Kenwood TK-890 to 8180 setup on motorcycle

[Honda-ST1300PA]

Just finished installing the whip. I’ve read that the spiral on the whip will create whistle or some kind of noise. Oh well. Sure looks nice.

 

[Honda-ST1300PA]

Antenna mounted
8180 will under rear hood

 

[mmckenna]

If the whistle bothers you, you can put a piece of heat shrink tubing over the coil. It'll usually quiet it down.

 

[mmckenna]

Looks good.

Considering that mounting location…
With the lack of a good ground plane under the antenna, you may want to consider a half wave/ground independent antenna. If you check the SWR on your current setup, and it's high and won't come down, that's probably the cause.

 

[Honda-ST1300PA]

SWR. Antenna Tuning....
Told ya this was a voodoo black art

https://www.rightchannelradios.com/blogs/installation-guides/18330687-cb-antenna-tuning-instructions

 

[mmckenna]

Yeah, that's the way my grandfather explained it to me. Said you could do all the calculations, measure down to the thousandth of an inch, and it still comes down to tweaking a bit at a time while watching a meter.

While the CB instructions are correct, you would need a meter designed for UHF. The nice thing is that many UHF antennas are pretty broad banded.

 

[krokus]

Is there a reason you do not want a Bluetooth option? This company has some decent options.

https://www.sena.com/product-category/motorcycles-powersports/communication/

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[Honda-ST1300PA]

Until I rise the ladder and have to contact the HQ, my 30w radio’s range need only be the distance of the team l’ll be riding with, few miles usually. If the reception sucks, then it’s voodoo bead time.

As for wired or wireless, I like the lack of a leash of BT, but I don’t like it’s wireless costs or batteries. Wired doesn’t suffer pairing and connection problems, and should be less expensive. I’ll probably start out wired and go to wireless at some point.

 

[ramal121]

I'm going to throw another curve ball at you. You should not be using that radio on high transmit power due to the proximity of the antenna to your body. On police motors we never set the radio above 15 watts. You really need to set your channels to low power which is about 5 watts. Try it to see how the range is. I bet it will do fine. If you think it still needs a little more range you'll have to buy or borrow a GOOD wattmeter and bump up the power a little but not over the 10 to 15 watt range.

 

[Honda-ST1300PA]

@RAM,

Thank you and Amen to that.

I actually turned them down to low when programming because my Radio Shack 1500mA power supply couldnt keep the radio energized when I tested the channels I programmed.

This topic is also why i no longer carry my iphone on my body or near my bed if its on.

 

[Honda-ST1300PA]

Oh and i havent looked into how to adjust the transmit power on the fly for this radio. Thus far I program high or low in the software programer.

 

[ramal121]

Good deal. sounds like your on top of it. The mobile does not have a way to change power settings by the user on a single channel (the portable does). The work around would be to make two of every channel and program one high and the other low. This would give you the option to have a little extra kick on the rare times you would need it.

 

[mmckenna]

This would give you the option to have a little extra kick on the rare times you would need it.

Or when your back is getting cold.

There was a guy on here a few years back who was adamant he needed to run a 100 watt TK-890 on his ATV with the antenna mount on the rear rack.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Or when your back is getting cold.



There was a guy on here a few years back who was adamant he needed to run a 100 watt TK-890 on his ATV with the antenna mount on the rear rack.

Hopefully it fixed his ability to reproduce... you know, stupid/2x4/ductape/numb


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[Honda-ST1300PA]

Good deal. sounds like your on top of it. The mobile does not have a way to change power settings by the user on a single channel (the portable does). The work around would be to make two of every channel and program one high and the other low. This would give you the option to have a little extra kick on the rare times you would need it.

Brilliant. That’s exactly what ill do. Is using a different zone a neat way of doing this second set, or just
TAC 3 LP
TAC 3 HP
Etc

 

[Honda-ST1300PA]

Good deal. sounds like your on top of it. The mobile does not have a way to change power settings by the user on a single channel (the portable does). The work around would be to make two of every channel and program one high and the other low. This would give you the option to have a little extra kick on the rare times you would need it.

Brilliant. That’s exactly what ill do. Is using a different zone a neat way of doing this second set, or just
TAC 3 LP
TAC 3 HP
Etc

I did spring for an IMC HS H130P wired headset that works with open faced and modular helmets. Hope I chose wisely for my first econo comm set. Next is to build that DB25 to DIN cabling.

 

[ramal121]

Yes, what I'd do is separate the channels into different zones. Each zone has the two channels high and low power. Make the up/down arrow keys as zone up/down and the left/right button keys as ch/gid up/down.

Now the up/down arrow keys will scroll the different channels and the left/right arrow keys will toggle high and low power.

The only question on the headset is if the microphone is compatible with a Kenwood radio. If it's a dynamic type you should be good. If not you may have to jump through a couple of hoops to make it play.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

 

[ramal121]

You mentioned PVP headsets. I have worked with those in the past and they are fine. Tech support is good also.

I prefer Setcom helmet headsets as they will sell you everything needed to plug right into a TK-8180. However it is more likely to give your wallet a rash if you know what I mean. Their tech support is top notch.

Let's see what can be done with what you ordered.

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[Honda-ST1300PA]

No sooner than when i popped for the IMC, the PVP finally responded (2 weeks)
Fortunately, the IMC has 30 day return. Im betting PvP will be a wallet rash as well.
Probably worth it.


On May 15, 2018, at 2:46 PM, Kelly Coyne <Kelly@pvpcom.com> wrote:

Hello Thomas,
I can help you out. I can quote you for our mobile only wired system. I just need to know what helmet you use as well as your bike/year of bike.

Best Regards,

Kelly Coyne
Phone: (310) 212-5432
Toll-Free: (800) 584-4119
kelly@pvpcom.com
www.pvpcom.com

 

[ramal121]

Alright, why not snag a quote from Setcom too (hopefully less than two weeks). Then the balls in your court. Do you want a plug-and-play system or go el cheapo and have us here get you going one way or another.

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