Ok dont see a good spot to post this but figure here is a good spot. I am looking for options for road captains to communicate. There are 54 of us currently and communication out on the road is a must. We use CB's right now and often have to relay messages. The packs are often much longer than the range of the CB. short range HAM was tried and not worth the much larger expense. Mid to long range is doable but between license to operate and price for radios....way over budget.

My thought is a phone application such as Team speak or mumble. Some sort of push to talk button and a Wireless bluetooth or wired headset. What im having a hard time finding is wireless headset that will connect to the phones that will be good for riding canceling the wind noise.

Do you guys use anything decent head sets that will work with Half Helms that are bluetooth? If we have to wired? Road captain budget is not padded by much and with 54 road captains, the push to talk itself is already over $1,620

Push to talk button I found something like This

 

"Thanks" was a mistake.


I recommend a purge.

 

have you looked into the new mesh technology with the Sena 30K? I believe there are a few others that do this mesh network where they leap frog each other and when out of range use your cell phone to link back into the pack.

I've used Teamspeak and Mumble for gaming and you're going to run into issue with that also (unless you have your own server) with users. It would be pretty tough to admin that on the road I'd imagine.

as for push to talk, your going to need something that you can assign the function to, I think the one you linked is only for specific apps.

I'm curious what you end up with, sounds like a fun project to tackle for sure.

 

I just looked to see what the ZELLO ap was that the PTT button you posted. That might be your answer right there!

*edit* the PTT function only works with apple devices atm and the "work" version (so you'd have a private network) costs $6 per user per year

 

Ya, downloaded it last night with a few other road captains, Looks promising so far. We will beta test it the first few training rides before we invest in head sets and buttons for everyone. Phone connectivity may be an issue. no charge for Zello channel 1-1000 people. The work one is way to pricy at $6 per month per user. Adds up over a riding season! $3240 The GPS locator would be awesome to know how many road captains are close to the front while leapfrogging up the pack. If it was per year, I would invest in it for the road captains myself. thinking ill pick up an extra set for the police as often as we work with them on rides.

as for the push button, I bought a few of these

 

SO far what I have done was for my 2010 ultra, Purchased from Sena, Sena 20s evo. head set and pad for my half helm for the speakers. I purchased a PTT button to use with the app Zello. I have seamless communication through both CB and the Zello application that is running on my phone. CB runs through the freewire bluetooth to my headset. Cell phone also bluetooth to my headset. Can listen to both at the same time. Whichever I wish to talk through is just dependent on which PTT button I push. PTT original on the bike for CB, Wireless PTT button to talk across the app Zello. Couldn't be happier with it. I can also listen to Spotify at the same time through my bluetooth module that plugs in the AUX jack on the H&K radio. Spotify plays through the speakers on the bike. Mutes when either the CB or Zello is sending or receiving.


For the other road captains with the 14+ with factory CB they run their wired head set with the phone bluetooth to their radio. Zello works like a call so cannot hear the CB if sending or receiving but switches back right after send or receive has completed. The only thing they needed was the $30 PTT wireless button that works with Zello. This will work to test the digital communication this riding season.

If all works as we have already found it to so far. all that is needed is a bluetooth head set which I found bulk price for $50, PTT button Bulk price 22.50, Speaker pads for the half helm for about $18 each. So about $90 per person vs the current $250ish for Radio, and head set setup for CB coms if no CB installed on the bike. Also much clearer communication.

 

There has been updates recently that may have helped. Most of the other guys are running android and able to use the button so far without any bugs as long as the app is set up right.