos yammering away on damn near every channel. So I wanted something a little more 'industrial'. A few years back another friend and I each purchased a MotoComm MC-554 helmet headset/mic kit to use with our Motorolla UHF radios. We only really tried it once around town and it was ok.
So for this trip I ended up purchasing 4 Motorola SP10 VHF radios off eBay.
These are industrial 1 watt portable radios (aprox 1 mile range) with the CTCSS (Private Line) board installed so you can use the one channel (151.955 MHz), but set a specific "private code" so that your radio will only un-squelch/un-mute if it receives the proper CTCSS tone. Since there are something like 30 different tones to choose from, the chances of someone else using the same freq and same PL tone is few and far between.
I got my friends to each purchase a MC-554 Full Face Headset/PTT System.
The two speakers fit flush inside your helmet and self attach to the liner by means of velco backing and the mic gets velcro'd to the inside chin area of your helmet.
The wiring (that has a quick disconnect) then hangs out the back of your helemt about 6". You can easily tuck in and tidy up all the extra wiring into the lining of your helmet.
The PTT switch wraps around and mounts to your left handle bar grip. Then you simply plug in the MC-554 into the radio and presto, instat communication between riders!!
We all put the radios in our tank bags for easy access (turning on/off and adjusting the volume). With this setup you had to remember that you were 'attached' to your bike via the cords! You could have put the radios in your jacket or on your belt if needed, but you are still attached via the PTT cord.
COST:
The cost was very acceptable IMHO. I was able to get the 4 radios, each with batteries (already had a charger) for $70.00 US.
The MotoComm MC-554 Full Face Headset/PTT System goes for around $50.00 US. So you are looking at around $70 per rider.
It was great being able to communicate back and forth with my friends while riding, especially when navigating in town. It made navigating that much easier and less stressful. It also helped if you got seperated or needed to stop for some reason.
PROS & CONS for this particular setup (Motorola SP10 + MotoComm MC-554):
Pros:
- easy to install, setup and use
- no interferance with other radio users (private)
- long range (aprox 1 mile depending on terrain)
- long battery life. Each charge would last a whole day and then some!
- great to be able to communicate with friends/riders in your group
Cons:
- Almost unuseable/unauidable at highway speeds. There is just too much wind noise to be able to clearly hear one another. Really need a noise cancelling mic.
- have to remember to turn off radios when off the bikes (breaks, end of day, etc.)
- each rider has to have the same setup in order to communicate (same radio freq anyway).