[xydan]

Last month i realised a very old dream of mine, to own a bike. I bought myself a Bajaj Avenger for my 42nd birthday with my wifes permission of course. Went on a 3 day trip to Bharatpur as my daughter was away in Calcutta. It was fun but with the helmets on it was nightmare to communicate, specially since i was on a two wheeler after almost 15 years. Anyway so after i came back it was off to the drawing board and workbench. I had checked out a few helmet intercoms specially the bluetooth ones but i wanted to make one myself.

The helmets on my workbench

Tore an old amplified speaker that ran on 12 volts apart. Fitted all the parts in a floppy disc box. Sorry i was too busy at that time to take pictures, so you only get to see what is outside.
In the helmets went 2 speakers behind the foam after slightly cutting the styrofoam, snug fit add a bit of glue from a glue gun and a perfect fit.

The speakers glued in place.
Next added a Condenser to the inside of the chinguard and looped the wire inside to reach the back of the helmet so it could be connected to the sockets fixed at the back of the helmet.

The mic glued to the chin guard, it looks a little messy because i had put in larger microphones and then had to take them out as they did not work.


Finally fixed the sockets with a generos dose from the glue gun and some fevikwik.

The sockets at the rear of the helmet. There is no evidence of any tampering with the helmet on the outside or inside and actually except for cutting a hlf inch piece of styrofoam nothing else has been tampered with.

The amplifier box has a selector switch to switch between MP3 Player/Intercom/Walkie talkie, Volume and Treble controls and input for microphome from the helmet and speakers to the helmet and also for the MP3 player.


The walkie talkie connects directly to the helmet or through the amp box and wih VOX on it gives total handssfree communication.

I got these radios from the US, has a range of more than 10 Kms (Tested) in the open so should be ideal for bike to car communications
The amplifier box screwed on to the bike where the helmet lock used to be.

Close up of the controls
The MP# player sticks to the petrol tank by a magnet taken out from a broken HDD, very powerful magnet.

The MP3/4 player on the fuel tank

The final assembly

Ready for my next trip to LEH on a bike.

[hiambuj]

Congrats Xydan... More touring on cards, on bike this time...
Where have you been for so long ? We were missing you on the forum

[xydan]

Been a little busy. Havent been on a two wheeler for ages so will take a little time to get used to the idea of riding a bike. Looking to get a trailer so i can carry the bike behind the car and then use it as and when i want to. Bharatpur was a trial run. Butt aching but otherwise quite ok.

[hiambuj]

Ok.... So when are we going to have a treat in form of Bharatpur drive photographs & travelogue...

[KurtRules]

HI Xydan, nice gadgetry done there .... Seems useful for city riding, but i dont think it would be tangiable for the leh ride...For starters,the amplifier might just fall off, enroute..

[anupmathur]

Xydan, long time no see!

Nice DIY job there, and congrats on acquiring the new mobike!

Did you say you'll tow it in a trailer, with your car?!

[hitanshu]

sarkar, lovely setup.

but didnt you go three months early to bharatpur?

[darth_lucifer]

Nice setup

Some questions:
Are radios from US valid for civilain usage over here.I thought there was some frequency allowed for civilians.Is it same in US and India???
Do we need licence to operate them???
Is there an frequency we can use internationally and its valid everywhere guarnteed we dont get picked up by military or police for using it???
This system would be a boon for a team status on difficult terrain

[xydan]

LOL No there is no chance the box can fall off. Put in a steel frame.
We went to Bharatpur because of its distance and not the birds. In fact most of the time there was spent in the hotel itself. Just wanted to see if at 42 I can still ride long distances.
Two way radios or walkie talkies like the one i have use two kinds of frequencies, FRS and GMRS.
FRS is in the short range FM and licence free. The range is also shorter limited to about 2-5 Kms. GMRS has a longer range and according to the manual can give a range of about 20 Miles. I have used this only in Narkanda where i could clearly communicate between Hotel Hatu and friends on the Hatu peak, a distance of almost 10 Kms.
GMRS does need a licence and can be obtained from NIAR. At one time it was about 180 Rs annually.

[Devil.Dj]

Really nice work there xydan. If I may ask, What was the cost for the entire setup ?


Cheers,
DJ