uncommon audio and communication device question

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GrizzlyGuy
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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:34 am

Ken wrote:If you're rock crawling, as Eric has learned...sometimes...you just off your quad really fast. Either A) To save yourself or B) To run over and save your buddy.
Very true, wise and bruised fearless leader. Sometimes Elvis needs to leave the building. IMMEDIATELY. Can't even stop to kiss Priscilla. :)
Ken wrote: The only way around it...is button, mic, radio and battery...ALL on you.
Ahhhh, but don't count out the radio-geeks just yet. The goal of my hair-brained scheme outlined above was to allow for communications with anyone on any frequency... without a single wire tethering you to the quad.

See the info on the TalkSafe, it communicates wirelessly with your bluetooth headset, which in my scheme, would be your Collett. PTT is done by the TalkSafe that is tethered to the VX-7R (both back in your rear bag) and not you. I'm hoping it all works as advertised. If so, mission accomplished. Elvis can leave the building any time he wants to.

But if the VOX-ed bluetooth signal from the Collett somehow can't trigger the PTT on the TalkSafe... we're not dead yet. In that case, we rewire the headset adapter for the VX-7R (or build a new one). The rewired one would accept the bluetoothed audio from the TalkSafe, but break out the PTT lines separately. We take those (think speaker wire), run them across the quad to the handlebars, connect them to a PTT switch on your grip. Elvis is still completely free to leave the building. :-)

The last piece is the music input, for when riding without Larry and his pump-up-da-volume stereo. You take your iPhone/iPod, shove it in your jacket pocket, connect its output to the Collett's audio input jack. Now Elvis is wired for sound, but all the wires/gadgets are still on Elvis. Elvis leaves building, tumbles down boulders, but at least gets to rock-out while quad goes bye-bye in the other direction. :D

Now granted I haven't tested this stuff yet, but unless those gadgets just flat out don't do what they claim, it should work out one way or the other.
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Postby teejay » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:08 am

I came across another unit put out by a company in the UK. The unit is called Starcom1.

http://www.starcom1.com/therange.htm

I've looked over the stuff on their page and it looks like it is what I'm looking for, the bike to bike communication system is a uniden handheld, so there is probably no reason why I couldn't swap it out with a ham handheld.

The only thing that isn't really in detail is the bluetooth, other than they have a 60 dollar adapter that can connect blue tooth devices. I fired off an email to them to find out if they support bluetooth headsets or bluetooth mics for the system as well, so once I get a reply, I'll post my findings.

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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:57 am

teejay wrote: I've looked over the stuff on their page and it looks like it is what I'm looking for, the bike to bike communication system is a uniden handheld, so there is probably no reason why I couldn't swap it out with a ham handheld.
I don't know Teejay, it seems like the Collett all by itself might be your best bet. I downloaded the 3 StarCom manuals, and although they allow you to connect an external 2-way radio (ex: Uniden), they apparently don't come with one. The Collett IS a radio. No need to add another radio if you just want to talk to other people with Colletts.

If you did want to talk to others (ex: on FRS) then you'd be adding that radio in either case. So that's a wash.

The Colletts and the StarComs both let you feed in music (iPod/iPhone/XM/whatever) so that's a wash.

With the Collett, you aren't tethered to the quad. The unit is on your helmet and the battery is in your pocket (or maybe on the back of your helmet). With the StarCom, you are wired to it. And it is wired to your ATV for 12V power.

The Collett is waterproof. The StarCom isn't.

If you did want to add another 2-way radio (FRS, ham, whatever) you'd be wiring it to the StarCom. With the Collett + TalkSafe, you'd at least have the option to stay untethered and still have another radio.

FYI, the Colletts have 3-channel capability and all come with an "international" channel. So even if you were out here riding with Ken and didn't have his ATVObsession channel installed, you could both switch to the international channel and still communicate. And if you were going to get a couple of these (maybe to talk to your wife on her quad) you can get your own private channel installed and never have to worry about others on your frequency.

Seems like the range of the Collett would be at least as good as FRS. I haven't used one, Ken could tell you about that.

A 2m ham radio should beat either one for range because hams can run more power, add gain antennas, and the lower frequency waves "bend" a bit more to let you at least have a shot at over-the-horizon communications. And of course the repeater capabilities really let you go over the horizon if both people can see the repeater.
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Ken
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Postby Ken » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:11 pm

GrizzlyGuy wrote:you can get your own private channel installed and never have to worry about others on your frequency.

Seems like the range of the Collett would be at least as good as FRS. I haven't used one, Ken could tell you about that.

