DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) gettin' installed on my Wing

Hi,

As some of you know I am also a Ham Radio Operator. I am going to swap out my dual band (VHF/UHF) radio on the Wing for a DMR one this spring....

I have been "playing around" with DMR and am impressed by it's better performance over analog radios I have used in the past.

The mere fact that ALL the transmissions and reception are crystal clear with no noise alone makes this great for the bike....

I will be using an older Motorola XPR-6350 walkie talkie (only has 16 channels and no display) coupled to my SENA SMH-10 Bluetooth Headset via the SR-10 Bluetooth Hub that connects to the radio.

When it's all finished I'll post some pics and how it performs from the bike... (sometimes had wind noise or road noise issues while travelling at "highway" speeds)

Should be pretty cool as I will be able to talk world wide while tooling around town.. :moped:


73 de N2PPN
Rich

that sounds pretty cool, i'll be waiting for the pics and other details... opcorn:

That does sound cool. Do you know any other languages? That would make things even more interesting.

Very cool! opcorn:

+1 :good:
opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

Naw, just good "ole English...
Most of the Ham Operators I speak to speak english..

All the needed parts are on their way from all over the globe... should be rerady in a week or two...

Gotta get ready for the "Blizzard" coming our way tomorrow...

SnowBlower to the ready!!!

Rich
:moped: "N2PPN Motorcycle Mobile"

I'm a fairly new Tech. Class operator and I've been thinking about adding a radio to my bike. What kind of advice might you offer for antenna setup?

Thanks,
BAM
KK4OKW

Hi BAM, If you go to my album https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/gallery/album.php?album_id=871 you can see my setup...

A HT is the way to go with a mobile antenna... I use a Diamond NR-770H antenna and a dual band Woxoun HT... I am switching over to a Motorola XPR Digital HT in a couple of weeks, to try out the DMR aspect on the bike..

The dual band HT has worked great coupled with the SENA Bluetooth system I also installed (also in album)

I had also posted about the radio equipment on the bike several times so you can search my posts...

Good luck and post back your setup..

Rich
N2PPN

Thanks for the reply. I just looked at your album - cool setup!

There is a nice thread going on in the Goldwing Chat forum about HAM RADIO...
seems WingAdmin just got his ticket... (https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/view...6139f7a7d9077544015f4a2f703&p=143309#p143309)

I forgot to mention that the main reason to use a HT is that you don't want to expose yourself or your passenger to RF radiation in excess of
approved exposure limits... A mobile rig (running 10 or more watts) into a mobile antenna that close to a person isn't too good...

5 watts into a 4dBi antenna yields effectively 10 watts of radiated power....

At less than two feet from the antenna, your passenger's head is just on the fringes of max exposure limits...

Keep this in mind as you set up your bike..

Good Luck,

Rich
N2PPN

UPDATE:

After going back and forth with the folks at SENA Bluetooth regarding the incompatibility issues I faced trying to get a relatively NEW handheld radio (Motorola XPR6350) interfaced with their SR10 bluetooth hub I had been using previously (with older and some newer Chinese radios), I realized that SENA had a VERY OLD AND LIMITED compatibility list for it's SR10 hub. There were radios from the 1970's on it! And they have little or no intention of engineering any upgrades or modifications to this unit to make it better suited to newer radios at all.

Seems that the SENA device has this 6 Pin (HIROSE) connector on it that you use to interface with different radio systems, Icom, Kenwood, Midland, etc... After spending 30 bucks for the one that was required for the Motorola unit I was trying to attach to it, I found out (trial and error) it was incompatible!! AND they only have FOUR of the SIX available wires hooked up to ANYTHING inside the SR10 (yes, I opened it and looked!) No way to make it work with a newer radio...

When ever you would have the SENA Radio cable attached to the SR10 hub and radio, the radio would start to transmit continuously.... As soon as you either unplugged the cable from the radio OR the SR10, it would stop transmitting and act normally.

I know that the adapter I used for the radio (the radio has what is called a M7 multi-conductor flat connector on the side of the radio where you hook up things like a speaker/microphone) which converts to a two-pin Motorola style speaker/microphone connector works correctly, because I have two of these style speaker/microphones from older Motorola radios and they work perfectly fine through the adapter on the newer Motorola radio I am trying to use for this project...

After doing everything I could think of to make this set-up work (including spending another 30 bucks for an open-ended HIROSE cable to try to "jury-rig up a cable by cannibalizing one of my working two pin speaker/microphones), I just gave up and looked for a new solution...

