FRS based bike to bike communication. | GTAMotorcycle.com

FRS based bike to bike communication.

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Ironus Butticus
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I'm in the process of looking at communication options for the organization I ride with. Several times per year we do large group rides and the organizers (which I'm part of) like to stay in touch from the front to the back of the group (or possibly multiple groups) to organize traffic situations, cover any unforeseen changes in the ride, etc. The challenge is that there's a mishmash of communication options used by many of the members - some use Scala's, some use Sena's, and I think one uses Uclear. And I use the "V6" intercoms myself which have proven great, but again, different brand.

I know that there's supposedly a "universal" option on most of the above (including my V6's) that will allow them to all talk to each other in at least a basic form, but it looks like a real dogs breakfast getting that setup and working between all the different brands, and then returning people's headsets to normal afterwards.

Telling everyone involved to just standardize their units isn't probably a solution either - some prefer their chosen brands for various reasons and probably don't want to go through the hassle of selling their (already expensive) units to buy equally expensive alternatives.

So, I thought I'd look at a more universal solution instead, and suggested FRS for use during just these larger organize rides at a recent meeting. It's simple, they are durable, and they can be given out to those who need them at the beginning of a ride, used, and then returned at the end.

However, there's different challenges there, so I thought I'd pick on peoples brains for ideas from that perspective.

1- Using voice activation/VOX isn't going to be an ideal solution as needless to say changing noise levels are going to make such useless/frustrating, so some sort of boom mic/headpiece/earpiece solution with push to talk is going to be necessary. Further complicating things, some riders are full-face , and others use half helmets, so earbuds would be necessary I think so either helmet option works.

2- Push to talk is required but most I've seen use a lapel pin with cords that don't reach far. Mounting on handlebars is necessary IMHO so you don't need to remove your hands from the controls to push the button in busy traffic situations, etc.

3- Needs to be durable. I don't want any cheap garbage that falls apart the first time someone dismounts their bike and forgets to unplug or disconnect a wire or something.

4- Has to be loud enough to be heard over road and bike noise, and the mic needs to be decent enough to cancel out all the same.

I know this is a lot of "perfect world" stuff, but I thought I'd toss it out for suggestions/ideas.

Open to completely different options vs FRS as well.
 
I'm in the process of looking at communication options for the organization I ride with. Several times per year we do large group rides and the organizers (which I'm part of) like to stay in touch from the front to the back of the group (or possibly multiple groups) to organize traffic situations, cover any unforeseen changes in the ride, etc. The challenge is that there's a mishmash of communication options used by many of the members - some use Scala's, some use Sena's, and I think one uses Uclear. And I use the "V6" intercoms myself which have proven great, but again, different brand.

I know that there's supposedly a "universal" option on most of the above (including my V6's) that will allow them to all talk to each other in at least a basic form, but it looks like a real dogs breakfast getting that setup and working between all the different brands, and then returning people's headsets to normal afterwards.

Telling everyone involved to just standardize their units isn't probably a solution either - some prefer their chosen brands for various reasons and probably don't want to go through the hassle of selling their (already expensive) units to buy equally expensive alternatives.

So, I thought I'd look at a more universal solution instead, and suggested FRS for use during just these larger organize rides at a recent meeting. It's simple, they are durable, and they can be given out to those who need them at the beginning of a ride, used, and then returned at the end.

However, there's different challenges there, so I thought I'd pick on peoples brains for ideas from that perspective.

1- Using voice activation/VOX isn't going to be an ideal solution as needless to say changing noise levels are going to make such useless/frustrating, so some sort of boom mic/headpiece/earpiece solution with push to talk is going to be necessary. Further complicating things, some riders are full-face , and others use half helmets, so earbuds would be necessary I think so either helmet option works.

2- Push to talk is required but most I've seen use a lapel pin with cords that don't reach far. Mounting on handlebars is necessary IMHO so you don't need to remove your hands from the controls to push the button in busy traffic situations, etc.

3- Needs to be durable. I don't want any cheap garbage that falls apart the first time someone dismounts their bike and forgets to unplug or disconnect a wire or something.

4- Has to be loud enough to be heard over road and bike noise, and the mic needs to be decent enough to cancel out all the same.

I know this is a lot of "perfect world" stuff, but I thought I'd toss it out for suggestions/ideas.

Open to completely different options vs FRS as well.

