RX-Ben

I am looking into getting a race radio but I cannot find much of a guide to the basics. So here are a bunch of dumb questions:

Between the driver and the "crew chief" it seems relatively straightforward, though I would be happy to hear if anyone has any recommendations/experiences that they would like to share. Are 5 watt systems a must on longer courses (in addition to an external antenna)? Anyone know what makes a system a NASCAR or IMSA-style system? Which is preferable?

Between the crew chief and race control is less clear - does the crew chief need to have a separate scanner and switch between the two systems?

Thanks.

1lapRacer

We run an inexpensive setup for our chump car. The radios are handheld radios produced by FDC in china.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-UHF-Walkie...item4cfb7c1b5e

Currently run an external mag mount antenna on the car and just short rubber duck antennas for crew. At daytona and Roebling we have full course coverage, sebring we have almost full course coverage. Road Atlanta we lost coverage in the valleys. That is at 5 watts. Tracks with elevation changes are where you will have coverage issues.

As for imsa vs nascar, if it is just the connections we went with Nascar setup. A converter cable is available to go from a nascar to imsa connection.

Many crew headsets will have a separate connection for a scanner to listen along with the primary radio. We have had good luck running these headsets, much cheaper than RE and do a good job
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACING-RADIO...item20ce5840ce

J.R.

On a long course, especially with elevation changes a 5 watt is almost a must. I tried saving money with my 1st system and eventually had to switch to a 5 watt system.

Sampson Racing Communications (the owner is a racer) is a good company to deal with if you are buying new and equipment is reasonably priced. I have had their Pro Vertex system for 6 years and everything still works as new. I replaced one push to talk cable in the 6 years.

You can also occasionally get some good deals on NASA classifieds on race teams selling older equipment.

rbl

How do those work from a legal standpoint?

brkntrxn

Ben,

I use CP150 and CP200 radios in my car (the 4W versions). Since I helped introduce those for distribution when at Motorola, I am fairly partial to them.

Antenna: I use the 6" whips on all of the radios in the car and the crew chief radios

Wiring harness: After having decent success making my own, when I changed some things before Nationals last year, I went the easy route and puchased an in-car wiring harness from Racing Radios in Concord, NC. It made it a simple plug and play situation with the radio to helmet and push-to-talk button

Crew Chief headset: My wife prefers Racing Radio headsets, so we use one of their Crew Chief headset versions.

My helmet ear buds and mic: Again, I turned to Racing Radios and had them make custom ear buds for me. Since they are about 30 minutes from me, I went over one day and had them make a mold of my ears and then make a set of ear buds just for me. I also have one of their microphone booms installed in my helmet. That reminds me, I still need to move the mic over to my new carbon fiber helmet....

Connections: I use NASCAR style connectors just because it is easier for where I live and the availability of used replacement parts.

Coverage: The only place we have issues with coverage is in the valleys at Road Atlanta and the ends of VIR. If Dawn is on the front straight of RA, then we lose coverage at the bottom of the esses as well as the bottom of T10A. If she moves to the middle of the infield where she can watch the esses, then we lose connection on the front straight. At VIR, if she is in the North Paddock, I will lose connection at the bottom of Southbend just before Oak Tree. A better antenna in the car and or on her radio would help this. But so would a dedicated repeater in the middle of the track. Elevation and weather conditions are ALWAYS going to be an issue at any track you attend. At Mid-O, we had coverage everywhere when she was on the platform at Madness.

Monitoring the officials: I do not have a second channel on our radios programmed to monitor the officials, but it would be easy enough to do. There are multiple options here depending on how hard the crew chief wants to work. You can buy a headset that will run a radio on each ear (crew chief wears two radios), or you can program a second channel on the crew chief radio and the crew chief can simply switch back and forth between the channels. It is up to you. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

Hope this helps. You can get CTs used on E-Bay fairly cheap.


-Kevin

Sampson Racing Radio

For sure look at the 5watt Racer System or Pro Package for long Road tracks here in the US. You many also want to look at upgrading the roof mount antenna to a Shark fin and/or the crew whip antenna but that can always be done after testing. If the roof mount antenna is installed correctly with a 5watt system you will have no issue with quality communications. please feel free to call and ask for Shawn if you have any more questions. Also, make sure to ask for the IMSA setup that way if you plan to run a mobile unit at a later date or do some endurance racing you will be all set (its the same price)

FYI Motorola CP150 and 200 radios are only 4watt. We offer them as well but more circle track folks buy them, then road racers.

RX-Ben

Thanks very much guys, appreciate it.

brkntrxn

Thanks, I corrected my post. The 4w version is what was commercially available. Although, truth be told, mine are preproduction units that we used to test the supply chain and are not exactly what was sold on the market.