PMR Bike-to-bike radios in Lidl... cheap!

Evenin' all,

just to let you all know that my local Lidl currently has bike-to-bike radio kits for a steal at £25 each:

- 1x eight-channel, 5km range (apparently) Radio
- bar-mounted push-to-talk button (as well as vox mode)
- ciggie socket charger
- wall charger
- NiMH rechargable AAA batteries
- helmet earpiece/microphone set

I picked up one each for me and the girlfriend, should be good when spring rolls round and I get her bike running again!

bloody hell - thats the whole point of having a bike isn't it ...... so you can ignore the OH
Neil has just said it would be switched off until we got out of Lincolnshire to stop me whining about it being time to stop 'for a nice cup of tea' as is my wont every 40 or so miles

well she's still on L-plates (passed her Mod 1, just got Mod 2 left to do) so I'll be in the rare position of being able to nag her!

in all seriousness though, when we've been out for a spin before - either with her on her bike or as a pillion - not being able to communicate is a pain. a few guys I often ride with have also got them, so they'll come in handy for "can we stop, i need petrol!!"...

Sounds a great deal if you want to talk to someone. Personally when i ride all i want to hear is the engine sing through the micron carbon

Wild-Kat-Wolf wrote:I have a few choice hand signals which often give people the general idea of what I want to say

Fi

i can imagine

I have one of those from Lidl, I'm sure you'll find them fine for what you want to use them for.

It didn't work out for me, but then I was expecting the near impossible of being able to hook it up to my Autocom.

My advice would be to keep the radio on you, rather than putting in a tank bag or anywhere on the bike. If possible keep it vertical and as high as possible, this will help the signal. At higher speeds the vibration from the bike interferes with the radio and it can become inaudible, your body will insulate it from a lot of this.
I'd also recommend using the PTT (push-to-Talk) rather than rely on VOX (voice activation). Installing the wiring the switch can be a pain, but will be worth it. The VOX is quite sensitive and will most likely be triggered by wind noise from as 'slow' as 30 mph.
The PTT switch is intended to go on the left rubber grip, but I found this got in my way. I managed to get mine on the switchgear with the switch forward facing - found I could activate it without having to move my hand of the grip.

-Steve

Steve,

thanks for the tips - I'd like an autocom in the future but a decent set-up like that is far out of my budget at the moment!

have already had a little play with the PTT button, and had no intention of using the VOX to be honest - in a past life I spent enough time playing online games with voice comms to know that push-to-talk is far better all the time

C

Wild-Kat-Wolf wrote:I have a few choice hand signals which often give people the general idea of what I want to say

Fi

Especially where cyclists are concerned