The range on the Collett is not as good as FRS or GRMS. But it's not made to broadcast all over the forest. It's made to talk to the people around you. It's clear, because it uses 900Mhz, like your wireless telephone at home.

It wouldn't be a horrible idea...to mount a GRMS radio on your handlebars...used only for longer distance, when you're out of collett range. Using the 2 together.

Collett's work great for..." I'm taking the left ahead" or "Car! (for oncoming car) or "I have to take a piss...I'll catch up" or a quick "Everything OK?"

Every radio comes with their group channel. In order to get a private channel, you have to buy 6 radios. If you have a group, then that's probably not a problem. If you just have 2 people....then add yourself to our group. We hardly ever use our private channel. The idea behind the private channel, is mostly for snowmobilers who are in a big bowl...riding sleds in a large group, and you don't want to share with others. ATV's are out of range in about 1/2 mile...so even if you did run across someone else using a collett on group channel...they wouldn't be on it for long.
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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:35 pm

Hey Ken, where do you put your Collett battery pack while riding? Jacket pocket?

Do you think it would be possible to somehow attach it to the helmet? Like maybe in the back or the other side? I can't tell from the pictures how big/heavy it is.
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Postby teejay » Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:54 pm

GrizzlyGuy wrote: I don't know Teejay, it seems like the Collett all by itself might be your best bet. I downloaded the 3 StarCom manuals, and although they allow you to connect an external 2-way radio (ex: Uniden), they apparently don't come with one. The Collett IS a radio. No need to add another radio if you just want to talk to other people with Colletts.

If you did want to talk to others (ex: on FRS) then you'd be adding that radio in either case. So that's a wash.

The Colletts and the StarComs both let you feed in music (iPod/iPhone/XM/whatever) so that's a wash.

With the Collett, you aren't tethered to the quad. The unit is on your helmet and the battery is in your pocket (or maybe on the back of your helmet). With the StarCom, you are wired to it. And it is wired to your ATV for 12V power.

The Collett is waterproof. The StarCom isn't.

If you did want to add another 2-way radio (FRS, ham, whatever) you'd be wiring it to the StarCom. With the Collett + TalkSafe, you'd at least have the option to stay untethered and still have another radio.

FYI, the Colletts have 3-channel capability and all come with an "international" channel. So even if you were out here riding with Ken and didn't have his ATVObsession channel installed, you could both switch to the international channel and still communicate. And if you were going to get a couple of these (maybe to talk to your wife on her quad) you can get your own private channel installed and never have to worry about others on your frequency.

Seems like the range of the Collett would be at least as good as FRS. I haven't used one, Ken could tell you about that.

A 2m ham radio should beat either one for range because hams can run more power, add gain antennas, and the lower frequency waves "bend" a bit more to let you at least have a shot at over-the-horizon communications. And of course the repeater capabilities really let you go over the horizon if both people can see the repeater.
Ok, so what I got back from Starcom is what I was worried about originally with the Collett bluetooth, is that the pairing only allows a 1 to 1 connection. So if you hook up with a cell phone, you can't pair another bluetooth device to it. Which is a ding for it or at least their bluetooth adapater that they sell. If the adapater is a bluetooth version2 then it shouldn't be an issue. According to the manufacturer, the communication input for comm radios will work with pretty much any comm equipment, like a CB, 2 way, FRM, GRMS, provided that the radio picks up the mic input by dropping it onto the in line in order to transmit, which I'm sure pretty much most of the ppt shoulder mics do, if not, that is where wires, heatshrink, connectors, and solder come into play.

On these units what you do is mount it to the bike and while it did say it wasn't waterproof, there are a million enclosures you can use. You can use pretty much any headset with them, and your headset and mic plugs into a break away cable that connects up to the starcom1 unit itself. One cable is better than multiple cables, but worse than no cables. I was rushed when I first came across it but after sitting down and going over it some more, tt isn't exactly what I'm looking for but it was just another option.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Collett about how the bluetooth option works with other bluetooth devices aside from cell phones, and then from there, whether or not PTT would be needed.

In the end, I'll probably still be going down the Collett path, but they don't seem to have a 12 volt charger for their battery packs, so I guess I'll just have to pick up an extra battery for the long distance rides.

Regardless of which way I go, I'm going to add a ham handheld to the system just for safety reasons, and well I like to have the option to chat with others.

Talking to the wife on the quad? Why would I want to listen to her bitch at me when I'm trying to get away from her! I ride the quad so I wouldn't have to listen to her piss and moan about my driving, or if I'm causing too much dust, or whatever else she would find to complain about.

