Kenwood TK 3301

[kwallace21]

Hello all. Need some info on the aforementioned radio. Looking at buying a pair from a fellow tosser for bike to bike comms on a forthcoming European tour. Can they be powered by an Autocomm and how easy is it to connect them. Also, what sort of practical range do they have if they are mounted under the seat of my 1150 GSA.
Not wanting to go to the expense and hassle of external mounted ariels etc.
Any info greatly appreciated.

cheers
Kev

 

[Mikes Bike]

hey kev, just seen ur post so this could be a late for your trip..

myself and a mate have Kenwood TK3301, we used to have them on sport bikes and the range was dreadful (about 100- 150M), 4 cylinders caused massive interference, and we would have to try drop revs on bike when talking.

but now we have them on 2 1150gs . sound quality is great even at motorway speed and the range is about 700-800m. we have them where the tool tray should be.

the radio is easy to connect , but you will need :

1402 Kenwood Battery Eliminator & Interface

then its plug and play.

i would like to extend the range even further by an antena extension, i know on some radios you pull out the antena , then plug in a cable, which has at the other end a flat bar to pick up reception, the bar can be stuck to surfaces like a topbox. would be neat and tidy , but i just can find one for the kenwood.

 

[newboy]

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221110
might help

magic fingers did a good write up

bikers oracle (in thread) do a kit for suitable radios....

 

[kwallace21]

Thanks for that Mike.
Picked up a pair of Mitex 5 watt radios which seem to have pretty good range even lying flat under the seat. Around a kilometre in built up area so happy with that. £150 a pair from Maplin.
PTT and Kenwood connecting cable from Autocom and jobs a good un.

cheers
Kev

 

[Bumpkin]

If you can get the radios upright the performance should improve considerably. I know this is difficult on a bike. This is where the BO antenna kit really pays it's way freeing you to choose where you mount your radio without loosing out on performance.

With the radio flat under the seat you'll tend to get OK range in one plane, but poor the more you deviate away from that.

If the TK3301 is anything like the TK3201 then you'll need to resort to surgery to add an antenna connector. The parts are available for another Kenwood model, there's holes on the 3201 chassis to screw them to.

Having said that I use a Puxing PX888 combined with the BO antenna kit. Was leading a group on tour in the Vosges a couple of weeks ago with a similarly equipped TEC. We were getting up to 5km range (without trying for the mountain top to mountain top optimum) which I was pleased with. In the wooded parts, of which the Vosges has plenty, range was reduced quite a bit but still a very usable 1-2km.

The ranges quoted by radio manufacturers are not real world. I'm sure with our set-up to could do 10km+ if we found the ideal location but what's the point in that when you're unlikely to actually encounter that scenario whilst out riding.