Ace
Parking Attendant
Posts: 30
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posted February 24, 2003 04:14 PM
Chatterbox or what?
There is about 10 of us that ride together every weekend. We all have Chatterboxes and if you get going over 50 they suck. Anyone use anything different that works. Riding weather is almost here
  
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freek
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted February 24, 2003 04:24 PM
is the problem related to the VOX? if so, jsut dont use it. use the PTT button. Dino turned me on to this style of using the chatterbox, and it works great. if its microphone noise, building it into ur helmet seems to work well. i ahve a friend who jsut velcros it into the helmetn liek yer "supposed" to, & i cant hear him above 50 like u said. but everyone has always told me i come thru crystal clear at almost any speed. i have a slit cut into the styrofoam under the vinyl, and put the mic in there right side up (opposied of how it's supposed to be mounted. small hole i put in the vinyl gives direct path to the mic proper.
as to other brands, the collett [sp?] is rather well regarded.
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Ace
Parking Attendant
Posts: 30
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posted February 24, 2003 04:32 PM
Freek, I tried the push button, I mounted the button on the clutch lever and it seems to work OK. I want a really good voice activated box. Thanx for the imput
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted February 24, 2003 04:57 PM
My company bought 4 Motorola T5820 GMRS Talkabout radios 1 watt radios. I've seen full face helmet setups for such radios, but the price was more then the the cost of each radio. From what I understand, Nady and Chatterbox use the same FRS/GMRS channels as the Talkabouts and just about any other brand.
Here's one of the site's that sell them for various FRS/GMRS radios.
http://www.csonline.net/crawford/Helmet_Headsets/Default.htm
____________
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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Scooter
Zone Head
Posts: 899
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posted February 24, 2003 06:40 PM
 Edited By: Scooter on 24 Feb 2003 18:41
http://www.collett.mb.ca/ The vox works, even at 100 mph on my snowmobile. No PTT button...because the vox works. The trick is not to start out with more than 2 or 3 guys until you get familiar with the operation, setting sensitivity and such. Then add one guy at a time. The speakers are great too.
____________
"Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional."
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jonwright
Needs a job
Posts: 2416
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posted February 24, 2003 07:04 PM
Scooter, wait a minute. Now let me preface this comment that I've been born and raised in the Southern US where we might see 1 or 2" snow once a year for a couple of days....
100 MPH ON A SNOWMOBILE???? Holy bejeezus. That's haulin' ass. On snow. And talking at the same time? Kinda like getting a blow job while doing a wheelie. Hmmm...would it get any better than that?
Oooo...now my little wheels are turning....
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freek
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted February 24, 2003 07:40 PM
yep, 100mph no problem, esp when yer goin downhill! even the shitty touring model sleds we used to have at the ski hill i used to work at could do that. would get a ride to the bottom lift station every morning about 6:30am to get it started. no helmet or anything, jsut a backpack full a tools. one of the fuckers who'd ride me down always hit 100mph. let me tell ya, it seems ALOT faster on a sled than on a bike! definitely helped wake me up in the morning tho 
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quickrev
Parking Attendant
Posts: 6
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posted March 04, 2003 10:26 AM
Edited By: quickrev on 4 Mar 2003 10:27
radios
I use Motorola FRS 5420 Radios and Noise Terminator headsets. They are the neck based headsets that have zero background noise. I use the Vox mode on the radios and they work awesome. I ride with over 10 guys and we all use these. They are cheap too $30 radio $30 headset. I got the headsets here
http://www.clearercom.com
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted March 04, 2003 01:11 PM
thanks for the link quickrev! i'v been looking for a cochlear [sp?] mic for years, but havent foudn one yet, at least not for a reasonable price. this looks to be the next best thing. does it honestly work as well as advertised tho? is it truly crystal clear even at speed? do the voices sound muted or otherwise distored (i would assume they are)?
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quickrev
Parking Attendant
Posts: 6
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posted March 05, 2003 11:15 AM
I have them for both my cel phone and my FRS radios. The cel phone version works better, probably due to the quality of cellular as opposed to FRS. I would rate the quality at about 90% as compared to a regular headset. The quality will never be 100% because it works off vibrations from your throat and does not use a microphone. However the quality is very high, I can hear everything and also recognize peoples distinct voices. The radio version quality is lower but around the same as not using the headset at all. FRS frequencies are pretty low anyway and the audio quality is naturally pretty bad. I use these all the time while riding with buddies, we occassionally have to repeat ourselves but for the most part 80% they work great. I couldn't find anything that worked over 40km/h. Although at over 140km/h if the wind hits the neck mic at the right angle it automatically activates the Vox and gets annoying so you have to just find the right adjustment. For the money its worth it, I also use them snowboarding and snowmobiling.
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted March 05, 2003 11:38 AM
cool, thx. i may have to give it a try. as i said, my mic works pretty good, but i canthear shit when other people talk to me. anyone ever tried/found a true cochlear mic? same concept, but it picks up ur voice from an earbud (via the jaw bone) rather than the neck.
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kzz1
Zone Head
"Show me whatcha workin with"
Posts: 908
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posted March 05, 2003 06:52 PM
quote:
100 MPH ON A SNOWMOBILE???? quote]
Not all Michiganders choose to stay in the cabin!!!! 
Hey Scooter,
We have your weather and we want to return it!!!!