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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:12 pm

teejay wrote: Talking to the wife on the quad? Why would I want to listen to her bitch at me when I'm trying to get away from her! I ride the quad so I wouldn't have to listen to her piss and moan about my driving, or if I'm causing too much dust, or whatever else she would find to complain about.
LMAO! Oh man, that's TOO funny.

I was thinking that if I got a Collett, I'd get my wife one too, but... you're right. As it is now, I only have to listen to her piss and moan when I stop at a turn. Why spoil a good thing? :lol:

That's a good point about the multi-pairing on bluetooth. It would be slick if you could bluetooth to the FRS/ham radio and bluetooth to an iPhone all at the same time. One more wire bites the dust. :)
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Postby Ken » Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:14 pm

GrizzlyGuy wrote:Hey Ken, where do you put your Collett battery pack while riding? Jacket pocket?

Do you think it would be possible to somehow attach it to the helmet? Like maybe in the back or the other side? I can't tell from the pictures how big/heavy it is.
Jacket works. I wear a fanny pack....camera case on the belt...and battery in the pack.

I don't think I would mount it to the helmet...personally. Between the radio and battery...that would be pretty heavy after 6-8 hours. But it's possible.
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Postby Kendo » Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:48 pm

Ken wrote:
GrizzlyGuy wrote:Hey Ken, where do you put your Collett battery pack while riding? Jacket pocket?

Do you think it would be possible to somehow attach it to the helmet? Like maybe in the back or the other side? I can't tell from the pictures how big/heavy it is.
Jacket works. I wear a fanny pack....camera case on the belt...and battery in the pack.

I don't think I would mount it to the helmet...personally. Between the radio and battery...that would be pretty heavy after 6-8 hours. But it's possible.
You can always use the shitter method that Keith uses. LMFAO!!! :lol:

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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:14 pm

Kendo wrote: You can always use the shitter method that Keith uses. LMFAO!!! :lol:
:shock: :shock: :shock:

Ewwwwwwwwwww!

Fawk the radio, I'd be using hand signals. Like the "get off my ass!" signal, for example: :finger:
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Postby teejay » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:05 pm

So I came across a new BT adapter this weekend.

http://cardowireless.com/BTA/

This adapter is only 50 bucks. Now the yaesu's have if I am reading correctly a four pin connector for the external speaker mic's. I thought about getting a connection set from ebay for really cheap, then whipping out a soldering iron and going to to town to convert the connector to a 2.5 mm jack, and rig up a external ptt switch mounted on the left handle bar or something

The same company also makes BT headsets that have a fm reciever in it.

Their headsets also have noise cancelation on the mic, and a auto volume control that adjusts with ambiant noise.

http://cardowireless.com/scala_rider_Q2/specs.php

The downside to this, is that I won't be able to use my iphone as a cell phone, but I could probably buy another bt adapter for it, however.... will the audio play out I'm not quite sure. With the fm reciever though, tunes still work for me.

There is a FM transmitter made by DLO that is made for ipod's and the new ipod touch to transmit your audio over FM. Out on the trails it is unlikely I'm going to run into any interference for FM radio stations, and if I don't end up buying a collett radio, this system would work great.

http://www.dlo.com/Products/Tdmicro_Pro ... 9111160903

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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:48 pm

teejay wrote:Now the yaesu's have if I am reading correctly a four pin connector for the external speaker mic's. I thought about getting a connection set from ebay for really cheap, then whipping out a soldering iron and going to to town to convert the connector to a 2.5 mm jack, and rig up a external ptt switch mounted on the left handle bar or something
Teejay,

If you mean the Yaesu VX-7R, you should be able to use that blue tooth adapter via this Yaesu CT-91 microphone adapter:

http://www.rffun.com/catalog/ht/09510170.html

It has a 2.5 mm jack. The PTT would probably have to be done via a wired means as you describe (wired PTT switch on your handlebars connected to the other CT-91 jack).
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Postby traildad » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:06 am

Check these out. If you wire up a cardo bluetooth adapter for your radio GMRS or ham and you will be set.

http://www.wirelessriders.com/camos.php

http://cardowireless.com/cardo_adaptor
or
They are all over ebay for cheap
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-In-Box-JABRA-A2 ... dZViewItem
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Postby teejay » Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:26 am

Looks like one problem is about to be solved anyway. Yaesu is releasing the VX-8R sometime between late august and October and it appears to support blue tooth via some adapter.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0008.html

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Postby teejay » Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:46 am

Looks like it just got fcc approval a few days ago, and the rumor is somewhere around 350 for a price.

https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/rep ... 6620295X20'


The GPS for APRS functionality comes in via external mic, and the blue tooth chip installs by removing the back part of the case, sliding the module in, and closing it up.


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