Lemon's ChumpCar Radio systems

Mitchell Moore · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 3:11 pm **Posts:** 197

So we are in the process of building a new car for Chump and Lemon's and are looking for a radio system that works well. Before we purchase a system similar to what Vincent is running (Nerdie NASCAR wiring with commercial Motorola radios) I though I would ask what other teams are using.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Hey Mitch, you may want to shoot Rob Harvey an email for specifics ... but I'm pretty sure we have Motorola CP200's with a RE PTT harness. We all use a couple different headset harnesses (some built-in the helmet, some velcro-on), all with some kind of foam or moulded earbuds. Nascar style plugs.

No idea if there is something cheaper that is as reliable and effective. We went from the crap Midlands a long time ago and have been using the Motos for several years with good performance.

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:38 am

Mitch, We've been using Baofeng UV5 radios for about two years now. They are multi band, almost infinite freq capable over 100 pre stored channels. And the best of all they cost.......are you ready......less than 40$ . The plug in to the car harness is kenwood compatable and can be purchased from rugged radios or racing radios. Here's a link to amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... 2hcx9iz2_e

Mitchell Moore · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 3:11 pm **Posts:** 197

MikeWhitney wrote:

Hey Mitch, you may want to shoot Rob Harvey an email for specifics ... but I'm pretty sure we have Motorola CP200's with a RE PTT harness. We all use a couple different headset harnesses (some built-in the helmet, some velcro-on), all with some kind of foam or moulded earbuds. Nascar style plugs.

No idea if there is something cheaper that is as reliable and effective. We went from the crap Midlands a long time ago and have been using the Motos for several years with good performance.

We are looking at a similar setup. Nerdie Nascar car harness and helmet kits which uses Nascar style plugs. The radios will be Vertex VX-351 a commercial grade radio. Vertex is now owned by Motorola.

I'm curious about where you don't have coverage at VIR. When you're running out of the North Paddock.

What type of headset is your crew chief using? I'm not a big fan of double muffler head sets. They are not comfortable at all and isolate you to much from the rest of the team. I'm thinking about using a single muffler head set like NFL football coaches use.

Mitchell Moore · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 3:11 pm **Posts:** 197

Bernie Baake wrote:

Mitch, We've been using Baofeng UV5 radios for about two years now. They are multi band, almost infinite freq capable over 100 pre stored channels. And the best of all they cost.......are you ready......less than 40$ . The plug in to the car harness is kenwood compatable and can be purchased from rugged radios or racing radios. Here's a link to amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... 2hcx9iz2_e

You definitely can't beat the price.

Steve found a complete system from Rugged Radios that uses these radios. They put a different number on them and a blue cover but they are the Baofeng UV5. Did someone on your team do the programming to get them working? I'm the radio guy on our team and do not know if I want to learn how to program them.

What kind of reliability have you had with the Baofeng? Have you dropped them? Did they continue to work? The reason I ask is the Motorola CP200 and the Vertix VX-351 meet military spec on vibration, dust and water. I can't find that the Boefeng meets the same spec.

What kind of battery life are you getting?

Like I ask Mike, where are your dead spots at VIR? Have you tried a single muffler head set on your crew chief?

Some many questions but radios that work are important.

Thanks for the help.

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:34 pm

Mitch, reliability is not as good as a cp200. But with the price being 1/5 of a cp200 you can afford to buy several there by negating the reliability aspect. We have four that we've used at VIR and Roar Atlanta. after 2 yrs we've had one failure. That radio lost transmit but still receives.
Programming can be done manually or with a computer and there are numerous guides in English and in videos as to how to use and program the unit.
Coverage at VIR is better than you get with the Cp200. the only loss of contact is at the bottom of the hill at T10. As an example I spoke to Anne Keller in her trailer at south paddock while I was waiting in line at the concession stand in north paddock with only the short rubber duckie antenna.
At RA we were lost communications shortly before T6 and regained it at T8. we were at pit lane in the sixth slot, the hill is quite high at that point and blocked the comm.
I've dropped them numerous times and they still continued to work. The failure we had had nothing to do with dropping the radio, it just quit on turn on one day.
We've used standard crew headsets and ear buds with them and they all work well
The corner workers at VIR use CP200 radio's supplied by Vir after I showed them the baofeng, half of the flaggers and security and EV workers bought them for their own personal use. Kerrigan Smith also got one after he saw it work.
What else do you need to know????