I rolled the dice and bought a PRYMEBLU BT583 Bluetooth adapter for my Motorola radio... it has the M7 connector right on it and is no bigger than the plug used for a normal speaker/microphone. It is radio powered, so no external batteries, and best of all it pairs up with my existing SENA SMH-10 headset in my helmet!

I am still playing around with the final configuration of all the new radio gear, and will need to get a new Push To Talk (PTT) switch for the new bluetooth set-up, but it is looking better and better that I will be going digital on the bike this spring (if the SNOW ever stops!!) I am getting good signal reports using it (but looking a little strange as I walk around the house with my motorcycle helmet on and carrying my walkie talkie....) so as soon as the new PTT switch arrives, I'll be ready to place it on the bike!

Rich
N2PPN Digital Motorcycle Mobile.... :moped:

I Love your 1100 , what did the little side bags come off of ??? I would love to find a pair that size for my Trike Build . opcorn: I guess You have a lot of Know How on Radio's and Amps . on my 83 Aspencade I have the Radio and CB that I guess was Original , but I got another JUST Radio with it too.... I have thought about putting a little plug or jack and wire it in to that one......... for an MP3 player. ever done that on yours ???

@Sledge, The bags are Shoei Saddle bags as is the trunk... In 1982 when I bought my wing from Honda of Mineola, it was a '81 leftover, AND it was NAKED!... Back then you could only purchase the fairing, but not the trunk/saddlebags.. (except rivet by rivet in pieces which was cost prohibitive) So I found the Shoei Colormatched bags and trunk for it.... If you look close, you can tell she was a naked wing, by the pinstripes on the shelter... Interstates/aspencades have the pinstripes stop at the fairing, mine go all the way to the front of the shelter...

My stereo (posted elsewhere) is a fully functional MP3 player, which uses USB thumb drives instead of CD's... it also has an external input for anything else I might want to play through the 200 Watt amp in the fairing and the 600 watt subwoofer under the trunk...

Rich
N2PPN :moped:

Such a great looking bike Rich and even better that you have had the pleasure of owning it since new :good:

NICE , have you ever had a problem with the Charging System pulling that 200 Watt Power Amp ??? I was always afraid to hook something that big to mine . its a lot of work to change the Stator on a Goldwing , I'm pretty sure you have to take the Motor out of the Frame .

("knocking wood") Haven't had any real problems with the stereo system... If I am stuck in stop and go traffic and the 600 Watt subwoofer is "thumping" a bit too much, the battery voltage dips down... but as soon as I get back up to speed it returns.... If and when it happens, I have my "alternator conversion" pulley all ready to go as well as an alternator to drop on the bike to handle the higher power demands of my music system...
For now the conversion to LED lighting AND the HID headlight changeover saved me a bunch of watts from my stock stator/alternator to be used up by the stereo...

Rich
N2PPN Motorcycle Mobile :moped:

Hay be careful of knocking on Wood, I bruise easely. :smilie_happy:

FYI:

In my design and setting up the new Handheld/Portable Digital Mobile Radio, I determined I needed a more stable power source for the radio...
I found this little gem https://www.ebay.com/itm/DROK-12A-1...075?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a46956c0b It can be set up for 5VDC USB power, or just about anything else you might need stable DC power for on your bike..

It will perform far better than the regular 12VDC to 7.4VDC battery eliminator for the two way radio I currently have that runs hot and isn't as stable (it uses a LM2596S regulator that operates at 150KHz instead of the DROK which operates at 300KHz with better heat sinks and operating temperature tolerances)

It will most definitely fair better under the fairing lower on the right side where the 12VDC power connections are for the portable radios I use... during the summer it can get a little warm behind the shark gills so this upgrade will be able to handle it..

More to come with the upgrades and designs...

Rich
N2PPN Motorcycle Mobile . . . . :moped:

This one might save you a few dollars Rich
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DROK-12A-100W-4 ... 4075&rt=nc

The Drok 100W switcher is next to be installed... just waiting on a second battery eliminator housing from China...

On battery it power works great!!! Good signal reports, very little packet loss (from a repeater over 30 miles away) and plenty of receive audio!

Had to go with the PRYME BLU 583BT adapter rather than the SENA SR10... couldn't get the radio to correctly interface with it.

PRYME BLU unit pairs up with the SENA SMH10 and with the wired PTT works just as well as the SENA unit did..

catch you on the NA talkgroups...

N2PPN
Motorcycle Mobile
DMR ID #3136335 (for the motorcycle's radio)