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CB Alternatives, Group Rides

4K views 26 replies 21 participants last post by  terryd9244 
#1 ·
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Stopped today at a local Honda dealer...very helpful...good knowledge...$1200 for a CB, antenna, and helmet attachment.

I haven't invested $1200, yet.

To participate safely in group rides, I understand the need for communications. Are there alternatives other than the $1200 setup?

Terry
 
#4 ·
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I went for 7 years with a Radio Shack handheld CB strapped to the handlebars. It had jacks in the top for the PTT mic and speaker. I got a PTT button and a connector from J&M that connects directly to the helmet headset. A hundred bucks for the CB, $75 for the PTT harness.

The CB has a rubber ducky antenna but I found an adapter that allowed me to connect the CB into the bike's antenna. It worked great.



J&M has an equivalent: http://www.jmcorp.com/SeeProducts.asp?PF=31

That being said, since then J&M produces a handlebar mounted CB designed for motorcycle use. I know a fellow that has it, and it works great also. The cost on that should be less than half what you are planning on spending on the Honda CB.

http://www.jmcorp.com/SeeProducts.asp?PF=24



The only thing I don't like about the J&M one is that it doesn't use the standard Honda headset set up. But it looks like a really good set up.

It comes in a single rider set up (less expensive) and a rider/passenger set up, (a little more expensive)
 
#6 ·
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Ham



That's right Ham Radio is cheaper. Yes, you need a license and yes you need to take a written test. No, you don't need to understand Morse code. The test questions are published and you can take practice tests on-line. And the license is free for life.



A two meter band handheld radio can be bought for $100 new and with the FRS kit from Kennedy technologies can be hooked to your GL intercom. You can even use the exisiting CB controls. Mount the radio in the trunk, even with the rubber duck antenna at 5 watts, you'll get several miles of coverage. Rack mounted antenna even better.



For a little more you can get a 50 watt radio that will amaze you. Add your GPS connection and have position reporting posted on the web for free. Call up a repeater with a phone patch and call home for free.



Here's a pic of my Kenwood 50 watt tri-band on my GL1500
 

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#7 ·
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Hey Terry, wolfman has the right idea. My brother (02 Goldwing) and my two sons,(09 Vstars) run hand held cb's from Radio Shack. They have the push to talk headsets, and just love them. i have a CB on my 08 Wing, so when we ride, we can all talk. They sound great, and have never had any problems with them at all.

:18white:
 
#8 ·
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Hmm...I rarely ride in groups, but somewhere in my far distant past, I seem to remember these things called hand signals?

Inexpensive, pre-installed, operate without fail (unless the total system crashes), all weather, zero power draw on the bike...yep, that might be a good way to go :D
 
#9 ·
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+1 on the ham radio. Nice setup Andy!
 
#11 ·
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J&M has performance comparable to stock Goldwing system. If you want rider/passenger intercom then it's the way to go.

if all you need is CB then radio scrap or equivalent is cheapest.

you should check before you buy, some groups use FRS instead of CB.

personally I like J&M because it has a MP3 input I can use for ipod or XM radio.
 
#12 ·
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terryd9244 wrote:
Stopped today at a local Honda dealer...very helpful...good knowledge...$1200 for a CB, antenna, and helmet attachment.

I haven't invested $1200, yet.
Sounds like the dealer is making some money off of you. I bought my Honda CB & HondaAntenna for just under $600. Installed myself.



Several other CB systems with all the controls right on the mic for much less. Here is an example of what we have on our 1100s
 

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#13 ·
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Two nice compact setups are the Cobra 75WXST and the Midland 75-822. The Midland can use a rubber duckie antenna that it comes with where the Cobra you will have to mount an antenna someplace. you could run something as simple as the Midland with an earbud speaker and talk into the hand unit for the mic and it uses a cig lighter plug for power. The Midland can also be used with it's onw power pack.
 
#14 ·
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clouddragon9 wrote:
Hmm...I rarely ride in groups, but somewhere in my far distant past, I seem to remember these things called hand signals?

Inexpensive, pre-installed, operate without fail (unless the total system crashes), all weather, zero power draw on the bike...yep, that might be a good way to go :D
Hmmm I think they're called Luddites:laughing::laughing:
 
#15 ·
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$1200 for a CB Radio set-up on ANY bike is ridiculous. I don't care who you are or how deep your pockets are.
 
#16 ·
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We have been running the J&M JMCB-2003 for about three years now. We bought the intercom version and use it all the time. The CB is great when we are on group because just about everyone we ride with has a CB.

