I tour regularly in a group of four or five bikes and to date we have eschewed the cost and complexity of PMRs. Communicating with others involves riding up to the front and gesturing that a pee, coffee or whatever is needed
We are however beginning to realise that on occasion some form of wireless comms would be an advantage
Reading that Class 1 Bluetooth devices can have a range in excess of 100 metres I recently contacted a well known bike to bike radio manufacturer to ask if a BT helmet to helmet unit was conceivable. They replied that bearing in mind the limited range and ability to communicate only with "paired" units, it was really just a software question and that they might look into the matter at a later date
I now see that at http://www.cellularline.com/news/interphone/n_interphone_e.htm someone has gone down this path - but only allowing two units to communicate. According to one ride report the system works well at up to 150 metres range
So my questions for the experts are - how many Class 1 BT units can be simultaneously coupled? - when two or more devices transmit at the same time what happens, is there a "VHF capture" effect or are frequencies "shuffled" so as to give a form of duplex/complex operation
... and my question for you riders - do you think that such a close-in, interference free, comms system would appeal to the market?
We are however beginning to realise that on occasion some form of wireless comms would be an advantage
Reading that Class 1 Bluetooth devices can have a range in excess of 100 metres I recently contacted a well known bike to bike radio manufacturer to ask if a BT helmet to helmet unit was conceivable. They replied that bearing in mind the limited range and ability to communicate only with "paired" units, it was really just a software question and that they might look into the matter at a later date
I now see that at http://www.cellularline.com/news/interphone/n_interphone_e.htm someone has gone down this path - but only allowing two units to communicate. According to one ride report the system works well at up to 150 metres range
So my questions for the experts are - how many Class 1 BT units can be simultaneously coupled? - when two or more devices transmit at the same time what happens, is there a "VHF capture" effect or are frequencies "shuffled" so as to give a form of duplex/complex operation
... and my question for you riders - do you think that such a close-in, interference free, comms system would appeal to the market?
