No, I don't mean the in-dash type or a walkman...I want to know if anyone can recommend a good type of 2 way radio for rock crawling. I can't hear my spotter in the new truck and would like a practical and most importantly reliable set up.
I've seen Lance, Mike, and Cathy with a radio that looks like the PCI setup, but am not sure that's what it is or if it even turned out to be a good unit.
Any recomendations?

Maybe something like the Chatterbox.....For motorcycles?

the cobra 2 way radios that we all got in on for $25 last week has a optional headset with voice activation. Thats what I will be using in the future.

:D

Of course you could'nt here your spotter.....he doesn't talk, just grunts:D

So how did your testing go....

Rich

I really like the popular FRS radios for clarity and conveniance - but I do find they are a little quiet. A headset is likely a must, and the voice activation I find is almost useless in a noisy rig.

So how did your testing go....

Well, we got into what would have been a really fun little canyon and then found we had two issues, the worst being a cracked steering knuckle on the Dynatrac 60 up front. We did get to twist the rig a little before that and we found we're going to have to cut the fiberglass more because the ProComp 37's are bigger than the MTR's. Bob seemed a little tired from Baja and we called it a day pretty quickly and headed off to the Outback for steak and :beer: :beer: :beer:

If you want to get serious these guys (http://www.racingradios.com/HelmetKitsNewlook.asp) are the way to go. They are some serious money but these are the same setups that a lot of your professional race teams use.

Unfortunatly it's almost impossible to find full duplex radios anymore because they really are the way to go. A company called Nady used to make some pretty nice full duplex systems but they seem to have stoped producing them.


Hope this helps.

give scott at pci a call. 800-869-5636. he is a friend of mine and he built the unit lance and mike use. it is still somewhat of a proto type and they are working on the details of it to make it work better for rock crawling.

We didn't like the PCI radio. It's a very expensive unit, and it's no better than a $45 Radio Shack unit. We've relayed the info back to PCI, and hopefully they will come up with something better. Their current setup is far to bulky for the spotter.

With the radio shack setup, Mike (driver) runs his radio on NON vox. I (spotter) run my radio on VOX at full sensitivity, that way he gets to hear my heavy breathing - kind of like a phone sex operator. :D:D:D

The ideal radio would be FULL DUPLEX (both people can talk AT THE SAME TIME) be light weight and SMALL because spotters are rolling around on rocks, etc. The headsets need to be small, compact, and in one ear only so that you can hear the judges talk to you. Of course they also need to be able to fit in the driver's helmet, as well.

I found the ones I was thinking of Nady PRC-9 (http://www.ridegear.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/store/product/F-495_PRC-9.html?E+scstore) . They are full duplex and the headsets will break down for helmet installation. I personally have used these radios with a couple different styles of helmet and they work very well (quad riding). If you can get them...they work great.


Note: My brother ordered a set of these a good 6 months ago and has yet to recieve them, I think he gave up. My uncle sent his in for repair and recieved new radios so you may or may not be able to get your hands on a set.

get cellphones and headsets, then you can both talk at the same time :flipoff2:

In the Navy for doing mountian rescue out of the Helicopter we use moterola saber radios with vox. Pretty pricy but noise from the helo which is very loud isn't a problem. Everything is clear and reliable.

Originally posted by RedBullJeep
So how did your testing go....

Well, we got into what would have been a really fun little canyon and then found we had two issues, the worst being a cracked steering knuckle on the Dynatrac 60 up front

Off the thread topic but which type of knuckle was it. I thought Walker had the ball joint dynatrac, is that correct?Where did it crack?

Lance....sounds like you need some Military equipment ;) Hard to get and not exactly legal to use either (depending on band).

uglytoy - we use the Motorolla Saber as well, excellent kit, and Secure capabilities too. Don;t know if they're avail to civilans, but I would think so, as they operate on VHF FM (at least some models do) like a marine radio. Dunno about licensing and such...the Queen covers my butt!

Are any of the snowmobile or motorcyle communicators full duplex?

hell if you can buy it someone has them on ebay

Sabers for sale on ebay (http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&query=motorola+saber&sr=y&from=R8&ht=1&combine=y)
And from having used them they do kick a$$

Off the thread topic but which type of knuckle was it. I thought Walker had the ball joint dynatrac, is that correct?Where did it crack?

let the knuckle speak for itself...the break goes all of the way through the casting and stops in the hole. I called DynaTrac and they said this was one of their early knuckles and that their new ones were much stronger. Considering how long this held up for Walker, I'm not too worried, but will probably upgrade anyway.

I know for a fact that the knuckle on Walker's truck was a old Dana knuckle, not a new Dynatrac Knuckle. You can tell by the bolt pattern on top of the knuckle.

check these out...

Rock Buggy Supply (http://www.rockbuggysupply.com/yabbse/index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=139)

-Jack

The radio shack ones work "ok". I got to use them among a team of 4 of us earlier this year for 26 hours. only had to change the batteries once.

Spotter, vox, full sensitivity, driver nothing, must press button to talk.

another thing.. you could possibly get around the problem by screaming single words that don't sound the same. even go so far as a code you and the driver understand. a code for left, right, forward, backward, etc, just to make sure words don't sound similar. of course, spotter gonna have sore voice after that.

Originally posted by Lance
We didn't like the PCI radio. It's a very expensive unit, and it's no better than a $45 Radio Shack unit. We've relayed the info back to PCI, and hopefully they will come up with something better. Their current setup is far to bulky for the spotter.

With the radio shack setup, Mike (driver) runs his radio on NON vox. I (spotter) run my radio on VOX at full sensitivity, that way he gets to hear my heavy breathing - kind of like a phone sex operator. :D:D:D

The ideal radio would be FULL DUPLEX (both people can talk AT THE SAME TIME) be light weight and SMALL because spotters are rolling around on rocks, etc. The headsets need to be small, compact, and in one ear only so that you can hear the judges talk to you. Of course they also need to be able to fit in the driver's helmet, as well.

We got some full duplex units. Settle for nothing less. We tried to have them for the last comp, but brown was lagging. Haven't tried them out yet but I do know from other uses, full duplex is the ONLY way to go. They retailer around $300:eek: