CB Radio on Motorcycle | GTAMotorcycle.com

CB Radio on Motorcycle

M

MaksTO

Well-known member
Hey All!

Was chatting to some friends about getting a comms system sometime for our trips. Not a fan of the Cardo et al. as it seems range is not great, and price is steep for the comparatively awful sound quality (god I love my Shure SE215s....). We are thinking of rigging up a DIY CB Radio solution of some sort with something like a marine grade CB receiver mounted on the bike to the battery, and a set of speakers and a mic on the bike with a push-to-talk on the handlebar or something. Ideally just have one plug into the helmet and call it a day. Wonder if it is a) possible to make practical, and b) can be done for less than the price of a Cardo etc system.

Also... I think a firestick on my KLR would look super cool and period appropriate 😄

Wondering if anyone has done it, or if there are any resources for something like this? Seems that CB is better for situations where distances may be longer (eg someone gets lost or falls behind in the forest), and I don't particularly want to depend on my phone on trips, since that kind of defeats one of the primary reasons I ride a motorcycle (seriously, as a 24 year old I cant stand how much time I spend on this F****** THING!).

Seems Midland makes the HDS-1 kit which has a speaker and mic that mount inside a helmet. Might be a good starting point?


Curious to hear your thoughts!
 
I think it is going to be expensive and annoying and you will only really use it once. Hilarious though and I hope you do it.
 
MaksTO said:
I expect it to be a little impractical 😄

But also super super super cool :cool:
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For added cool points, you really should have the handheld mic with curly cord for when you need to talk. A headset solution loses much of the cool factor.
 
GreyGhost said:
For added cool points, you really should have the handheld mic with curly cord for when you need to talk. A headset solution loses much of the cool factor.
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Honestly, that would be the way easier solution, and I prefer the look. However, with a full-face, I am not sure how possible that would be :(

I am not much of a brain bucket guy...
 
Sena makes an interface for their communicators called the SR-10 that can plug into some CB radios if you can find a cable with matching pin-outs.

Here are some cables that will work with some CB manufacturers:


Also, if you don't want to use crappy helmet speakers, most of the Sena comms have a 3.5" mini-jack where you can plug in any IEMs like your Shure S215s.
 
GreyGhost said:
For added cool points, you really should have the handheld mic with curly cord for when you need to talk. A headset solution loses much of the cool factor.
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Don’t forget the rear rack mounted antenna. If I recall, a standard Goldwing factory antenna is about 40”, and the to is about 7’6” over ground.

that gets you 4-6 km range on flat ground.

my GL1500 factory cb was reliable when I could see the other rider, hit and miss on uneven terrain and at distances above 3km.
 
I am sure if you check out some HD threads (even if that isn't your bike or style of bike) they would be all over CB-Radio's.
 
I just looked it up. Turns out that phone you hate so much is actually optional.
 
You might want to look again at comms. If range is the issue get a set with the mesh network range extension feature like the Cardo Packtalk - even if rider 1 is 4-5 km ahead of rider 5, if there's 3 other riders in between the two at various points the mesh network bounces the signal back through all the other riders to the guy at the back.

CB Radio is really hit or miss unless you have a hell of an antenna, and you'll not be happy with any jury-rigged speaker/microphone setups. Also keep in mind that you can't by law hold a microphone or even a PTT anymore under the hands free regs now, so you'll need to find a boom mic setup that inferfaces with the CB and is either VOX, or you'll need a wired PTT on your handlebars. And even after all that is done you'll still be dealing with uncancelled wind noise...something that the purpose built comms take care of automatically now.

If you're still determined to go that way however, I'd consider FRS before CB now. It's superior in a lot of ways.
 
PrivatePilot said:
You might want to look again at comms. If range is the issue get a set with the mesh network range extension feature like the Cardo Packtalk - even if rider 1 is 4-5 km ahead of rider 5, if there's 3 other riders in between the two at various points the mesh network bounces the signal back through all the other riders to the guy at the back.

CB Radio is really hit or miss unless you have a hell of an antenna, and you'll not be happy with any jury-rigged speaker/microphone setups. Also keep in mind that you can't by law hold a microphone or even a PTT anymore under the hands free regs now, so you'll need to find a boom mic setup that inferfaces with the CB and is either VOX, or you'll need a wired PTT on your handlebars. And even after all that is done you'll still be dealing with uncancelled wind noise...something that the purpose built comms take care of automatically now.

If you're still determined to go that way however, I'd consider FRS before CB now. It's superior in a lot of ways.
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Do the mesh units bounce off random packs in the area? For instance your group of five heading north and a random rider passes going south, does the random riders packtalk relay your signal or is the mesh only those included in your group?
 
Good question, not sure honestly. It would be awesome if it worked as a giant public mesh network, but I suspect that it's only amongst units that are paired with each other in the app.
 
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