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:28 pm

Sorry to interject. I am curious about how this works. I am not a HAM, so I don't know the details, but how do these radios work from a licensed use perspective? Do teams only use public band and power that do not require a license, does team have to have a license for use, or is something else going on?

Thanks,

Richard

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:22 pm

They are a HAM radio. You can 'use' them on the FRS/GMRS frequencies but they are not licensed for it. In reality though, unless you stomp on Fire/EMS/Police or a towing company no one will ever say peep about whatever frequencies you use.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:38 pm

JamesMilko wrote:

In reality though, unless you stomp on Fire/EMS/Police or a towing company no one will ever say peep about whatever frequencies you use.

This is our take as well. Our radios range are relatively short and this makes interference a non-issue. No interference = no complaint = FCC no care, or lack the manpower to enforce it if they did care.

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:45 pm

There are frequencies that you definitely want to stay away from, the most important is any of the ham freq's they monitor them continuously and will DF your transmissions and notify the FCC as to where you are. As James wrote FRS & GMRS freq's are the best to use. I can give you a break down of what to use and what not to use. and as VK stated the low power keeps most interference down to a minimum. I have a friend who runs in nascar pro cup and K&N series and I use his frequencies that way I don't get interference from other chumps or lemons racers. Also the batteries on the baofeng last for more than thirteen hours. Anne and I ran At RA this spring in the chump race and they lasted the entire race.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:47 pm

JamesMilko wrote:

They are a HAM radio. You can 'use' them on the FRS/GMRS frequencies but they are not licensed for it. In reality though, unless you stomp on Fire/EMS/Police or a towing company no one will ever say peep about whatever frequencies you use.

I suspected that was the answer. I did a tiny bit of research and I couldn't see a way to do this 100% legal without a license. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. Sorry for the thread derailment.

Richard

RickyBeam · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:08 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

I did a tiny bit of research and I couldn't see a way to do this 100% legal without a license.

Note: some FRS/GMRS channels require a license as well. My dad has a pair of GMRS radios that work over 14mi (on paper, the most they've ever been used is about 2-3mi across a 250ac farm.) Given the limited duration and location of use, the FCC is unlikely to a) care, or b) ever show up.

(Team Duff is too cheap for such nice tech. I'm building a hack to use a 4G LTE (Verizon) tablet and SIP to provide 2way voice to the car. Motorcycle helmet bluetooth headsets -- $15, 7 hour talk time, but they aren't going to be used constantly.)

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:39 pm

RickyBeam wrote:

My dad has a pair of GMRS radios that work over 14mi (on paper, the most they've ever been used is about 2-3mi across a 250ac farm.)

We started with those back in 2008 and that 14 mile claim is a real S-T-R-E-T-C-H. We couldn't hear from one end of VIR to the other (yes, I know it's not flat) but even with line of sight I don't think they would work that far. Regardless, their volume output is too low for motorsports use, which is why we ended up with our VHF/UHF radios.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2014 5:03 pm

All GMRS requires a license. Completely unenforced though. It's just an application and mail in your fee deal though. Iirc < $100 for multiple years per family.

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Fri Nov 21, 2014 1:52 pm

RickyBeam wrote:

(Team Duff is too cheap for such nice tech. I'm building a hack to use a 4G LTE (Verizon) tablet and SIP to provide 2way voice to the car. Motorcycle helmet bluetooth headsets -- $15, 7 hour talk time, but they aren't going to be used constantly.)

I think the big picture long term solution is for tracks to build local WiFi networks (much like University Campuses do) and utilize VoWiFi. We could show up with our phones (which everyone already has), a Bluetooth headset (<$100) and connect. You'd be able to talk to anyone on site, no cell service required, no interference, no FCC licenses. I think most would pay a reasonable event fee for reliable communication (based on what people are spending for marginal radio performance).

I know . . . I'm dreaming. :roll:

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