Cell phones= CB= Danger on the road?

 Not that I've seen a lot of two wheel cell phone users (blue tooth is
hard to spot), but how many people have seen two wheelers on a CB or
Ham Radio while driving?

I know lots of people with intercom headsets, but no hard wired CB
users.  Does the headset keep wind noise out? I just saw an ad for a
ham radio that uses blue tooth...again, how do they keep the noise
from broadcasting over the radio when they talk?

With some of those rigs drawing 30 amps, where do they get the power
on a motorcycle?

 Will wrote:

No *legal* CB installation will draw anything remotely close
to 30A (which would be 360W in on a nominal 12V system).
Which is not, of course, to say that all CB installations are legal,
but I seriously doubt you could find most motorcycle electrical
systems taking kindly to that sort of load in addition to the
other goodies people like to add on.

Ham radio - well, hams (and I are one) can certainly use a
LOT more power legally, but you'd be surprised how little
power is typically consumed by a mobile VHF FM rig -
these things very often run on 10W or less.

Anyway, you can get very good results with either CB or
ham radio and only pull a few amps, tops.

As to the noise question - there are various noise cancelling
techniques that work with varying degrees of success.
After all, if you can get a headset mike to work in such
places as a typical Cessna cockpit, the inside of a motorcycle
helmet isn't going to be an impossible challenge.

Bob M.

 Bob Myers wrote:

Well, I would guess that the Bluetooth rig he's referring to is the
FTM-10R by Yaesu.  <drool>  I plan to pick one up soon.  The standard
one puts out 50W on 2m, and 40W on 70cm.  :)  Well within what a decent
motorcycle should be able to supply, unless you're planning to transmit
for insanely long times while idling.  The newer, even more waterproof
one that they now offer, which I saw out in Dayton, (they had it
submerged in a fish tank while operating it) the FTM-10SR, only puts out
10W, I think.  I know it was a LOT less than the standard model.  But it
is completely waterproof, and a smaller package.  10W FM?  Might as well
use an HT.

My dad runs an Icom IC-208H on his Wing.  55W on 2m, 50 on 70cm.  He
just uses the standard mike that comes with the radio.  Other hams don't
believe him when he says he's operating Motorcycle Mobile.  They can't
get over the lack of wind noise.

As for the distraction vs. cell phones, etc, neither of us use the
radios for extended conversations.  Mostly if we get separated or for
quick questions/requests.  The Yaesu rig has a neat feature for stuff
like that.  It will send a short (pre-set) text message to another of
the same rig.  So you can have things set like: Fuel Stop, Bathroom
Stop, etc. and send them with a push of a button or two.  Personally,
I'd just say what I needed.  Seems simpler.

Yaesu really set up that FTM-10R nicely.  It has stereo Bluetooth, can
hook to two headsets and work as both the radio and an intercom for
passenger/rider.  Can take an outside source for audio.
(Ipod/mp3/satellite radio)  Has a built in FM broadcast tuner.  Has a
speaker output that can be used to listen to music, or as a PA.

--
"Outback" Jon  -  KC2BNE
outback_jon@g.no.sp.am.mail.com
http://folding.stanford.edu  - got folding?  Team 32

2006 ZG1000A Concours "Blueline" COG# 7385 CDA# 0157

 
You might as well. There's no ionosphere to speak of right now, or almost
any other time, for those freqs.


That does sound nice.

 MikeWhy wrote:

2m and 70 cm aren't really bands where the average ham
is too worried about the ionosphere anyway; there ARE some
people who like to try for DX on the VHF and UHF bands,
but for most of us repeaters are the name of the game there.

Bob M.