Kenwood 3301 - Yes or No

[JJ's GS]

Hi Guys
I'm looking to get bike to bike radio and from what I read it seems Kenwood is the one to go for.
Anyone have the 3301, is it good, should I try for the 3201 as it's tried and tested etc. etc.
I want to link it to my Autocom I bought a couple of months ago.
Is there any difference between the 2 models, any problems I should be aware of?

Thanks
JJ

 

[mr_magicfingers]

I just bought a pair of TK-359's for £30 each on ebay and the seller programmed them to the same frequencies as the current kenwoods. More power, much cheaper and you can put an external antenna on them.

Bargain.

 

[Greg Masters]

I just bought a pair of TK-359's for £30 each on ebay and the seller programmed them to the same frequencies as the current kenwoods. More power, much cheaper and you can put an external antenna on them.

Illegal.

Fixed.

Greg

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Plenty of threads about the legality of using one on here and other forums. Upshot is that although technically illegal no-one polices it. If you leave it at one watt output it's not going to overpower any other radios and the external antenna will give you a much clearer signal for the same power.

Was simply offering a much cheaper alternative option, but yes technically it's illegal though like the 70mph limit most people ignore it, we just don't go silly about it most of the time.

 

[Bohsfc]

I just bought a pair of TK-359's for £30 each on ebay and the seller programmed them to the same frequencies as the current kenwoods. More power, much cheaper and you can put an external antenna on them.

Bargain.

Do you know if it is possible to power the TK-359 from the autocom?

cheers
Rob

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Do you know if it is possible to power the TK-359 from the autocom?

cheers
Rob

Not directly I don't think, you'd need a battery eliminator and I think autocom only do them for the current 3x01 series radios.

You can get an eliminator that just plugs into 12v, which is what I plan to do and wire into the centech fuse box I have. Either I'll get a couple of these or I'll get a couple of the cheap ones for the 3201 which can be had on ebay for about £8 and then buy a couple of old batteries for the 359 for a fiver and gut them, replacing the innards with the ones from the 3201 eliminator. Depends how much faff I can be bothered with.

I'm also getting a couple of the number plate mount and 1/2 wave antenna's from this thread which are £36 for the full kit.

 

[Bohsfc]

Not directly I don't think, you'd need a battery eliminator and I think autocom only do them for the current 3x01 series radios.

You can get an eliminator that just plugs into 12v, which is what I plan to do and wire into the centech fuse box I have. Either I'll get a couple of these or I'll get a couple of the cheap ones for the 3201 which can be had on ebay for about £8 and then buy a couple of old batteries for the 359 for a fiver and gut them, replacing the innards with the ones from the 3201 eliminator. Depends how much faff I can be bothered with.

I'm also getting a couple of the number plate mount and 1/2 wave antenna's from this thread which are £36 for the full kit.

Thanks for the info. Might be worth it for the extra range. I have a 3201 which I messed up trying to put an external aerial onto so now while it still works it does not have a great range anymore. I already have an eliminator for it so half way there.

Cheers

Rob

 

[Bohsfc]

Not directly I don't think, you'd need a battery eliminator and I think autocom only do them for the current 3x01 series radios.

You can get an eliminator that just plugs into 12v, which is what I plan to do and wire into the centech fuse box I have. Either I'll get a couple of these or I'll get a couple of the cheap ones for the 3201 which can be had on ebay for about £8 and then buy a couple of old batteries for the 359 for a fiver and gut them, replacing the innards with the ones from the 3201 eliminator. Depends how much faff I can be bothered with.

I'm also getting a couple of the number plate mount and 1/2 wave antenna's from this thread which are £36 for the full kit.

Justin, I contacted the guy on ebay selling the 359 radios and asked him about the battery eliminator that autocom do. Its the one that screws into the battery terminals and from what he can tell from the photo on chainspeed he reckons it will do the job.
Would save alot of hassle with stripping other eliminators and buying old batteries.

regards

Rob

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Justin, I contacted the guy on ebay selling the 359 radios and asked him about the battery eliminator that autocom do. Its the one that screws into the battery terminals and from what he can tell from the photo on chainspeed he reckons it will do the job.
Would save alot of hassle with stripping other eliminators and buying old batteries.

regards

Rob

Hi Rob, as far as I could see from Chainspeed's site, the battery eliminators for the kenwoods are the 2x01 model only, they replace the battery itself with a dummy pack with a power connection. On the 3x01 series radios this is on the back, on the 359 it's on the bottom, so the pack won't fit.

