BCADV Club Frequency or Channel
This is our official club frequency: every ride is the same. It never changes.
Rocky Talkie radio:
- Primary: Ch 17 with privacy code set to 17
- Alternate: Ch 18 with privacy code set to 18
Download the Rocky Talkie user manual which contains frequency charts, and keep it on your phone.
Baofeng / Tenway Radios:
- Primary: 462.600 with R-CTCS and T-CTCS set to 118.8hz
- Alternate: 462.625 with R-CTCS and T-CTCS set to 123hz
We recommend that once you’ve properly set these up in your radio, you save them as Channel 17 and Channel 18 respectively. This way when everyone says they are on Channel 17, that means the same thing to everyone, regardless of what radio they’re using
See the help videos below to learn how to program these settings in your radio
We highly encourage EVERYONE to have a radio on group rides.
Radios are cheap insurance, and an excellent tool for maintaining accountability on group rides, communicating emergency issues, and in general, greatly reduce the messy admin time of any group ride – passing along navigation guidance, finding lost riders, dropped bikes, communicating the “good line” through an obstacle, etc.
Radios are superior to Bluetooth-based helmet comms, due to dramatically greater range in broken terrain and no pairing issues.
Recommended Radios
Rocky Talkie 5 Watt Radio:
Note: We’re only recommending the 5 Watt GMRS Radio (not the 2 Watt Mountain Radio FRS radio).
https://rockytalkie.com/products/5-watt-radio
All BCADV members get a 20% discount. Ask an Admin for your single-use discount code.
To get it out of the way: the biggest con of the Rocky Talkie 5 Watt is that it’s more expensive.
While the Rocky Talkie 5 Watt lacks the flexibility of advanced programming vs the Baofeng, this makes it easier to deal with from a user experience perspective because there’s just less going on. The RT still has privacy codes, works on repeaters, etc. if you need that stuff though
Included with the core kit:
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IP67 waterproofing
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Shatterproof screen
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4-6 days of battery life, even in frigid ski/mountaineering conditions. I (Gino) personally did 5 COBDR sections without recharging, as one data point.
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USB-C charge port like your phone, comes with cable
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Alligator clip, carabiner, and steel leash included
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A/B channel switching. This is very useful if you need to monitor two channels, and then transmit to one or the other. An example use case of this is when a ride leader and sweep need a channel for themselves, and then also have a channel for the entire group. (Or, if you’re camping with your family and mom and dad need a separate channel vs the whole crew.)
The radio itself has a strong alligator clip, but we’ve found it easier to have the radio in my jacket or backpack, and the mic on my left shoulder/shoulder strap.
There is an optional long range whip antenna, but with real world testing, it’s hard to find a significant difference (in our experience).
Baofeng or Tenway (same radio, different brands)
At around $40-45 there’s no reason to not have an entry level GMRS radio. This radio comes “unprogrammed,” and provides a great deal of flexibility at a ludicrously low price point. You simply dial up the frequency you want to talk on, lock the screen, done.
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Can be found on Amazon often as a complete kit. Items to consider when shopping radio kits:
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8w radio → there’s no replacement for displacement
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Accessories:
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Extended life battery → the 8w version usually comes with a larger battery with a built-in charging port vs a separate charging cradle.
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USB charging cable, so can easily be charged from USB port on bike
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Long extended range antenna
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Shoulder mic
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Belt clip and/or holster
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Note that many of these kits some in pairs, ie two radios, so you can have a spare for yourself or to offer to a non-radio’d riding partner.
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Radio Setup
To get a sense of how the two different radios look and work, here are a couple of videos:
How to get your $35 GMRS License
Probably not necessary, but if you want to the link is below. It covers your entire family for 10 years.
“Levels” of Radio Setup
Level 1: Radio Clipped to Left Shoulder → 80% solution
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Cheap and dead simple
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However, can’t really hear transmissions, and others can’t hear you, if you’re moving at any speed above about 20mph → engine and wind noise, helmet, etc
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Therefore this setup is best used for “I have something important to pass,” vs more casual conversation.
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It’s also a good solution for offering a spare radio to a friend, as you can just clip it to their shoulder strap.
Level 2: Radio in Pack, Shoulder Mic on Shoulder → 90% solution
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Cheap and dead simple
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Shoulder mic is generally a bit louder and the push-to-talk (PTT) button is easier to find when moving compared to L1 above
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Communications are a tick better at low speeds, due to the increased volume of the speaker, and the radio is more secure in a pack vs on your shoulder.
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This is the setup that Rich runs with his DS helmet on either ADV or DS rides
With both L1 and L2, the radio is mounted to your body allowing you to maintain comms if separated / stepping away from the bike, if you remove your helmet, etc.
Level 3: Radio in Pack, Rugged Radio Helmet Kit in Helmet and PTT Button on Bars → 100% solution
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This is the setup that desert racers use → all comms are loud and clear, going both ways, PTT on the bars means you can transit easily in the gnarliest single track.
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Expensive, but you get what you pay for. Rich recommends Rugged Radios helmet kits and cables, and they are always running a sale of some flavor
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If you’re using a helmet with an existing BT speaker / intercom system, adding an RR helmet kit isn’t very practical, as stacking speakers often makes the helmet too tight. Some people have had success with using wired earbuds plugged into the Aux port of the bluetooth comms unit (IE, using small earbuds vs the BT speakers, and then running an RR helmet kit for radio speaker and intercom mic.
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Rich has an RR helmet kit in his dirt bike helmet, and PTT buttons mounted on both bikes. This is the setup that he runs on DS rides and on ADV rides with a DS flavor. He runs a cheap pair of Bluetooth earbuds for tunes.
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Note: if you’re separated from your bike you lose access to the PTT button. For this reason Rich mounts a spare PTT button to his left shoulder strap, so he can quickly unplug from the bike and plug in this PTT button, so he can transmit away from the bike…with helmet still on.
Level 4: Bluetooth Radio talking to Bluetooth Helmet Intercom system.
Last a couple members of the group tried this solution but it wasn’t ideal:
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BT PTT button mounted to the bars wasn’t very rugged
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BT pairing of radio and intercom system seemed to be finicky, dropping the connection
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In the end, having unreliable comms is worse than having no comms, and the L1-3 analog solutions above are generally much more reliable.
