Radios for off road racecars...

[Mace]

Figured I would ask around in here.

I need a VHF radio for my CLass 11 off road racecar. Considering I know almost nothing about this sort of thing I would love to get some insight from Mudd..

Is there a particular brand to stay away from?

From what I understand, programming can be a pain. Is that just people being afraid or??

This radio will be used with my helmet. And hopefully some sort of on board intercom (those things a PRICY!!!). Is there a setup that will not work with a button and my helmet?

I am seeing a lot of old municipial equipment available on Ebay. Is that a good starting point or???

HELP!

 

[FJ40_owner]

Motorola. The very best.
Very pricey
You need to know what freq's, tones and offsets you will want so the dealer can program it for you.
They are rugged and made to a mil spec.
They make a very nice 16 channel model.
Did I say they are pricey
OR
Vertex makes some nice stuff. You can purchase software to program them and set them up. Some are water resistant.
The amateur models are not FCC compliant for out of band work.
I think Vertex makes a very good commercial model for the 150 Mhz freq's.
Not as spendy as Motorola.

 

[Mace]

Lemme explain how cheap I am

 

[Dynosoar]

Buy an old Yaesu ft 2500 or 2600 (the 2600 is 60 watts and the 2500 is 50 watts). They are mil spec and you can program it yourself. Frequency expansion is as easy as the clip of one wire. You could find them for about $100.


Dynosoar

Yaesu FT-2500M Military Grade Mobile Transceiver Ham - eBay (item 260464447092 end time Aug-24-09 17:50:30 PDT)

YAESU FT-2500M 2 METER TRANSCEIVER-EXCELLENT CONDITION - eBay (item 290341616404 end time Aug-26-09 17:38:54 PDT)

Yaesu FT-2600M w/Mic, Bracket & Programming Accessories - eBay (item 310162146460 end time Aug-22-09 09:47:28 PDT)

 

[Mace]

Buy an old Yaesu ft 2500 or 2600 (the 2600 is 60 watts and the 2500 is 50 watts). They are mil spec and you can program it yourself. Frequency expansion is as easy as the clip of one wire. You could find them for about $100.


Dynosoar

Yaesu FT-2500M Military Grade Mobile Transceiver Ham - eBay (item 260464447092 end time Aug-24-09 17:50:30 PDT)

YAESU FT-2500M 2 METER TRANSCEIVER-EXCELLENT CONDITION - eBay (item 290341616404 end time Aug-26-09 17:38:54 PDT)

Yaesu FT-2600M w/Mic, Bracket & Programming Accessories - eBay (item 310162146460 end time Aug-22-09 09:47:28 PDT)

Can I integrate those into an intercom system?

 

[Dynosoar]

yes I ran a PCI intercom with a ft-2500


dynosoar

 

[e9999]

is it obvious what band you'd be using and whether it is necessary for the race organizers (or you) to apply for the licenses etc if it's a commercial frequency? or is this one of the mysterious free bands?

 

[Mace]

how bout a yaesu FT-2800m?


I have not gotten the frequency specs off of that unit as of yet.

Is Vertex the same as Yaesu? I see them mentioned together a lot..

 

[FJ40_owner]

how bout a yaesu FT-2800m?


I have not gotten the frequency specs off of that unit as of yet.

Is Vertex the same as Yaesu? I see them mentioned together a lot..

Vertex is the parent co of Yaesu

 

[e9999]

how bout a yaesu FT-2800m?


I have not gotten the frequency specs off of that unit as of yet.

Is Vertex the same as Yaesu? I see them mentioned together a lot..

I may be wrong on this, but IIRC the 2800 is a 2 m ham unit. If so, I doubt that's what you'd want/could use for race commo, no?

 

[Mace]

You can rip the box apart and reprogram it. but I think that is more than I want to deal with.

 

[FJ40_owner]

I may be wrong on this, but IIRC the 2800 is a 2 m ham unit. If so, I doubt that's what you'd want/could use for race commo, no?

Why not?

 

[e9999]

Why not?

cuz you'd need all the racers to have Ham licenses if you use the 2m. And even then it may perhaps not be kosher if it's a "commercial" race -I don't know about that though.
Or if you tweak the box, there may be FCC issues.

Don't racers usually use dedicated commercial bands (around 150MHz from memory)?

 

[angusdevil]

In SCORE and similar race federations, they run in the 150 commercial band. With out race radios, we ran the same. You can go with a 2m and mod it to run in the 150's (not hard, I've done it to tons of Yaesu's, ICOM and Kenwoods) or you can get a commercial radio.

The difference between a 2m and a commercial are the options and programability. A commercial generally wont hold as many channels and will have to be programmed via software. A 2m will have the ability to be programmed via software or manually by hand. The difference is that most 2m's don't perform as well out of their 144-148 without some tweaking to them aside from opening up the bandwidth.

For antenna's, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. Find one that suites your needs (Hardmount, magmount, NMO, trunk, doorjamb, etc etc). Ideally, you want to have it tuned and have it be on the best ground plane as high as possible.... the top of your vehicle. Stay at least 19" away from any panel joints or edges so right smack dead in the center is your best bet.

For intercoms, find one that works. You can make your own cables or buy adapters for your particular radio to make it all plug and play. Heil is a good supplier for the adapters but they are kinda pricey.

If you're completely lost and dunno what you want to do, MANY race teams get radios through PCI. You will pay a little more but you'll get EXACTLY what you need and their customer support is top-notch. They will also take care of programming your radios at any race events they attend.

If you want to go the 2m route, you can do it all for under $300. That's what I did for first rig which consisted of a FT-2800, Larsen NMO-150 (tuned to WeatherMan), home made PTT button on my 4wd lever (later moved to the steering wheel) that had 2 1/8" stereo jacks (one for the headset, one for the microphone). I had various headsets that I used depending whether I was using a helmet or not and if I need to use an intercom or headset.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Here is a thread that might help
Competition Communication. - THEROCKGODS.COM Forum

I think you might like that forum.