radios in enduro events

[ron brolley]

I was looking into getting radios for myself and my son so we can communicate during the race. I saw racing radios had one up to 3/4 of a mile and a 2 mile version. The price range is pretty big, so can i get away with the 3/4 one at most tracks? I run mostly WKA events so that will tell you the tracks i run at. Nothing like Road America or anything. Thanks in advance.
Ron

[scott berkheiser]

Ron,

We use the more expensive ones and even those don't give us 100% coverage. There is usually a few weak spots depending on the track.

Scott

[Jeff Edwards]

I don't know WKA, but IKF rules specifically ban the use of radios, #106.7

I thought I'd mention it for the benefit of any IKF competitors whom might run out to the store...

Jeff www.NetKarts.com

[Jon Miles]

The reception quality is affected by four main factors: Radio power (watts), antenna, frequency and track terrain.

I use a Motorola SP50 on my kart and pitside which is about 2 watts. It has very good coverage at a flat track like Putnam but Road America is poor from turn 6 to turn 13. I did a small remote antenna on the kart up front between my feet with a tuned ground plane and this helped a lot. A ground plane is a metallic disc at the antenna base and its size is tuned to the radio and antenna height. A local radio store (not Radio Shack) should be able to help you tune the antenna size to the ground plane size. You can keep the stock whip antenna if you can mount the radio in a vertical position. Get a UHF model radio(450-470 Mhz) as the higher frequencies have better reception. On another kart we use Motorola Visars which are about 8 watts and operate in the 800 Mhz range and these things work fantastic. Very expensive though.

Professional teams will use powerful base stations with repeaters up to 35 watts with antennas mounted on high poles but this is beyond what most kart teams could afford.

Mount the radio and all wiring as far away from the engine, ignition components and any data acquisition stuff as you can and switch to resistor plugs if you haven't already. When I first installed mine at the base of my Nassau panel the whip antenna passed over my Pi System 1 data logger. The first time someone talked to me the data in the logger was wiped out! Doing the mike and helmet wiring is a bit of a skill but not that hard.

I don't understand why some organizations ban radios other than maybe cost. Aside from adding another strategy element to racing they are a big safety factor. I race an 80cc shifter and we usually end up running with the 125's. It is real nice to know when those guys are coming up on you. If you have a mechanical failure where your crew cannot see you (typical at most big road racing tracks) at least you can tell them what happened and that you are OK.

Sites you can check out:

Racing Radios

Racing Electronics

Motorola