ZX12Girl
(Using Kzz1's log-in / Computer)
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Scooter
Zone Head
Posts: 899
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posted March 06, 2003 05:34 AM
Send it up. I'm ready to rock.
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"Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional."
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deathpulse
Pro
Posts: 1688
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posted March 06, 2003 08:07 AM
I've been wondering about a "throat mike" for my chatterboxes for years now. Anyone find a good source for them? I think it would make my riding experience with my gal a bit nicer - my muzzy exhaust tends to be hard to "squelch" with the chatterbox helmet mikes - especially at higher RPM's. I've used throat mikes before - for parachuting stuff and they work GREAT - high wind = no effect. I just don't know where to get em! Thanks guys.
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quickrev
Parking Attendant
Posts: 6
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posted March 06, 2003 09:16 AM
Its available here http://www.clearercom.com
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Zhooligan
Moderator
Post Whore Extraordinaire!
Posts: 3829
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posted March 09, 2003 03:07 PM
ordered a couple today.
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To those who do not count their life in years, but in how life
has touched them in the past and how much it can hold in the
future; -- Youth is forever.
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
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posted March 09, 2003 03:09 PM
please post ur opinion when ya get a chance to use them Z. i'm very interested in these.
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deathpulse
Pro
Posts: 1688
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posted January 18, 2004 07:40 PM
Hey - this is an old post, but I'm curious if anyone uses the clearcom throat mikes on a chatterbox unit? I've got chatterboxes and I HATE HATE HATE the "open mike" - I need a throat mike setup to deal with the wind/muzzy exhaust noise  . THanks guys.
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted January 19, 2004 07:37 AM
i dont know what problems you all are having with your chatterboxes....I have 2 of them, one for me and one for the wife, they workd fine. Thye do have limitations, like any of the radio systems..Most of the problems you are getting with the chatterboxs sounds like mounting, and mic placement. I had my chatter box on my Arai Quantam F which is a very loud helmet. I had a hard time hearing what the wife was saying and the mic keying up when I didnt want it to. I ended up putting cotton behind the speakers to move them closer to my ears, and to help keep out the wind noise. Then I moved the mic to inside the foam on the cheek pad. I am using the old style headsets not the new noise reduction headsets. Works great up to about 100 mph....I dont use the VOX anymore, it gets distracting to me. If I need to talk, I use the button on the side of the unit, if I am going to fast to hit the button, then I dont need to talk, I need to consentrate...JMO.....
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
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posted January 19, 2004 11:35 AM
first of all, i'm nto sure if the chatterbox and the clearcom are compatible. the clearcom i have (given to me by zhooligan simply because i expressed interest in this very thread) fits a motorola phone, not a chatterbox. maybe they have a version with the correct plug? don't know. anyway, i thought the clearcom works pretty well with the phone. yoru voice will sound a bit odd of course. kinda washed out. but likely better than all the wind noise. having said that, i'v actually had excellent results with my chatterbox setup. i'm told that i'm quite clear right up to 100mph or more. altho i have a less than quiet arai, i think the secret is i burried the mic into the styrofoam of the helment, right in front of my mouth, with a little hold in the vinyl right at the top of the mic. i have it the wrong way mind u (right side up instead of upside down, in other words with the wire at the bottom). it's REAL close to my mouth too. i can kiss the front of my helment if i try, so maybe that helps too.
regarding vox, on Dino's advise i use the PTT button strapped to my index finger instead of vox. works great and u don't have to unplyug fmo the bike when u get off. u get real used to the button in short order. jsut run the wire down ur sleeve. i have heard from many people that the communicator by that other brand (forget) works better tho, especially when it comes to vox.
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deathpulse
Pro
Posts: 1688
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posted January 20, 2004 01:07 AM
yeah - I should have clarified, I'm trying to get the VOX feature to work. My GF rides on the back and doesn't like to "let go" to key the mike (and shouting above my exhaust is NOT her idea of a good time). I'm just trying to optimize all my electronics... cause I just got a GArmin 2610 with a 2GB card - now my bike mounted GPS has adetailed maps of the entire US and CAnada WOOT!! It works well on the chatterbox input, so I figured I'd dust my chatterbox off (discarded after getting frustrated with VOX) and see if Ican get it to work well with VOX/throat mike combo's. I know throat mikes work well in high wind situations, as I have used them on jumps before.
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted January 20, 2004 01:33 AM
won't have to let go it u run the PTT button to ur finger. just sqeeze ur forefinger and thunb together (sideways) or soemthing similar to press it. works beautifully.
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deathpulse
Pro
Posts: 1688
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posted January 20, 2004 02:12 PM
I think the problem here is that I sold my chickie on the ability to "just speak and the mic will automatically open the connection"! It was kind of my way to get her to put the dorkie looking thing (her words) on her helmet. When the VOX didn't work - she began to nit pick. This is one of those hellish relationship trainwrecks that will boil down to eithe rfinding a mic that works with vox (and thus getting the pass on wearing the chatterboxes) or wasting a CRAP load of money on the top of the line chatterbox setup....  . Sometimes I hate relationships. I'm thinking about trying the clearcom!
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted January 20, 2004 03:34 PM
one problem with VOX on the chatterbox (or at least my model) is it's a little slow to activate. this is one of the primary reasons i prefer not to use it. i heard the collett communicator's vox works much better, but never tried it myself.
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted January 20, 2004 03:41 PM
i agree freek, I have to start every sentence with HEY, so it will key up....
____________
When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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