Topic: Radio Question

Is is possible/legal/advisable to listen to race control radio? It seems that doing so would advantage the team by allowing them to communicate
flag/corner worker info to the driver before the driver actually saw the flags. The team would also know when they were being black flagged and then head in that much sooner. Is anyone already doing this? Or is it frown upon?

Re: Radio Question

I suppose no one is going to stop you from listening in. But god help you if you start stepping on their channel. Also not sure if they'll freely hand out their frequency info.

20+ Time Loser FutilityMotorsport
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Re: Radio Question

Yea so use a scanner not a Tx/Rx.

Also some places have land lines, so not so helpful unless a truck is rolling.

I just wish they would ever remember to turn the PA FM broadcaster on. Like EVERY track has one. Yet I'm always like:

http://i.imgur.com/5VBkn.jpg

every time something presumably important comes over the PA.

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

Re: Radio Question

TheEngineer wrote:

I suppose no one is going to stop you from listening in. But god help you if you start stepping on their channel. Also not sure if they'll freely hand out their frequency info.

I was listening to race control at the Gingerman race this last weekend and someone WAS on the race control frequency..   I never did determine what team it was though..  Thankfully they didn't use their radios often.

So just a word of advice to those teams using private line (PL) tones..   Listen to the frequency you are on with the receive tone turned OFF for a while to make sure you're not stepping on something important...

I also heard a team on another frequency that was in use by a local business..  I doubt the business noticed it however..     I know the Race control did however as they would comment at times that they couldn't make out a call..  I doubt they heard the team transmissions to know that was the cause because Gingerman uses a digital code squelch on their radios.

I'm very surprised that Lemons doesn't mandate that teams avoid specific frequencies at every track they visit..  that's the norm for many racing series.  They place it in the supplemental regulations that teams can not use specific frequencies to avoid interfering with track communications.

-Nick

Re: Radio Question

Finish wrote:

Is is possible/legal/advisable to listen to race control radio? It seems that doing so would advantage the team by allowing them to communicate
flag/corner worker info to the driver before the driver actually saw the flags. The team would also know when they were being black flagged and then head in that much sooner. Is anyone already doing this? Or is it frown upon?

Yes, it is possible as long as it's not a track with hardwired communications..  Even at some of those tracks there is still enough radio communication to the emergency vehicles to make it worthwhile.

Some professional series actually mandate that someone on a teams crew listens to race control so you can pass along information to the driver for black flags..  where to line up for restarts, etc.

Every radio system I've helped set up for a race car has had the crew chief set up to monitor the track as well as the Car/Driver.. I'd never want the driver to try to listen directly as there's far too much traffic at times..  Often we'd even set up a crew "talk around" channel so the crew could talk to each other and not bother the driver  (No PL tone for the crew-crew chatter, PL tone to talk to the car/driver).

And as others have said you do not EVER want to transmit on the race control frequency..  so if you're using a radio that can "dual watch" to listen to the track and your team frequency you want to be 100% sure that you have transmit disabled for that side of the radio  (if you have a radio with your team in A  and the track in B..   set the transmit default to A)..

and if you're not 100% sure how to do that, use a scanner so it's impossible to accidently transmit..

-Nick

Re: Radio Question

Finish wrote:

Is is possible/legal/advisable to listen to race control radio? It seems that doing so would advantage the team by allowing them to communicate
flag/corner worker info to the driver before the driver actually saw the flags. The team would also know when they were being black flagged and then head in that much sooner. Is anyone already doing this? Or is it frown upon?

Some tracks publish what they're broadcasting on.  Disable your transmit button if you do.

When we were back east our crew chief had a headset that he wired up with one earpiece set up to listen on one radio and the other to listen and broadcast with the mic on another.  He would tune the first to the track frequency and the second to our team frequency.  It was so damn useful to know which corner stations were displaying what flags, almost made us lazy.  If I was rich I'd fly him out west for the left coast races.

bs

Re: Radio Question

nickh30 wrote:
TheEngineer wrote:

I suppose no one is going to stop you from listening in. But god help you if you start stepping on their channel. Also not sure if they'll freely hand out their frequency info.

I was listening to race control at the Gingerman race this last weekend and someone WAS on the race control frequency..   I never did determine what team it was though..  Thankfully they didn't use their radios often.

So just a word of advice to those teams using private line (PL) tones..   Listen to the frequency you are on with the receive tone turned OFF for a while to make sure you're not stepping on something important...

I also heard a team on another frequency that was in use by a local business..  I doubt the business noticed it however..     I know the Race control did however as they would comment at times that they couldn't make out a call..  I doubt they heard the team transmissions to know that was the cause because Gingerman uses a digital code squelch on their radios.

I'm very surprised that Lemons doesn't mandate that teams avoid specific frequencies at every track they visit..  that's the norm for many racing series.  They place it in the supplemental regulations that teams can not use specific frequencies to avoid interfering with track communications.

-Nick

Most teams genuinely have no Idea what they're doing as far as radios. It was $30, it was from China, and it had this frequency when I turned it on is usually how it goes.

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

Re: Radio Question

Guildenstern wrote:

Most teams genuinely have no Idea what they're doing as far as radios. It was $30, it was from China, and it had this frequency when I turned it on is usually how it goes.

I'm sure that's quite true..  it's not the fault of the Chinese radio though..  most of those look pretty good on an RF analyzer.  One of the more popular manufacture's equipment is even type accepted for commercial use (such as a GMRS radio would technically need to be..)

I would hope teams would read thru their equipment instruction manuals over off season and not currently connected with a Lemons team I do have quite a bit of radio experience and race cars so I'm always open to being asked questions.

-Nick