Blue Tooth Comms

[Swisstony23]

Have to go into Europe with the Car (other half driving) and me on the bike, does anybody know of a device I can purchase to enable us to have Comm's.

We have a set of SCALA rider, but thought the kids might be alarmed with the old lady wearing a crash helmet in the car, yes I have also thought of taking the head set off the helmet and duck taping it to her head (not sure if this idea with go down with her stylist?)

Surely this can’t be a bone question, can’t wait for the answers!!

P.S yes a quite ride over!, but I have the worlds tinniest bladder, so I will need to tell her I’m stopping “again”

 

[Bumpkin]

If you could connect your Scala to a PMR radio then that might be the best way forward. However, making that bridge from Bluetooth to a PMR isn't that easy, or cheap, to achieve.

The Interphone Tribe PMR radio has Bluetooth connectivity built in and should work with Bluetooth headsets other than the Interphone ones. ISTR having heard of them working with Scala. However, a friend of mine used one on a tour of ours recently and I can't report on them too favourably TBH. It was returned to the retailer afterwards who admitted that there was an issue. This was paired with an Interphone headset. Range was good but auto volume (no manual override ) wasn't reliable and frequently too quiet.

Possibly the Midland G8 BT radio, have no experience of this, see if you can get a demo before buying.

Another alternative is something like this which will connect to a range of PMR radios.

If you go the PMR route it might be worth getting a speaker/mic for the Mrs to use in the car.

Of no help whatsoever but I run a hard-wired Autocom connected to a Puxing radio. Have 2nd Puxing and speaker/mic. Works well for bike-car comms.

 

[Swisstony23]

Bumkin

Cheers for your help.

Looking at it for the amount of time I may need to contact her, I may just go down the route of using the phone via blue tooth.

Thanks Again

 

[Andy B]

I'm not sure if this is the answer but a call to Sam at Chainspeed should clarify soon enough.

http://www.chainspeed.co.uk/products/Interphone-TRIBE-%2d-Bluetooth-PMR-Transceiver.html

 

[Grey Beard]

I would have thought Bluetooth range may be a bit limited.

You could look at the radio systems that Driving Schools use for Motor Bike Training (the ones where the instructor follows in his nice warm car giving instructions, while you are in the freezing rain on the bike ). They don't look very expensive, though they were mono and the instructor (if on the bike) would have a press to talk button, as you would also need.

Using the phone for contact may get a little expensive with Roaming Charges outside the UK.

Grey Beard

 

[rce]

I would have thought Bluetooth range may be a bit limited.

Keep up at the back, most bike Bluetooth units well over 500m, many up to around 900m.

Hand signals agreed before hand, cheaper and easier. Can be heard over stereo blasting away.

 

[Grey Beard]

Keep up at the back, most bike Bluetooth units well over 500m, many up to around 900m.

Hand signals agreed before hand, cheaper and easier. Can be heard over stereo blasting away.

Well I have a Schuberth Rider Communication System, which in THEORY has a range of up to 300m, but no where in my wildest dreams would I expect anything like that range from Bluetooth in practice. It needs direct line of sight and perfect conditions. I imagine the metal car body will also substantially attenuate the Bluetooth signal.

I think the personal hand held radios would be a more reliable system, though as you say, a series of pre agreed hand signals would be simpler - but you have to be very close together and I don't think that will hold true at all times over a long distance drive.

I treat manufacturer's claims on radio based equipment with a healthy dose of salt.

We have plenty of issues with radio operated equipment in the house (remote switches and light dimmers).

WiFi is very poor in our house because the concrete floors have a lot of steel reinforcing in them.

On holiday recently, getting a WiFi signal at a camp site inside a motor home was near impossible because the metal body of the vehicle attenuated the signal so severely.

I would certainly want to try before I buy any such equipment.

Grey Beard

 

[rce]

Well I have a Schuberth Rider Communication System, which in THEORY has a range of up to 300m, but no where in my wildest dreams would I expect anything like that range from Bluetooth in practice. It needs direct line of sight and perfect conditions. I imagine the metal car body will also substantially attenuate the Bluetooth signal.

Thankfully no such problems with our Sena bt headsets, amazing range on them.

Our old bt units (cheap things off ebay) had reliability issues but a pretty good range, even used between car & bike when I had to ride 30 miles with a knackered cooling fan. The cheap ones off ebay have a socket for the headset to plug into which is the same pin out as Nokia phone headsets so missus used one of those instead of helmet headset in car, worked well. A bit expensive for a one off trip, and nowhere near the quality of the Sena units.

 

[Bumpkin]

Beware that long range Bluetooth is a proprietary technology, not an open standard. This means that one manufacturers long range Bluetooth will probably only communicate with units from the same manufacturer. This can sometimes be confused by manufacturers making Bluetooth systems for, say a helmet manufacturer such as Schuberth.

Thought I'd mention this in case you were thinking of buying a cheaper headset to communicate, or attempt to, with your existing ones.

 

[Swisstony23]

Thanks for all the idea's

I think though as this will be a one off affair, to keep cost down I may just take the spare scala rider headset of its helmet for one of my kids in the car.

As suggested pre-arranged stops ETC, would be the best idea.

Technology is great, how did I get down to Spain all those years ago with “ONLY” a map and stars to guide me, lol.

 

[AndyT]

Don't go down the bluetooth route - make hay whilst the sun shines and ride down there without any comms at all - tell her you need ear plugs anyway to protect your hearing

 

[Bumpkin]

Technology is great, how did I get down to Spain all those years ago with “ONLY” a map and stars to guide me, lol.

At least you have that knowledge, exercise it now and again and retain it for when the satellites fall out of the sky or get switched off. Watch you children be in awe of your 'caveman' skills as you navigate using a strange 2D representation of the terrain around you, a wrist watch and the sun

I love technology and especially GPS but also love maps for the practical and beautiful works of art that they are. I recall, as a child in the 60's, seeing James Bond's DB5 in Goldfinger and thinking that the 'scrolling map' on the dash was the coolest feature. Unlikely to happen in my life-time and be shockingly expensive when it did; Little did I know...

 

[slparry]

see my posting about the parrot sk4000, fit one of those and pair it to a phone with a country specific sim in it then have a similar hands free kit in the car sorted

 

[kenseaton]

in your situation I would have thought that mobile phones with bluetooth headsets would be the answer. May need to set up roaming or get a couple of foreign SIMs - but it's not as if you're chatting...