Grizz's African Odysey - Ride Report now finished.

Stuck in doors at the moment, busy trying to get scanning, emailing and application for a security check sorted..... problem when left hand does not know what right hand is doing in one office.


Thought I would copy and paste some info, pics from Goose and my ride through Europe last year.

One of the things I instantly agreed to was radio comms as it was goin g to be a "slow ride" to actually see stuff, eat weird food, walk in the old quarted of cities etc.

Radios would prove invaluable in warning each other of various changes in circumstances..... stopping to take a photo, road conditions, traffic, Law enforcement and a sudden changes in direction etc.

Peter already had awesome SA sourced ZARTEC two way radios (Kenwood in disguise) with an enhanced range of 3km, so I borrowed one from a friend, and subsequently got to buy a pair plus a charger from Ebay.

Having a limited range, these robust little radios have about 15 chanels, and do not need to be licensed.

I will pus Goose's comments in italics to add his views.

I must say that it's an absolute pleasure spending time with another dude that can "Maak-'n-plan" ........ as we had 1 x Autocom system + 1 x Kenwood, 2 x Other radio's and a kak-huis full of cables.....!



Well Autocom installed - we found that there was no way we could get the two smaller radios working - the Kenwood was ok - but powered off the Autocom - however no PTT was in the bag, so out came a set of Sharman headphones......

A quick installation of the Headset and we were ready to connect the radio.... or so we thought
Two small 1,5mm screws were needed to allow the Kenwood to be connected via cables to the Autocom... but we had none - so off to Maplin and their wonderfully skilled Electronic experts to assist!



Hier kom kark.

I watched Grizz's stare and if he could have BLIKSEM'd the salesman - he would have.............. the DUDE insited on ïnserting" the screw himself and after 2 turns both of us could see the thread was wrong into the aluminium housing. Before either of us could blurt out a word... the bliksem forced the screwdriver and snapped the head of the screw off............ Dom twatwaffle (sorry hentie)

Fortunately......... I'm used to working on radio equipment.. so with the salesman realising he was in deep kark......... (he would potentially be liable to replace a 70 quid radio) we were given carte blanche to open and use ANY of the tools and equipment in the store to rectify the situation!




So on the Maplin counter top......... we did a strip & repair........... but not just ANY repair... (as the old screw was totally jammed) we promptly proceeded to strip the unit, drill a new hole (check the size of the hand-drill)



..... the drill-bit being so thin & flimsy - required Grizz to stabilise it with his farmer-brown "vingers" .....




and as a first ever.... used a nifty miniature Tap & Die set to tap a new thread for our fastening screw!





Finally we were given the screws by the salesman after being more than grateful that we were not holding him liable for the stuffed screw.
Amazingly he commented on how he found it fascinating to watch us with the inhouse repair as he'd not realised what some of the tools we used were for..... - he works there... but no clue!

The Autocom connector had rust and some broken wires inside the power lead sheath... causing intermittent functionality that really screw'd us around.... but nothing a soldering iron would not sort out!

Eventually a whole rewire of the cable system was required to get it working........... using old dvd power lead (recycling's big here you know!)





EUREKA!!!! Comms finally working.. a quick test and a blast up to the M25 was needed to make sure it works. (another excuse for a spin on the boney )

Interestingly we had 9/10 reception at speeds approaching "license threatening" with a distance of close on a mile (1.5km) and no signs of any break-up at all.
Needless to say - we are really chuffed with the performance and this adds a new dimension to riding with your mate!

SUNSHINE!!!!!!!!!!! Check the LED Lights that we got on the group-buy!! Seriously NICE!!!






After the France trip I got the radios we used in SA on Dozer and my trip, but they also work perfectly fine with Goose's Zartek radio.

On about three occasins we could hear farmers talk on the ride and once I could hear a really agitated farmer telling a worker what he was going to do with the tractor...... interestingly, Dozer and I did not always listen in on the same conversations and once in the KZN rural areas we just moved up one chanel.

Goose also lengthened both our leads, this is great for getting on and off the bikes with helmets on, and more importantly, on the days we did over 600km we could stand up on the footpgs and rest our butts.

RADIO COMMS RULE !!!!!

Just try it some time.