Long range « race radios »

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LouisN
Posts: 3510
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:44 am
Location: Canada

by LouisN

I'm looking for quality long range "race radio" type walkie talkies, same as used by pros. So a bike rider can listen to commands from a car.
Most of the models I checked say "long range, like 25-35 km, but many reviews say they don't even go above 400-500 m ...😏.
Thanks for your "terrain proven" suggestions :beerchug:

Louis :)

Lina
Posts: 1060
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:09 pm

by Lina

UHF and VHF radios essentially all rely on line-of-sight. Especially when talking about low power, small handheld units that don't require permits. If you can't see the receiver, apart from trees, etc., you're better off assuming they won't be able to hear you. In heavily built up areas the small handheld devices also suffer from obstacles even if the ground doesn't obstruct the radio waves. Even with high power military radios with long wire antennas getting VHF connections in variable terrain can be a pain in the ass. Shorter wavelength, and both transmission power and antennas being orders of magnitudes smaller don't make it better.

There is no radio that goes through a mountain. HF and longer wavelength radios can go over a mountain and beyond the horizon thanks to ground and skywaves. But even they'll struggle to communicate directly over a mountain from one side to another.

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jfranci3
Posts: 1572
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

Your phone + MS Teams / Push-to-talk app (Zello?)

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LouisN
Posts: 3510
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:44 am
Location: Canada

by LouisN

Thanks for the info Lina.
I wonder what system Pro Teams use when they're km's away in the mountains, between the breakaway and the grupetto, as well as the commissaire radios...

Louis :)

Lina
Posts: 1060
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:09 pm

by Lina

My guess is that they have DS that doesn't need constant handholding at every step in every car. Then for building comms between cars I'd maybe have CB radios in the cars and then telephones for when the terrain is ass. In bad terrain you might not have reception all the time so if you don't have radio connection you might not have the possibility to call either. But you can send SMS/Signal/etc messages asynchronously so both parties don't need to have phone reception at the same time. And then for car to rider comms just get the highest powered radio that operates on the same frequencies as the radios the riders have. If you really wanted to have constant comms between the cars then satellite phones would be the answer but that's big time overkill.

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