Seems to make the rides safer. Easy to call back about road debris or turns or changing lanes or when we want to stop for gas or bathroom breaks.

Withthe radio, all the cords, two headsets, mounting brackets, antenna and all the wiring we spent a little over $500. Its really easy to use with all the controls right there on the lefthandle bar control and everyone says I sound very clear and they sound clear to me.

Recently I installed a new Clarion radio with built in MP3 and blue tooth that I plugged into the J&M line in so I can hear the radio and accept incomming phone calls through the headset as well as the external speakers.

J&M is on the left.



Peter
 
#17 ·
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Ya want cheap and also functional. Works well, and as good as any CB on the road.

Do as Wolfman said. A cheap hand held CB with a harness to fit the bike works well. It is economical and a common sense alternative.

I have a friend who rides with us and he has one on his ST1300.

The most high priced CB out there, is basically a short range tool for use in group rides. Range on any of them at most is from 1.5 to maybe 2 miles and that is stretching it.

For group rides, where at the most you get separated by half a mile in heavy traffic, the hand held one has just as much range, as the high dollar Honda CB.

Set up properly it works well.

The problem comes in with the harness to the bike, sometimes you have to get inventive. You do want to get on and off the bike, store your helmet and all that kind of thing, so on the Wings you do have to come up with a harness and run the sound through the bike, otherwise you are into another wire running alongside your headset wire and figuring out a means to plug and unplug it.

But they have connectors for that, and little cables that have the pigtail curls to help them stay out of the way. A visit to radio shack will help you come up with many ideas and solutions.

It suits me to run a CB or something into the Aux circuit on the bikes, and they do make gadgets so you can run more than one device through the aux circuits and control and regulate the volume of them, but most want that radio, MP3 player and a cell phone too. :waving: Maybe even an coffee pot, :smiler:

Kit
 
#18 ·
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One alternative... with many benefits.
 

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#21 ·
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The 1100 i just brought the po made some brackets so a car or truck cb would fit above the speedo and had a regular mikw with a bracket on the left handle bar also ive seen on Evil Bay a set up for the 1100 where you can use you radio antenna as a cb one kind of a splitter i guess
 
#23 ·
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I love those small radios.
That radio, a center-loaded antenna "Single Trucker" antenna from Radio Shack, a bar mount... maybe a fancy RAM mount for the handlebar... etc..
Inexpensive set-up and functionality galore.
When you get to a gathering, pop it off the mount, slide on the battery pack and bnc antenna and you're portable for whatever reason.
Stow it in your trunk otherwise.
Handy-Dandy...

I've had (and still have) many variants over the years...

A properly grounded and tuned antenna is key for the bike.
 
#24 ·
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CaptainMidnight85 wrote:
tfdeputydawg wrote:
You didn't say if that price included installation labor for everything or not, nor what type of headset(s)?????
From http://www.directlineparts.com/store.asp?str=4
CB radio/antenna:http://www.directlineparts.com/product.asp?pid=9889&str=4 $713.99
Headset: http://www.directlineparts.com/product.asp?pid=8924&str=4 $94.95 ea.
cheaper if U join their buyers club.
U can install yourself to save the labor cost.
He has a 1100... :stumped:
Good for me, I'm a lot of help:doh:

Contact: http://www.sierra-mc.com/

Some time ago I purchased a 40channel CB from them, wired for PTT button and a headset plug-in.

Mounted the radio in the left side of the fairing on a friends 1200. Worked great.

I'm sure Sierra can help.
 
#25 ·
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do a search on the net, I found plans on how to wire in a cb PTT from a regular cb for a MC. It works, I have the info if you need it someplace. We put one of these together and took a trip with the fellow so he could communicate with his dad and me. about a $30 cb, a generic j&M headset (we had extras), a $20 antenna and some small parts less than $100 as I recall, less if you already have some of the items. It mounted accross the handlebars and the antenna to the rear fender (mag mount), the PTT was also on the bars.

Let me know if you need the links and I will look for them.
 
#26 ·
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I purchased a hand held Midland with an "operators" head set. (Just one speaker and a mic - includes PTT) it worked wonderfully for me.- all spent less than $70 I modified the head set to fit within my helmet - pretty much just removed the bracket from between the mic and the speaker - and the speaker fit nicely into my helmet. The mic I mounted inside the helmet.

Later for my 1500 I bought the integration kit from Kennedy Technologies and after some initial tuning issue I think it works pretty well for the money.
 
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