Off the wall suggestion. Assuming everyone has a data plan on a smartphone, you could 'call in' via QCONF on whatsapp and do a group call. One run around to the potential data issues is, if someone has a very good data plan they could host everyone else as needed via Wifi Hotspot (not sure what the actual limit here is).
 
Hmmm... I hadn't considered a cellphone based solution.

Just a plain old fashioned phone call (with all others added in) is probably an easier solution however. The only downside there is that it's a constantly "live" call that way so you get to hear every single sniff, snort, wind noise, etc etc. And then there's still the issue with getting a quality earpiece/mic combo that doesn't result in hours of annoying wind noise being transmitted to everyone.

Not sure about it in the end as a data solution isn't viable for those with small data plans, wifi/hotspot isn't viable as sometimes the group gets split up well beyond Wifi range and it wouldn't be reliable, etc.
 
Hmmm... I hadn't considered a cellphone based solution.

Just a plain old fashioned phone call (with all others added in) is probably an easier solution however. The only downside there is that it's a constantly "live" call that way so you get to hear every single sniff, snort, wind noise, etc etc. And then there's still the issue with getting a quality earpiece/mic combo that doesn't result in hours of annoying wind noise being transmitted to everyone.

Not sure about it in the end as a data solution isn't viable for those with small data plans, wifi/hotspot isn't viable as sometimes the group gets split up well beyond Wifi range and it wouldn't be reliable, etc.

I'm sure you can just mute everyone who isn't an organizer/ride captain.

Yes the wifi/data may be an issue depending on the size of the group.
 
I'm sure you can just mute everyone who isn't an organizer/ride captain.

Not ideal - we all need to be able to communicate up and down the chain. For example, if I'm at the tail end and someone breaks down or something I need to be able to communicate to the guy at the front that we are dropping out, as well as letting someone else know to take up my spot.

The more I look at this the more I realize that everyone just being on a standardized intercom (Sena or Scala) would be the ultimate and easiest solution, but jeebus those things are expensive..and like I said, those on differing systems may not want to change their existing hardware just to comply.
 
Sena sells the SR10 for linking to a PTT radio solution. Not sure where you'd mount the unit though, as you still need to push the button to speak AFAIK.

https://www.sena.com/product/sr10/
 
I think you're going to find it pretty challenging to get most or all the riders on one communication standard. Just getting people to calibrate or pair would take quite some time and probably be fairly frustrating to manage.

Most of the larger group rides I do (and I intentionally do relatively few of these) use the "drop and sweep" method where the leader and tail never change and they stay connected via cell interfaced through a Scala type device.
 
A good unidirectional microphone is a minimum requirement; you won't be happy with the wind noise from typical cheap omnidirectional mics. I haven't tried these myself, but they are purpose designed for FRS radios: https://radioworld.ca/imc-hs110

But that's $65+ for the headset, plus the cost of the FRS unit itself, so that's not cheap when you scale it to a big riding group. And it's a pain to install and remove some of these things from full face helmets, so I can't imagine anyone with an existing headset is going to be enthusiastic about swapping everything out on the day of a ride.
 
I think you're going to find it pretty challenging to get most or all the riders on one communication standard. Just getting people to calibrate or pair would take quite some time and probably be fairly frustrating to manage.

Most of the larger group rides I do (and I intentionally do relatively few of these) use the "drop and sweep" method where the leader and tail never change and they stay connected via cell interfaced through a Scala type device.

I think like this guy. Although depending on the route, dropping a cell call could happen quite frequently. I'm not sure if there is a more resilient connection system that didn't require manual reconnection (eg. does something like whatsapp automatically reestablish a voice connection once signal is reacquired). Worst-case, sweep can just text (or BBM or Whatsapp for auto confirmation) or call lead rider when something matters

I don't know how big your rides are, but I wouldn't have faith in reliable communication with FRS over long distances. It isn't hard to have the lead rider more than a km from sweep and I have no faith in rock solid communication with FRS over that distance with intervening obstacles.
 
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One group I know of used CB for the lead and sweep.
 
............. they stay connected via cell interfaced through a Scala type device.

I probably should have been clearer in my post. I don't mean they have an open connection via cell during the ride. The lead and the sweep have each other's cell numbers in their contacts and can call via voice prompt through the Scala. They only call if there is an issue.
 

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