Cell Phone Based Racing Communications

[Ron Earp]

We just buy cheap ones at RadioSnatch...the only requirement is that they have an external speaker jack. Usually, those are around $39 on-sale. Nobody has to spend the day clamped in to headset isolation in the pits...we just hang a big-ass speaker on that radio and turn the volume up.
There are elegant ways to connect it all to a helmet, none of which we do. If you have the urge, a soldering iron and an understanding of impedance matching and signal levels, you can whammy something up that looks good.
[/b]

Excellent!

I can do a chop job on the I/O stuff and know enough about impedance to be dangerous and get it to work. Hell, I could just do an amp and loudspeaker in car to dispense with the ear buds and helmet junk!

I'll get a pair of CBs and give it a go.

R

[Dave Burchfield]

Just to be clear.........

My last post was being typed at the same time others were, and as such, I did not read many of them until after I had posted. My mention of licenses held were solely for the purpose of offering to share experiences, not to attempt to impress anyone.

[pballance]

All good input and thanks for the kind comments. Yeah it helps having EE's around to help solder the connections. I didn't put it in my write up that we did infact solder connections, etc in getting the EBay Crew headsets hooked up. Pretty easy if you are familiar with what needs doing.

I KNEW there were some radio geeks on this forum. When I meet you guys at the track remind me to show you some of the neat stuff I have in my kitbag. I'll buy the beer

Thanks for the help and I tried to get my guys to go for the CB's because they are plentiful, cheap, lots of neat add ons, and Low band to boot. Not to mention they are much better in the truck to and from the track than trying to hear the lousy audio from a cheap FRS.

[JohnRW]

Thanks for the help and I tried to get my guys to go for the CB's because they are plentiful, cheap, lots of neat add ons, and Low band to boot. Not to mention they are much better in the truck to and from the track than trying to hear the lousy audio from a cheap FRS.[/b]

And at 3am, grinding out laps in an enduro, you can talk to the truckers to relieve the boredom. Really.

[DaveITB1]

Hey John,


KA1GPN here in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Been a HAM since I was 11. - my wife would agree too

2002-2004 Tried the little Family Motorolas with the MotoComm headset and PPT - only worked so-so and that was when passing the pit wall where my Crew Chief was.

2005-2006 Switched to hand-held CB radios that plugged into the MotoComm with roof antenna after talking to John about his in-car CB setup while on grid at Nelson Ledges. - too much background noise from car. After reading earlier posts, I now suspect it was the cheap-o mic and stick-in ear phones.....

2007 Switched to RadioShack hard-wired CB radio in car. ($23.00) Still same background noise problem. Da !

2008 - (3) 5watt UHF/VHF radios with roof antenna and (2) crew headsets - needs helmet mics and ear buds to complete. (ex-racer from Cali posted them up on eBay. $500) I want to find a less expensive ear bud than the $70-$90 ones being asked for the foam ones by the race radios companies. Those materials in Heath Kit (if it were still around) would have run me about $2.00. Any ideas? Thought about the iPod-type ear buds, but posts above have discouraged that.

Vaughan - Where would I find that epoxy to do the custom molds if I could find the buds for cheap?


Peace Out !!

Dave

[924Guy]

I agree that the $80 (total parts) is a better "deal", but for $135, you are getting the real deal foam earplugs, which are MUCH better then the velcro stuff on the inside of the helmet, and the MIC is of a very high quality. I would spend the $50 there, as you will see a difference. During a 1.5-3hr stint, the foam earplugs help take a lot of the car sound out of your head, and you get a less tired then with no hearing protection.
-Tom
[/b]

Absolutely right, that's where we ended up. Then again, what I'm saying is $60 plus $20 of parts and some soldering, vs. $180 on your price list (helmet kit mike, PTT, and car harness)... though the connectors on what you're looking at may be more robust long-term. Then again, we've used our setup for I think 4 years now without (connector) issues. Just trying to optimize the return on investment here!

No idea where that epoxy came from... and I agree, the earbuds seem to be one of the biggest ripoffs here!

