In Car Radio Questions

#1

Maybe it is just me, but I have never been able to get any of the radios to work properly in any of my race cars.

We use them to go car to car and also car to crew on occasion.

I started out with an Argent Lab system with 5 watt Kenwood radios and shark fin antennas. They barely worked, and were properly installed. So Argent Lab sent us another 5 watt system with a chinese made radio and they worked even worse. You can barely hear anything, and there is lots of engine interference through the radio. Depending on where you mount the radio, sometimes it gets better, sometimes not. Frustrating.

The car kits and helmet kits that I use are either Samson or Racing Electronics, so they are good quality. The weak link in the system appears to be the radios. I have also noticed that the batteries die quickly. Is there not a good radio system out there that runs on 12vdc from the car, instead of rechargeable batteries?

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

-Scott

#2

We have the Sampson radios, you can buy a “battery eliminator” system that has a cigarette lighter plug on it. We cut off that plug and wired it directly into the car. works great. Find that the crew chief radio starts working poorly once the batteries get low. Keep charging extra batteries and you have to replace them every 2-3 years because they just get unreliable after a while.

Drive-gear.com

#3

What brand radio is the Samson radio, and did he sell you the battery eliminator kit, or someone else. What about engine noise through the system?

#4

Vertex radios I believe, got everything from Sampson. No engine noise problems.

#5

Picked up our set-up from Sampson also. Really helpful if you give them a call.

#6

We use Sampson equipment as well on all of our cars at Midnight Oil Motors. Works great, no issues except for the farthest parts of some hilly tracks. My only complaint is when you turn it on, there is a very loud BEEP that blows my ear drums everytime. Otherwise, quality stuff!

There are just some things that you get what you pay for.

#7

What type of antenna are you using? I would assume you are using an external antenna right? How is the coax cable run? These factors can greatly affect how the radio works.

Michael

#8

Good external shark fin antennas. Not sure of the coax routing for the antennae, I didn’t know it was that critical. Where should it all be routed to?

#9

It needs to be routed away from any other electrical interference. Especially ignition stuff. But any other power cables, etc.

Michael

#10

I have Motorola BPR40 radios and haven’t had any problems so far at any track in the SouthEast. I’m using a whip antenna mounted in the center of the roof.

#11

BigKeyserSoze wrote:

IIRC, you should avoid coiling up the excess cable from the antenna. I have a shark fin on the roof and used zip ties to run the cable all over the cage. In effect, that lengthens the antenna I think. My problem is the Push To Talk cables don’t work worth a crap once I get them caught in the quick release a few times.:blush:

#12

We use Race Radios in our cars as well as with our customers cars. If you want a reliable, durable radio system, Race Radios are the way to go. With so many obstacles like building and hills around a track getting the highest wattage system is critical and using a in-car base system with an external antenna. Additionally, anything below 5w and you’ll likely have range problems as most in-car base systems are up to 25w.

Also make sure you don’t route the antenna wire near the car power as that can create interference. If you’re using GPS based data system, make sure the GPS receiver isn’t close to the antenna because you’ll pick up interference as well.

If you mount your PTT button on your steering wheel, you may want to consider removing your turn signal stalks and mounting the connector below the steering wheel. Put some gator skin over the curly cable and secure it, that will prevent it from getting tangled between the steering wheel and the clamshell around the steering column.

As YourRD mentioned, this is one area you don’t want to skimp on because clear communication is key - saying “repeat” over and over again gets mildly annoying, or hearing cross-talk from other radios if using a lower quality system :slight_smile:

You can get started with the Basic Road Package ( https://store.gormanms.com/Basic-Road-Course-Package.html ) which is a great value for crew and driver and we highly recommend.