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Race Radios in Buggys


80grit
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How many people are running race radios in their buggy’s. I know they use them quite a bit in Glamis. Curious how much they are used in Dumont.

Couple weekends ago a buddy of mine and I used them to talk buggy to buggy. He has one in his trailer and we talked from the north pole back to camp area no problem. It was really clear and can connect anywhere in Dumont.

I started thinking that they could be quite useful if you needed to call back to camp for a tow or tools or even an emergency situation.

Does anyone use them? What frequency do you run? Is there an emergency frequency people monitor? I thought I would ask the Leo’s at Thanksgiving if they monitor any of those frequency’s also.

I have been told the base station setups in the trailers will go 40 plus miles.

Edited by 80grit
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How many people are running race radios in their buggy’s. I know they use them quite a bit in Glamis. Curious how much they are used in Dumont.

Couple weekends ago a buddy of mine and I used them to talk buggy to buggy. He has one in his trailer and we talked from the north pole back to camp area no problem. It was really clear and can connect anywhere in Dumont.

I started thinking that they could be quite useful if you needed to call back to camp for a tow or tools or even an emergency situation.

Does anyone use them? What frequency do you run? Is there an emergency frequency people monitor? I thought I would ask the Leo’s at Thanksgiving if they monitor any of those frequency’s also.

I have been told the base station setups in the trailers will go 40 plus miles.

They only work very well if they are setup correctly. I have an ICOM in my truck and a small handheld for my quad. I had a radio person walk me through proper antenna tuning and it works really good - I can easly hear weatherman to my house from both north and south. Dont buy into the big long antenna BS - My antenna is 16" with the proper mounting and blows away the guys with whips flapping around without the proper mounting. Also with the correct setup you can achive better results with 5w then a guy with a poor setup @ 50w. I have the frequencys if needed - they are usually assigned by PCI for racing, but the BLM has a frequency also if you need it. If you have the ICOM they are also easily programmed with the software/cable...

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I have 1 in the car and I bought the portable sytem with a cb mic.. havnt used much yet but next go around my portable is going in the rzr so we can reach camp or whatever while dunning

How do you tune an antenna?

Also basic programming comes on the unit and with the disk you can custom program it.

Capt.

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Not familiar with what frequencies are ran with "race" radios, though you have to pick if you want to either use CB "citizens band" or UHF. You will get alot more range with UHF plus access to alot more frequencies. Both Motorola and ICOM make very good radios including Kenwood, its what brand you like. Personally i prefer ICOM, you get the same quality from a motorola but cheaper. In a buggy, or hauler, i would go with a 50 wt base station. You will need to make sure you have the correct power and most importantly, correct antena. To carry around on a quad a handheld will work fine depending on obstructions and terrain. The most you can get out of a hand held would be 5 watts. :clap:

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I have 1 in the car and I bought the portable sytem with a cb mic.. havnt used much yet but next go around my portable is going in the rzr so we can reach camp or whatever while dunning

How do you tune an antenna?

Also basic programming comes on the unit and with the disk you can custom program it.

Capt.

Every channel has a frequency. The higher the frequency the shorter (electrically speaking) the frequency wavelength. The lower the frequency the longer the wavelength.

You need an SWR meter to measure it correctly. You pick a frequency that you will be using most and lengthen or shorten the antenna to try a achieve a "Standing Wave Ratio" of one to one on that frequency. As you move up or down away from either side of that frequency, you will get electrical resistance and your antenna will not be tuned correctly for that new frequncy. Not a big deal until you get far enough away from that "tuned" frequency where your SWR reading is above 1.7 to 1. High SWR readings will cause lack of reception but worse then that will create heat and blow your output transistor (when transmitting) on your radio.

Most of the 1/2 wave antennas have a small allen screw on the base of the unit. If you loosen it, you can raise or lower the steel shaft to electrically make the antenna longer or shorter to achieve the correct electrical wave length.

Looking at the frequencys for Race band radios...they start at around 150.935 Mhz and stop at 157.845 Mhz. At least in my radio. I have the rugged radio also and they program all 4 banks.

It seems like most of the freqs are between 151.13 through 153.500. So I am going to tune my antennas to 152 Mhz.

Weatherman is 151.624

BFG Relay is 151.715

Checkers is 151.925

BFG Pits is 153.396

Anyways I have a Kenwood SWR meter (from my ham radio days) to handle that range and will bring it this weekend coming up if you want me to tune your antenna. Takes 5-10 minutes.

Edited by 80grit
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Every channel has a frequency. The higher the frequency the shorter (electrically speaking) the frequency wavelength. The lower the frequency the longer the wavelength.