[shwah]

I set up a low end system simply for 'call the green' and lap count purposes midway through 2007.

Used a set of Radio Shack GMRS radios that I already had, bought some $40 MP3 player earbuds with memory foam surrounds that I compress down and install just like ear plugs, bought a $2 mono->stereo and connector size adapter, and ended up with a system that is worlds better than nothing and way less good than most of what is described here. However - this whole setup can be put together for less than $100 with new parts. I never bothered with a ptt button or mic for the driver.

I have been debating shopping for 'real radios' or trying to kluge together an external antenna and crew headset. It won't be easy to be heard all the way around either RA (Wisconsin or Georgia), but I should be able to get around Blackhawk and similar size tracks in communication.

[924Guy]

Other notes... I do know of one other IT racer using CB radio for comm, with a throat mike, likes it.

Trying to hunt down this earbud thing... let's just say, searching on "ear plug" on eBay sure brings up some interesting matches! Things you don't want to see your daughter come home with, ifyaknowwhaddimean...

OK, this is the kind of epoxy we used to replace the foam on my earbuds with a proper moulded plug:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Moulded-Ear-Plu...ksid=p1638.m122

Unfortunately, these are GBP 15 - yeah, they're in the UK. But this was the kind of source mine came from; DIY earplugs for the hunting/shooting crowd. So they've got to be available in the US too...

Success! Cabela's, $13 each:
http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0037460227874a.shtml

All you do is form the putty/epoxy into a cone around the little plastic tube in the earbud (the part that sticks through the foam earbud) - after removing the foam, of course - then insert into the ear as per instructions, let them set for 5 min or so, and you're good.

Now if we could find the cheap source for the foam earbuds... Maybe something like this is the starting point?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16826735001

[trhoppe]

Nice! We have a Cabella's in Atlanta, thats where I got my 5W radios. I'll stop by and get those ear molds and try them. Sounds easy

-Tom

[924Guy]

That part was, once we had the foam earbuds.

One point of note, on the working with the epoxy - it sets dependant on heat. You want to keep it cold to maximize working time before you set it in your ear, as it does set quickly. So ice your hands down in ice water before working with it.

I was lucky, I had my wife work the epoxy for me. She's cold-blooded, like a lizard, her hands are terminally cold!

[JohnRW]

Vaughan - Where would I find that epoxy to do the custom molds if I could find the buds for cheap?
[/b]

I've got a very frightening mental image of Smarty standing on your neck, squeezing epoxy glue into your ear. Don't let him do it...just tell him "bathroom caulk".

WA2BML - actually...gotta renew that this week. We can geek-out together now.

I've experimented with a bunch of things to kill background noise, both "hearing" and "talking".

When we ran the Showroom Stock car, we just had a big-ass mobile radio speaker on the cage behind the driver's head. Car had mufflers...no problem hearing unless an RX-7 was in the neighborhood.

Miata is a little noisy, and the thing that worked best for me was cheap-o motorcycle helmet speakers ($20), combined with nice cheap comfortable sound protection ear plugs - the kind you buy for $1-2 a set (I have ear-buds...I hate ear-buds....). The ear plugs dampen out the RX-7's, and give you a nice range of adjustment with the audio pot on the radio. This WILL NOT WORK in the SRF though...gotta run ear-buds in that.

Handheld CB's suck. We have one for "crew potty runs" ("Where are you ?"..."F. Reed Andrews Memorial Reading Room"..."ok, I'll check back in a few minutes") , but we keep a spare mobile radio sitting around, in case the pit or car mobile craps out. We can change'em out in less time than it takes to do a driver change.

[924Guy]

One correction on the mike for the helmet: looked it up, it was actually purchased from Allied Electronics, part # was MEC-63PD-03-513 - Audible Signal, Microphone Element, Noise Cancelling, 100-10, 000 Hz, .5mA, made by Intervox.

Cost was $2.50 each (unless you wanna buy more than 50!)...

This link may or may not work:
http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/ProductDe...77D77004427617F