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[warps]

How is the Graytronics a league above? What else does it do.

It's not about gimmicks or features. It's about quality - the Graytronics is orders of magnitude clearer, and more reliable. I don't know af too many people who haven't had trouble with Terraphone intercoms.

don't think that just because it has bells and whistles, it's a good product. If you want clear calls that won't let you down at the worst possible time, stay well clear of the terraphone stuff. I too thought it was good when it was all I'd ever tried. When I moved on to the graytronics I realised what shyte the terraphone stuff was

[No Crust Racing]

Interesting, do you think most of that comes from running the Terra stuff from the cars 12v system?

[paulR32gtr]

Pretty much all this stuff is so overpriced for the actual electronics behind it - treading carefully here with forum rules etc

One of those 80s electronics gurus with some square frame glasses and a red wooley jumper could build you something infinitely better out of the jaycar catalogue for a 10th of the price.

Good to see companies like stilo stepping in and at least supplying a good quality tested product for the money you fork out.

[No Crust Racing]

I had thought about that myself, I'm no electronics guru, I do work in IT though, and the tech behind it didn't seem that advanced.

[paulR32gtr]

It really isn't!

I might actually look at something as a bit of a project when I tackle this soon - I have access to a couple of said 80s electronics gurus.

I was so unimpressed with this gear for the price, and the rally computers too. I saw a market that Stilo and other manufacturers have since really moved to fill.

Theory dictates if we can attach a $79 head unit and some crappy speakers to a 12v car system without major interference, adding a couple of microphones shouldnt be a problem.

[Burgz32]

i'm with WARPS, the greytronics gear is way above anything else out there.

it's disign was done by the military, for use in Tank's so it's sound quality is awesome, cystal clear

with no feed back or electrical interference, as this kind of thing in a Tank can make thing's go BANG!!!

Cheers Jon

[No Crust Racing]

Theory dictates if we can attach a $79 head unit and some crappy speakers to a 12v car system without major interference, adding a couple of microphones shouldnt be a problem.

My thoughts exactly

i'm with WARPS, the greytronics gear is way above anything else out there.

it's disign was done by the military, for use in Tank's so it's sound quality is awesome, cystal clear

with no feed back or electrical interference, as this kind of thing in a Tank can make thing's go BANG!!!

Cheers Jon

Military spec, I love it

[Kel]

My two cents (and essay)…

You really only learn to nav and listen to the notes when you actually get on the job (I know, very helpful Kel!).

That said there's heaps you can do beforehand to get you well prepared for how it will be.

As many have said, watching as much in-car as you can is a big help, though try to pick cars which are similar to yours in speed. Having been in pretty quick cars and not so quick cars this can make a big difference to what you will end up including in the call (as an example, there’s not much point calling distances under 100m in an R35!).

If you can organise it, it’s also great to make your first event one where you just repeat the same road over and over (like Mt Buller) - perfect for refining what you do and don't include as well as perfecting the timings for the calls. The biggest challenge is working out the timing which suits you- as Tim has said every driver is different. Some like to know what's going on three corners ahead, while others have enough memory (just) for the next corner

The only way you'll learn this is trial and (unfortunately) error! - and you need to be giving your nav lots of feedback. You'll find yourself asking for the next call or telling them to slow down alot in the beginning!

Doing some decent reccy will help, though it also helps to remember that how you may read the notes at road rules speed versus race speed will be very different! I think sighting it though, seeing how it all works and doing a few runs is perfect for building up the confidence needed for your first real run.

The other bonus is that with many events your first run is a prologue, so less pressure, usually a shorter, easier run, often with a sighting drive-through beforehand, so you can get your eye in proper.

I think doing your first rally with someone close to you, who you trust, can make a difference- you'll both be much more forgiving and hopefully much more relaxed.

