Motorcycle mobile

[N8YX]

Spent the latter half of the day installing an FTM-10SR - 2/440MHz 10w mobile - on 'DSG's Valkyrie Tourer. What a friggin' project. The 'homebrew' aspect involves cable, bracket and interface building. A big tip of the hat to Jon Jamber and the rest of the Kennedy Technologies staff, who provided the FRSet-4 controller and a bunch of hard-to-find connectors.

Pictures forthcoming as soon as I clean the wiring job up a bit, along with the rest of the bike. Have to build a harness to connect the two rear speakers (mounted in the passenger armrests) to the Yaesu's AF Out line. It's capable of receiving FM stereo and that's the main reason I donated one of the rigs to her bike - it doesn't have a factory audio system.

Sadly, Yaesu discontinued the -SR (waterproof) version, leaving only the FTM-10R (50w) available. I would gladly pay $$$ for a waterproof, 10W mobile FM rig of similar construction that covers 10-6-2M, 220 and 440MHz. With the rig which is due here sometime next week we have four of them and I would like to find a fifth.

[KG4CGC]

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[K7SGJ]

Spent the latter half of the day installing an FTM-10SR - 2/440MHz 10w mobile - on 'DSG's Valkyrie Tourer. What a friggin' project. The 'homebrew' aspect involves cable, bracket and interface building. A big tip of the hat to Jon Jamber and the rest of the Kennedy Technologies staff, who provided the FRSet-4 controller and a bunch of hard-to-find connectors.

Pictures forthcoming as soon as I clean the wiring job up a bit, along with the rest of the bike. Have to build a harness to connect the two rear speakers (mounted in the passenger armrests) to the Yaesu's AF Out line. It's capable of receiving FM stereo and that's the main reason I donated one of the rigs to her bike - it doesn't have a factory audio system.

Sadly, Yaesu discontinued the -SR (waterproof) version, leaving only the FTM-10R (50w) available. I would gladly pay $$$ for a waterproof, 10W mobile FM rig of similar construction that covers 10-6-2M, 220 and 440MHz. With the rig which is due here sometime next week we have four of them and I would like to find a fifth.

I wish I'd have known. I coulda helped you out with the fifth, but I drank it.

[w2amr]

Spent the latter half of the day installing an FTM-10SR - 2/440MHz 10w mobile - on 'DSG's Valkyrie Tourer. What a friggin' project. The 'homebrew' aspect involves cable, bracket and interface building. A big tip of the hat to Jon Jamber and the rest of the Kennedy Technologies staff, who provided the FRSet-4 controller and a bunch of hard-to-find connectors.

Pictures forthcoming as soon as I clean the wiring job up a bit, along with the rest of the bike. Have to build a harness to connect the two rear speakers (mounted in the passenger armrests) to the Yaesu's AF Out line. It's capable of receiving FM stereo and that's the main reason I donated one of the rigs to her bike - it doesn't have a factory audio system.

Sadly, Yaesu discontinued the -SR (waterproof) version, leaving only the FTM-10R (50w) available. I would gladly pay $$$ for a waterproof, 10W mobile FM rig of similar construction that covers 10-6-2M, 220 and 440MHz. With the rig which is due here sometime next week we have four of them and I would like to find a fifth.

IMHO, Riding a motorcycle is dangerous enough without adding the distraction of a two way radio. But that's just me.

[N8YX]

IMHO, Riding a motorcycle is dangerous enough without adding the distraction of a two way radio. But that's just me.

Everything's integrated - your hands needn't leave the bars once you have set the operating frequency and mode. PTT controls for onboard CB (Hondaline/Clarion) and the Yaesu dualbander are on the left bar, near the grip. Easy reach.

Here's a shot of the FRSet-4, nestled in its frame area before the fuel tank was replaced:

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[N8YX]

Can you spot the radio?

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[N8YX]

Getting warmer...the main chassis tucks up underneath the Valkyrie I/S' trunk rack in the space where its OEM CB would normally mount. Since this is a Tourer, its accessory CB mounts under the driver's saddle - leaving the trunk area free.

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[N8YX]

The control head. It's completely waterproof, as is the main chassis. The white lead to the right of the unit is the Hondaline CB unit's "Aux In" line - I opted to use the CB for this rather than the FTM-10SR's "Line In" port - owing to the fact it's a little bit easier for the driver (Nicki) to work the CB's audio input source selector with gloved hands.

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[N8YX]

Antenna and connector. The mount is a standard Hondaline; it was adapted to accommodate a PL-259 on each end by first removing the Honda 8mm stud mount and coax. A pair of SO-239 to 3/8"-24 mounts and a 3/8"-24 threaded barrel (as is used to mount a fiberglass CB whip, for example) comprise the inside and a pair of Teflon washers/spacers - one at each end of the assembly - keeps the "center conductor" (barrel) from shorting out to the arm.

Easy to duplicate; all parts available from your local Radio Shack, CB shop, etc. The modification is completely reversible if wanting to return the bike to "stock".

The antenna is a Comet SB224 - it has a fold-over mast like the Hondaline CB antenna, which is mounted on the left side of the trunk. Handy for times when you need to throw a cover on the bike - just lay both of them flat. No need to remove.

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[N8YX]

One other tidbit - I programmed a bunch of frequencies - simplex, repeaters, FRS/GMRS/MURS monitor channels - public service/safety allocations and a lot more into a master unit while sitting in the shack. Once this was done, I took the master and a 12v battery out to the bike, activated 'clone mode' and in about 2 minutes had a copy of the data residing in the newly installed radio, awaiting usage. I'll update the rest of the radios as I get them and install them. This is a cool feature to have, but the rigs have to be in close proximity to each other for this to work. How close I'm not sure - hopefully we can do bike-to-bike clones if parked next to one another.