Which version are you looking at?

Justin.

 

[Bohsfc]

Hi Rob, as far as I could see from Chainspeed's site, the battery eliminators for the kenwoods are the 2x01 model only, they replace the battery itself with a dummy pack with a power connection. On the 3x01 series radios this is on the back, on the 359 it's on the bottom, so the pack won't fit.

Which version are you looking at?

Justin.

This one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-AUTOCOM-P...mQQptZUK_Motorcycle_Parts?hash=item3a55ed0f5f

 

[mr_magicfingers]

This one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-AUTOCOM-P...mQQptZUK_Motorcycle_Parts?hash=item3a55ed0f5f

That looks interesting, my autocom takes the smaller lead that plugs into the circuit board. My radios should arrive tomorrow so I'll have a better idea of how the battery connects, looks like you'd need to have screw contact for the power, and I think they're just springs on the battery.

Let you know once I have the radio in hand. I know there are two different power outputs from the different autocoms, some do 9v, some do 12.

 

[Bohsfc]

That looks interesting, my autocom takes the smaller lead that plugs into the circuit board. My radios should arrive tomorrow so I'll have a better idea of how the battery connects, looks like you'd need to have screw contact for the power, and I think they're just springs on the battery.

Let you know once I have the radio in hand. I know there are two different power outputs from the different autocoms, some do 9v, some do 12.

The 9v and 12v answers the question I posted on another thread, thanks. The battery connecters are just a screw on a leaf spring so it should do. I will PM you the email I got from the guy selling the radios.

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Just received my radios and the battery connections are held on by tiny screws so that cable looks like it'll do the job perfectly. Also means the radio becomes very small without the battery or antenna if you use an external antenna. Radio becomes a box 80x60x30mm which will fit under the seat very neatly.

Now to check in with Chainspeed to see if they have one for my autocom.

 

[Bohsfc]

Just received my radios and the battery connections are held on by tiny screws so that cable looks like it'll do the job perfectly. Also means the radio becomes very small without the battery or antenna if you use an external antenna. Radio becomes a box 80x60x30mm which will fit under the seat very neatly.

Now to check in with Chainspeed to see if they have one for my autocom.

That sounds great, Justin. Thanks for that.

Rob

 

[mr_magicfingers]

apparently my autocom puts out 12v not 9v so this lead wouldn't work, will look for another eliminator option.

J.

 

[Bohsfc]

apparently my autocom puts out 12v not 9v so this lead wouldn't work, will look for another eliminator option.

J.

Which model of autocom do you have?

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Which model of autocom do you have?

Superpro Automatic

 

[ph54]

Bike Communications

I been reading your chat about the Kenwood TK-359 and this is on the 446.025 MHz band and at 0.5W the range is going to be very poor. I have tried all the options available and came to the conclusion that to get any range you need 4W radio. Which leads into the 27 MHz and now that there are license free it mean that you can have more fun riding and still keep in contact to your mates, and meet new people on the air. And the Midland 75-822 can be wired into the battery and you can still use the little number plate mount. Look into it you maybe surprised.

 

[Bohsfc]

I been reading your chat about the Kenwood TK-359 and this is on the 446.025 MHz band and at 0.5W the range is going to be very poor. I have tried all the options available and came to the conclusion that to get any range you need 4W radio. Which leads into the 27 MHz and now that there are license free it mean that you can have more fun riding and still keep in contact to your mates, and meet new people on the air. And the Midland 75-822 can be wired into the battery and you can still use the little number plate mount. Look into it you maybe surprised.

Setting them to 1W instead of .5W in order to give greater distance and also intend to fit external antenna.

 

[mr_magicfingers]

I been reading your chat about the Kenwood TK-359 and this is on the 446.025 MHz band and at 0.5W the range is going to be very poor. I have tried all the options available and came to the conclusion that to get any range you need 4W radio. Which leads into the 27 MHz and now that there are license free it mean that you can have more fun riding and still keep in contact to your mates, and meet new people on the air. And the Midland 75-822 can be wired into the battery and you can still use the little number plate mount. Look into it you maybe surprised.

359's have 3 power settings, 1/2/4 watts. External antenna makes the big difference.