I am a big fan of buying notes- partly because all the events I do are interstate and I am usually with drivers who don't have a lot of time for reccy not to mention writing our own notes. A lot of people think 1-6 is better for people starting out and I tend to agree- it's much better to be concentrating on driving to the call instead of having to try and work out the difference between a 6/7/8 corner. Best 1-6 I think are Vandenbergs notes.

That said I've also run with a driver new to rally who wanted to use 1-10 long term so that’s what we started with, without any dramas. Rallynotes is my preferred 1-10 and have never had a problem with them.

For intercom, I've used terraphone, peltor (via an adaptor plug in my Stilo helmet) and a Stilo. Have to say I am a Stilo convert- the noise cancelling is amazing.

Sorry if some of this is pretty obvious- just know I knew almost nothing when I started out (and probably still don't know too much )

Good luck & hope to see you and your wife at a rally soon!

Also happy to have a chat to her before a rally about what to bring, what to do etc etc etc if that would help.

[No Crust Racing]

Thanks heaps Kel, no doubt I will be chasing you up at some stage to pick your brain Really appreciate the time put into the reply.

Side bar: We're not married lol

[Kel]

Thanks heaps Kel, no doubt I will be chasing you up at some stage to pick your brain Really appreciate the time put into the reply.

Side bar: We're not married lol

lol no worries at all- I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of good people give me advice over the years, so I'm happy to keep passing it on.

[marinetowing]

For intercom, I've used terraphone, peltor (via an adaptor plug in my Stilo helmet) and a Stilo. Have to say I am a Stilo convert- the noise cancelling is amazing.

.

I have a peltor fmt200 intercom in my car, it was damn expensive but suffers from terrible electrical interference, it is hardwired to the cars power system.

Does anyone have any tips for solving the feedback issues, is it as simple as running it on 9v power or can I purchase some sort of filter to place on the power line to cancel out any noise?

Any help would be greatly appreciated....and sorry for thread hijack

[warps]

I have a peltor fmt200 intercom in my car, it was damn expensive but suffers from terrible electrical interference, it is hardwired to the cars power system.

Does anyone have any tips for solving the feedback issues, is it as simple as running it on 9v power or can I purchase some sort of filter to place on the power line to cancel out any noise?

Any help would be greatly appreciated....and sorry for thread hijack

I've never had a bad problem with interference noise, so haven't had to troubleshoot too much. HAve you got a good, clean source of power? I'm guessing a suppressor or some kind of filter should fix the problem.

On the topic of building a cheap intercom, I'm sure that if you can get quality electronic components cheap then you could build something cheaper than what's on offer. I know a guy in Newcastle building his own trip meters for rally (Ben Semple - member of Westlakes AUto Club for anyone interested). While his gear is cheaper than the main name brands, it's not what I'd call bargain basement. I think he was quoting somewhere near $400 for his top of the range model. I paid a couple of hundred over that for a Monit, but that was just my preference. I believe a few people have bought Ben's trip meters and are more than happy with them.

To echo Kel's comments, if you're a newbie driver, then you'll struggle to digest a lot of information while you're driving. Start off with basic notes and work your way up from there. The first pace noted rally I ever did, we just took the road book and added notes to any corner that was actually different to how it looked entering the corner. Ie if it held a surprise, then we made a note, otherwise we left the calls as they were. This worked very well for us, but having said that, we were used to blind rallies and already had some experience at reading the road.

I know that the top level drivers will have much finer descriptions for corners, but for those guys the difference in winning and losing is whether they can enter a fast sweeper at 120, or 140. THe slow stuff is always easier to read and you tend to have more time / room to respond if you stuff up a call

[warps]

Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but I'm in the process of buying a new Graytronics amplifier for my rally intercom (as I sold the unit with the last car but kept the headphones)

With the Exchange rate the way it is, the PRO amplifier is just a shade over $100 delivered (from UK). If you want a complete unit with headphones as well, they are about $220 delivered. Pretty bloody good buying, I think. They are now made by this mob (see link below). I don't know if this means that the quality will change - will know soon enough, guess.

http://www.rallyintercoms.co.uk/