You need an SWR meter to measure it correctly. You pick a frequency that you will be using most and lengthen or shorten the antenna to try a achieve a "Standing Wave Ratio" of one to one on that frequency. As you move up or down away from either side of that frequency, you will get electrical resistance and your antenna will not be tuned correctly for that new frequncy. Not a big deal until you get far enough away from that "tuned" frequency where your SWR reading is above 1.7 to 1. High SWR readings will cause lack of reception but worse then that will create heat and blow your output transistor (when transmitting) on your radio.

Most of the 1/2 wave antennas have a small allen screw on the base of the unit. If you loosen it, you can raise or lower the steel shaft to electrically make the antenna longer or shorter to achieve the correct electrical wave length.

Looking at the frequencys for Race band radios...they start at around 150.935 Mhz and stop at 157.845 Mhz. At least in my radio. I have the rugged radio also and they program all 4 banks.

It seems like most of the freqs are between 151.13 through 153.500. So I am going to tune my antennas to 152 Mhz.

Weatherman is 151.624

BFG Relay is 151.715

Checkers is 151.925

BFG Pits is 153.396

Anyways I have a Kenwood SWR meter (from my ham radio days) to handle that range and will bring it this weekend coming up if you want me to tune your antenna. Takes 5-10 minutes.

There you go... I learned somethin lol.... wont be out until maybe turkey day at the soonest.. I will take you up on the offer another time.. thanks

Capt

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Im having a radio setup installed in my car soon. Ill hit you up Rob on the antenna tuning once its finished.

No problem at all. Its easy to do.

Where I was going with this thread was more to see how many people have radios at Dumont and see if we want to pick one of the frequencys as an Un-official Dumont frequency. That way if anyone had an issue and needed assistance, there would be people "on-air" monitoring. There would be people talking also but if murphys law happens, there would be people available to respond scenario.

Just a thought.

Edited by 80grit
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I have one in my car and its has saved my butt at Glamis. Got a flat tire and no one in my group was around. Was able to reach them by radio and had them bring me my rock tires to get out of there.

Definately a good investment, both for entertainment and safety.

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No problem at all. Its easy to do.

Where I was going with this thread was more to see how many people have radios at Dumont and see if we want to pick one of the frequencys as an Un-official Dumont frequency. That way if anyone had an issue and needed assistance, there would be people "on-air" monitoring. There would be people talking also but if murphys law happens, there would be people available to respond scenario.

Just a thought.

GOOD IDEA! :beercheers:

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GOOD IDEA! :beercheers:

We run Dumont mostly. Glamis about twice a year. Run with about 3-6 rails. Don't know how you run without radios. Never fails we will have one car without a radio and it is the biggest pain in the butt, especially if they seem to not be able to keep up. Even the RZRs in our group run radios. Anyway, never a specific channel, just whatever we happen to be on. It is by far the best addition to anyone's rail. Just my 2 cents.

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Our group sometimes has about 10-15 buggies in line at times and nobody even has or uses radios. There's not enough time to even sneeze...let alone talk to each other while driving the way we do. :shocked::randog::laughing::headbang1:

If our group talked on the radios while we were duning im sure it would sound something like..... Dude that was badass, holy sh*t did you see what randizzle just did, YIAH YIAH, MUTHA BITCHEZZ!!! Hey... where did everyone go? :laughoff::driver:

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one in the car and base in the moho. will never go back to no radio. if someone on run doesn't we keep them in the center. i must disagree Pete! when there is someone or something where it should not be on a fast run you find the time to give the heads up. runs are also normally listened in on at camp by whomever is chillin and if help is needed its instant. music is a large plus as well. just my 2cents

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Our group sometimes has about 10-15 buggies in line at times and nobody even has or uses radios. There's not enough time to even sneeze...let alone talk to each other while driving the way we do. :laughoff::randog::laughing::headbang1:

On our last run, I kept hitting the button and saying "Hey Pete, can ya hear me now" "Pete, Can ya hear me now?"

I thought you were just ignoring me. :shocked:

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I wish they were standard equipment on our cars. It has saved a few frontends many times by being able to tell the other cars whats ahead. Plus its fun to talk crap while riding. With the button on the steering wheel it takes no effort and your not distracted while driving looking for the button.

Also with the ipod hooked up you can jam your music when no one is talking

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I heard they had more of that casino carpet laying around somewhere :P

did you get the matching floor mats. lol i was like wtf on the seat color choice when the rest of the rail is so sick.

but i'd rock it in a heartbeat. lol

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