Olythekid Posted July 5, 2019 Report Share Posted July 5, 2019 What would you guys recommend for a el cheapo mean of radio communication between driver and pit guy? I'm guessing a cellphone duct taped to a helmet will not pass tech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted July 5, 2019 Report Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) When it comes to Radios, Cheap and effective are usually not in the same category. Look up Beofang Radios on eBay, Honestly, check one of the series sponsors for their entry level kit, expect to spend $500 for something that’s going to get the job done halfway decently. Edited July 5, 2019 by Team Infiniti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olythekid Posted July 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2019 k. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETR Posted July 6, 2019 Report Share Posted July 6, 2019 (edited) Here's a basic, cost effective analog communications recipe I cooked up a few years ago and have used it in a few cars. I've shared it with a couple other new teams and they've duplicated it with success as well. I've upgraded a thing or two I think, but it's still the same basic kit. Educate yourself on responsible radio use and stick to GMRS frequencies. Some links may be dead now, but you get the idea. FCC regulations on GMRS GMRS license - About $75 for a GMRS-only license, legal for 5 watt use. Just an application, no course or test. I did it because I'm paranoid. Baofeng UV-5R - 5 watt max Baofeng BF-F8HP - 7 watt max Baofeng programming cable - Genuine Baofeng cable, don't use any other. There's some nuances to getting the most out of a baofeng, holler if you need help. Radio Battery Eliminator - Power radio from vehicle. Honestly, these days I just use the larger batteries. We had a few reliability issues with these and the batteries are more than enough for a long day in the car. Nagoya Antenna - Spotter antenna- Better antenna for the UV-5R (the supplied antenna isn't very good), the BF-F8 antenna is already pretty good Baofeng Battery Pack - Bigger battery packs for spotter radio, especially if you go with the BF-F8HP Vehicle Harness - "Nascar" - PTT Harness Helmet Harness - Mic and plug to vehicle harness Radio to Vehicle Adapter - Call PCI race radios, say you need a short cord for Baofeng, and specify RED cord. (There's red and green, you need RED and it's not on the website) They are nice and helpful. Don't let the metal connections touch any other metal.... just wrap it in electrical tape to prevent contact. Everything helps. Spotter Headset - Not required, but useful Headset Coil Cord - Headset to Radio cord, C0304 to connect to Baofeng radios Rugged Radios radio pouch - I prefer this for a simple radio holder these days Earbuds - These are a budget favorite, and I've had good luck with them. Have a few on hand. You must pair them with a stereo to mono adapter though. PCI also sells helmet speakers, earbuds help a lot with noise fatigue though... Earbud adapter - wrap connection to earbuds in electrical tape, these don't secure very positively PCTEL vehicle antenna - Great antenna tuned for GMRS frequencies. Try to mount sorta central on the roof, not at an edge. The metal roof structure is the other half of the antenna, neat stuff. The signal will be biased towards the direction with more surface. TRAM vehicle antenna - This one also works great, cheaper and looks better than the PCTEL option. I currently have it in the center of my miata deck lid and it works great. Antenna cable - 14' of cable. DO NOT coil up extra cable and avoid other wires carrying power, edges, and sharp bends. Go the long way around if you have extra cable. Ours snakes along the roll bar down the passenger side and makes a few turns to eat up extra footage. Antenna adapter - Male/Female cable adapter to radio For the bigger tracks (like COTA with line of sight obstructions everywhere) I've even put an antenna 30' up at the paddock RV. We had comms everywhere, but that's for another day... Edited July 6, 2019 by ETR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olythekid Posted July 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2019 I feel I need a PHD right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETR Posted July 7, 2019 Report Share Posted July 7, 2019 19 hours ago, Olythekid said: I feel I need a PHD right now It's not so bad, honestly all the little cables and adapters just plug right into one another. You really can't mix them up. Use the CHIRP freeware to program the radios in a minute or two. https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Download Out of curiosity, I added up that little recipe. A simple but super effective setup with two 5w UV5R's, better batteries, and better antennas is $422. Not bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted July 7, 2019 Report Share Posted July 7, 2019 (edited) A couple Baofeng's will do the trick for some communication. It gets a little expensive once you start upgrading components (harnesses, mics, antennas). We've slowly upgraded ours and I am sure we are close to the cost of a set from a sponsor. I did a quick write up of what we are using: https://ruggedbadger.com/racing-radio-setup/ Edited July 7, 2019 by LuckyKid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olythekid Posted July 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2019 Nice, food for thoughts. Appreciated the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted July 7, 2019 Report Share Posted July 7, 2019 If you plan to race and be competitive... let me save you a bunch of money.... Buy the good poop. Right now. Today. You will anyway. The good poop will still be good 5 or 10 years from now. I think 85% of teams went through various forms of radio communication spending hundreds or even thousands over the course of several years. They end up buying the good stuff anyway.... Save lots of money by buying the good stuff now! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olythekid Posted July 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 When I have $1500+ I will. I guess I'll use my wife's boobs till then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted July 8, 2019 Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 44 minutes ago, Olythekid said: When I have $1500+ I will. I guess I'll use my wife's boobs till then. You don't need 1500 for a good radio system. You can find them from @Sampson Racing Radios and others for half that for a good system. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jab31169 Posted July 8, 2019 Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 Buy once, cry once. We are still crying because we didn't spend the money up front. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelPal Posted July 8, 2019 Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 another vote for sampson. use the champcar discount code ON TOP of the sale discount as well. https://www.sampsonracing.com/Digital-Starter-5watt-Package-for-2way-complete-p/digital-starter-package.htm 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowman Posted July 8, 2019 Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 10 hours ago, wvumtnbkr said: You don't need 1500 for a good radio system. You can find them from @Sampson Racing Radios and others for half that for a good system. Yes, this. We got our Sampson stuff 3 years ago, and its going strong. Road racing, oval racing, convoying down the highway.....I love it. Its all programmed and simple plug and play. Something to be said for that. Also, its easy to expand if you want/need more crew radios. We came across a couple Boafeng radios and used CHIRP to program the channels. You also get a ChampCar discount, so bonus. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee mcoppola Posted July 8, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 12 hours ago, wvumtnbkr said: You don't need 1500 for a good radio system. You can find them from @Sampson Racing Radios and others for half that for a good system. 3 hours ago, MichaelPal said: another vote for sampson. use the champcar discount code ON TOP of the sale discount as well. https://www.sampsonracing.com/Digital-Starter-5watt-Package-for-2way-complete-p/digital-starter-package.htm 1 hour ago, snowman said: Yes, this. We got our Sampson stuff 3 years ago, and its going strong. Road racing, oval racing, convoying down the highway.....I love it. Its all programmed and simple plug and play. Something to be said for that. Also, its easy to expand if you want/need more crew radios. We came across a couple Boafeng radios and used CHIRP to program the channels. You also get a ChampCar discount, so bonus. I re-quoted all 3 responses because it's worth it to buy the good stuff once and be done with it. You won'te need a PHD, you won't have to buy a bazillion different pieces and try to make them all work together, A Nascar harness is not the way to go because it's not compatible with the IMSA harness, (IMSA harness IS compatible with Nascar), etc, etc. Do yourself a big favor and get a hold of @Shawn Sampson, or just go for the Digital Starter package linked above. I, and many others, have done previous write-ups on that system, as well as Sampson's top notch customer support. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommytipover Posted July 8, 2019 Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 3 hours ago, mcoppola said: Do yourself a big favor and get a hold of @Shawn Sampson, or just go for the Digital Starter package linked above. I, and many others, have done previous write-ups on that system, as well as Sampson's top notch customer support. Somebody should check on Shawn I hope he's not hurt or stuck in a well. He's usually the first post after somebody mentions radio... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimS Posted July 8, 2019 Report Share Posted July 8, 2019 Shawn is a great guy and goes out of his way to help the grassroots racing community. All his kits work great. He helped me years ago put together a great setup for our team. I’ll be ordering the new setup soon. He’s probably racing somewhere 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 On 7/8/2019 at 10:57 AM, tommytipover said: Somebody should check on Shawn I hope he's not hurt or stuck in a well. He's usually the first post after somebody mentions radio... Hi Tommy - I was on vacation the last 2 weeks but the shop is always open Had a great trip with the wife to Canada on the Moto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommytipover Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 Great to have you back. Thanks for all you do for us! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 On the subject of radios, we use (I think) the Racing Radios starter kit with 5w analog Motorola/vertex radios. Perfect coverage this weekend at Indy, but the most important part was the crew chief headset. It was the only way to hear anything from the radios in the pits, and the driver could hear our transmissions much better, too. Headset is a must-have for an echo-chamber like the Indy pit lane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 Omg! The noise on pit lane was deafening! The crew chief headset was absolutely needed. We couldn't find it for a half an hour so I had to go sit in one of the garages to talk to the driver.... which is less than ideal... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbogrill Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 I have have used the boafeng/rugged radios in 2 different build. They suck. Works great when testing in your garage but are terrible 5 hours into the race when the mayhem has begun. Next build will be something digital. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.