Radios

Radios are old school.  We just text.

Most good radios are usually Motorola
Most are UHF, multiple channel.
Good communication starts with good headsets. We ran radios without headsets for one race. The engine sounded really good, the driver what?
Standard Headset connectors are either Nascar 1/4 stereo or IMSA connectors.
Communication as Mulry put it should be two way. If you are going to one way it should be Car communication with the pit, signs in the pit. This way the driver can warn the pit crew of issues and flags. the worst thing is to find out from another team that your car has been sitting in the penalty area for the last hour waiting for a driver swap.

With all radios you will want to install an external antenna on the top of the car. Signals that are not strong can drop or get overtaken by other frequencies.

The team that runs the Death Cab has a really nice set-up.
Plenty of radio power, so they have no black outs due to track terrain.
Helmet headsets, in car loudspeaker that the video camera picks up.
Push to talk button on the steering wheel.

I want what they have!

KT

Thanks, Mulry, for pointing out the search function.   DUH!   I'm so new that I didn't even see it there.
Also thanks to doctawife for the links.   Now I feel slightly more educated.

I like the idea of a speaker for the video camera to pick up!

It looks like the better systems require an FCC license, but I don't have a problem with that.   The only question is whether they allow it to be used at different tracks, or if the license is restricted to a single location.   Time for more research...

Thanks,
Alan

AFAIK, the FCC doesn't get involved in license compliance and enforcement issues unless and until there is a complaint from a license holder about somebody stepping on their frequencies. Given the non-commercial use, remote location, and relatively short distance comms that most teams are using at Lemons events, it's quite unlikely that you're going to see an FCC enforcement action. YMMV.

But if you get in trouble, blame Troy.

+1 million.

Nobody I know has a FCC license anymore.

I used to... when I was a radio DJ.  Same with the Husband.

Have we bothered with our racing radios?  NAH!  Even the radios we used to use when downhill skiing *technically* needed FCC licenses... and we didn't bother then, either.

If Vail doesn't care, Middle-of-Nowhere-TX won't care.

Spark gap transmitter and Morse code! Any receiver can pick it up!

Shameless bourgeois luxury! Wire up an old headlight as an Aldis lamp.

I sympathize, but disagree. This is reasonable if the weather isn't heatstroke-miserable, but you don't want your people in full pit dress unless they need to be in it when it's in the 90's and up in both air temp and humidity. If you want to compete for the overall win in the hot hot hot Texas/Gulf Coast races, you'll need radios. IJS.

We've raced with and without radios and when they work, they are an valuable asset.

As Pat said, we had a driver come in unexpectedly in September at MSR.  He damn near fell out of the car.  The Cool Suit was running but the water wasn't cool enough.

Good communication would have helped the situation.

They are also good to discuss concerns with the car like hey were running at 210.

Okay, keep an eye on it we don't wanna go over 220.

You can't communicate like that through a Pit Board.

Not to mention they do provide some entertainment and venting during long Yellows.

While radios aren't necessary I am glad we have them.

Our team has been racing with radios and I could never go back to racing without them. Having HAM radio nerds on the team is a big asset!

We have a couple of the headsets sbarton linked to, so one is in the driver's helmet and the other is in the replacement driver's helmet, which means a driver swap is literally plug and play. PTT is on the e-brake handle so it's easy to feel for. The only thing we don't have (and would really like) is a headset for the spotter, but they're not cheap.