bike to bike communication

[Snips]

Hi all,

This may have been discussed/explored/dismissed before, so apologies if it's a old suggestion, but it occurred to me that it would be fun to have bike-to-bike communication (i.e. two-way radio) during ride outs.

Anyway, for those that go on regular ride-outs with the same crowd, we could each buy a radio from the same range, and all tune into the same channel to communicate bike-to-bike - entirely optional, of course.

Such a system could add to the safety, fun and organisation of group rides,

e.g. 'Smokies at 2 O'Clock'

^^^ ...and I'm not referring to Squiffy's next fag stop ;)

A quick search (without shopping around) indicates that a single radio would cost about £80. We could investigate a group buy if there was interest.

Has his been discussed before? Any interest?

Cheers,
Snips

[slob]

"no license required" walkie talkies should all operate on the same frequencies (446MHz) so shouldn't neccesarily need to come from the same manufacturer to operate together.

[squiffything]

Snips I've got a couple of Motorolas wecould give a tryout to see if they work Not sure if they are hands free which would be the main requirement when riding a bike

[slob]

If they work hands free you'll also need decent noise cancellig mics otherwise wind noise will have them on permanent transmit and just lock up the channel you're using. Earpieces that are audible above 30mph also a must.

[Rogerg]

Saz & I have the scala rider Q2's (Bluetooth headsets) - these are supposed to have a bike to bike range of about 500m with good lines of sight, however they play silly buggers if you also pair them with Garmin Zumo's - so we stopped using the bike to bike feature & now just use them with the Zumo & Mobile phone & just phone each other if necessary.

Sound quality is excellent - infact the person at the other end wont even know your on a bike if your doing less than say 60mph

You also get an FM radio which makes those long boring runs a little more agreeable.

in summary - they are great at doing as long as you don't try to pair them to a Zumo & use them as bike to bike.