Kenwood TK 3201

[Richardg]

found this on E Bay, this radio has been modified to take an external antenna which will make it work over very long distance (with the right antenna that is)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kenwood-TK-320...QQcmdZViewItem

This is not my radio by the way but I do know the guy that is selling it and he does know his stuff when it comes to radio gear.

I have tried this modification bike to bike and spoken over 20 miles line of sight so it is well worth the change

[Ashley M]

Unfortunately I already have a radio but you don’t happen to know were you can get the external antenna socket and antenna from do you.
Any help you can give would be great I’ve been looking for ages
Thanks Ashley

[Lumiya]

found this on E Bay, this radio has been modified to take an external antenna which will make it work over very long distance (with the right antenna that is)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kenwood-TK-320...QQcmdZViewItem

This is not my radio by the way but I do know the guy that is selling it and he does know his stuff when it comes to radio gear.

I have tried this modification bike to bike and spoken over 20 miles line of sight so it is well worth the change

LOL....

Even if the powers been upped to 5w (PMR legal limit is 0.5w) you'll still need a decent 6db+ antenna to get anywhere near 20 miles, and even then it'll purely be line of site (Even your body will attenuate the signal but I suppose you could mount the 30cm antenna on top of the helmet but then you'd have grounding issues!!!)

Radio hams do get 20-60+ miles using 5w handhelds on 430-440MHz (very close freq) but mainly with the help of the UK repeater network that situated on various high grounds throughout the UK.

I'm not saying that the mod doesn't improve the antenna range availabe and as with any PMR that is one of the sticking points in range but don;t expect miracles!!!!

Kymmy

[Richardg]

you need to read the post, I said '' 20 miles line of sight'', as you should know using this type of low power radio will always be limited due to many factors. I find that bike to bike over 2-3 miles is normal, and with line of sight this 0.5W set up is capable of over 20 miles (two bikes with the same antena and radio set up), the record os over 100 miles (check the internet). I use both 5W licenced UHF and 0.5W PMR radios on my bike and there is little in it for both, even the high power unit (TK 2302) still struggles over more than 5 miles.

anyway, this type of change does make these small low power radios work better and if range is importent then it is worth considering (you need to use them with a licence)

[Lumiya]

the record os over 100 miles (check the internet).

WOW 100 miles!!!! and here's me wondering if when I used to bounce 440Mhz off the sattelites was wonderous.......

and as far as line of sight you'll be amazed at how little that can be due to the curvature of the earth!!

I suppose the LOS comment in my post was mearly pointing out that by giving the best of the best figures (20 miles LOS) and not giving the 2-3 miles figures for normal riding it was a bit unfair on anyone reading it and thinking WOW these are great radios. Where in actual fact yes they are good radios but nothing special, As for licences as soon as you replace the fixed antenna with a removable antenna you need a licence for them as they're not then PMR446 type approved.

We're actually looking at comms for our bikes atm, the Yaesu VX5's we have are 5w but we're wondering if the uprated generator can cope with a 35W amp, mind you the worse bit is actual locating the antenna as we're looking at dual band and don't want the rider to whip themselves to death!!!

[Jenna]

.....and don't want the rider to whip themselves to death!!!....

shes no fun at all, wrap the tip in barbed wire i say!!!

[chronyx]

Why would you want radio on bikes?

Come on, a combination of the horn, headlight flashes, wild gesticulation and pointing is far more interesting!!!

[Lumiya]

Why would you want radio on bikes?

Come on, a combination of the horn, headlight flashes, wild gesticulation and pointing is far more interesting!!!

I suppose that some people want to talk to each other. For us we're tying in the tracking system to the radios so that the support truck can map where everyone is.

Kymmy

[chronyx]

Nice, what tracking system is that?

[Lumiya]

Nice, what tracking system is that?

It's a simple little box that takes the data stream from a GPS serial port, encodes it and then either beacons the data at preset times (the times can auto alter dependant on speed/course change) or tacks the data onto the end of a speech transmission.

The truck just needs a little reciever box that takes the data from the radio, converts the signal back into the serial data and then displays it on a map.

As the data not only has the GPS string encoded but also the ID of the vehicle and upto 5 data items such as RPM, VOLTS, OIL/WATER TEMP it comes in handy for checking on the state of the vehicles whilst they are running without having to get constant verbal status reports.

Also the ID can be set to change to an emergency ID at the flick of a switch, or as we've done it the pull of a cord/tag this will then flash up the emergency symbol on the map.

Kymmy