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I don't have a clue about radios and with that being said I hope you guys can help me out. Here's my deal and I hope I'm posting in the correct area...My friend and me are building a new rock crawler/racer for a desert race in Johnson valley CA called King of the Hammers. We need some sort of radio(s) for our buggy and pit crews. Here's the deal we don't want to spend an arm and a leg on something like this

Ultimate 2 Seat Package This complete package comes with everything you need. Detail Page

Someone told me just to go to my local radio shop and get a (what he called) "marine" radio. Not sure if that is even what I'm looking for either. What do you guys think? Is there a radio system out there that I might be able to piece together like the one above without the high price tag? We do already have a "headset" radio system where He and I can talk to each other so Maybe I can utilize that system into something else. Thanks for the help! Oh and by the way here is a link to our build up of the buggy.

AC's KOH build

50 watt radio and no mention of a license, or even a specific frequency???

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Let start off with a few essentials.

What range are you looking to communicate?
Is everyone willing to get licensed?
How many radios?
How much money?
Is this for professional racing or just playing around in the sand?

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Range-Last years race was 82 miles long but we never got more than 8-10 miles away from the start finish line. Although there are mountains all through this part of the desert.

License? New to the radio scene. Guess we'll do what we have to do to be legal.

How many? Def. two. One for the buggy and One for the "Crew Chief" Possibly a third for another chase vehicle

We are a small race team right now so budget is tight! I don't want to skimp on the radios too much some would be better than none. Last year we didn't even have walkie talkies to help us. We were just a couple of guys from Alabama racing somewhere we had no idea about. We didn't know what the driver needed at all last year till he actually got to the pits. If something happens and he has a radio at least the crew can be prepared.

This race is starting to get big. This is the third year for it and it has grown by leaps and bounds. So I would have to say professional.

Thanks for the reply. I am reading a little about radios but still am lost.

And here is the site for the race if you're interested!

King of the Hammers

Nice event.
Looks like a really good race..
looks like only Paris-Dakar may better it..

I would love to see how the RipSaw would fair in that race..

Now...regarding what 2 way radio equipment you can use or need..

You can go the route of ham radio equipment..
However the cost would be likely more then you like..

Perhaps the event has set up a repeater for GMRS set up..
If so then simple hand held gmrs radios would do the trick..

However given you are no more then 12 miles away from start/finish line and the pits...
Then if there is no repeater in place...

Simply get a good 50 watt mobile GMRS radio..
(from Icom would be good) ..
Then for each car either a mobile or handheld GMRS radio..

That should be more then strong enough to get the job done..

Be sure to set up your antenna as high as possible and if you can spend the money get a high gain base antenna to put up..

If you use mobile radios in the cars...then simple and small mobile antennas will be all that is needed..

OK...perhaps you are starting to spend more money then you would like to..
However...You will go to same race year after year...Right ?

You do indeed realize how Important it is to get info to your crew before arriving at pits....they can have everything ready..
races are often won and lost in the pits ( all racers know this)..

There are links i can find to help you find some cheeper stuff ( from overseas that will work well as well..

You will still need to get a GMRS licence...but that is only a matter of a few bucks and no testing needed for it..

As far as the HT's go..
They can be quite cheep..
Like these.....

99 Channel UHF Ham Radio 5W 400-480MHz Transceiver N358 - eBay (item 160367627862 end time Oct-06-09 18:46:32 PDT)

I don't have an answer for you, but I may be able to give you a few ideas.

You can not do ham because you are a commercial venture.

I think CB would work, but you would have to deal with anyone else on line.

As mentioned GRMS should work, but there is 12 miles and then there is 12 miles. If you are on one side of the hill and I am on the other, GRMS will not work.

I assume that the big racing teams use commercial radios and have a commercial license. I don't know enough to even advise on this. Maybe someone on here can help.

__________________
CISA, CISSP, Computer geek
clueless about HAM

www.linkedin.com/in/dariandunn

I know some folks that do similar types of events, in the same area. Heck, they might even be competing in this one. I would go to a local Land Mobile Radio shop and ask them to help you out with something that is legal for your application and will take the abuse you're going to dish out. I know of a commercial radio shop in the area of that race that could help, if you're interested. PM me if you want the info. If you're coming from Alabama, though you should be able to find someone local.

The biggest issue is that you want to have a radio system that is LEGAL. You need some advice to make this happen. Then you need something that won't fail with all that bouncing around. It's going to cost some money, and there's no way around it. You have a bunch of money dumped into your race vehicle...don't skimp on the communication system needed to keep you in the race.

Thanks for all the help guys! Still looking into which setup we'll go with. I do have some time so maybe I can get one that is nice enough to do all the things I want.