Bluetooth Radar integration finally working
- Thread starter Mellow
- Start date
Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
Is that the voice of experience speaking?
drrod
Site Supporter
Both the Uniden R8 and Escort 360 MkII are $950+ on Amazon.
Looking at the used market. Could save a few hundred.
Looking at the used market. Could save a few hundred.
I always do the speed limit! On the way up, and the way back down.
Hey! I don't go looking for it, but I don't back down either!I avoid riding in the rain and have had zero issues with my Sena.
treemuncher
Vegetation Terrorist
I ALWAYS stay within my personal limits where I feel most comfortable. No need to ride too much faster than that. I see those state signs as "suggestions of prudent behavior", not my definition of a safe reality when on 2 wheels.
??? Must be Canadian cash price. Mine was about $650 last month.
Mellow, glad to hear the system is working for you. I'm using the Cardo Packtalk Bold, my phone, the Uniden R8, Wunderlinq and the BMW TFT - all in harmony, FINALLY! The R8 was the key to getting a RD, by using with the Highway Radar app, into the wireless comm unit. I can control most everything via the left hand buttons and wonder wheel. The phone provides GPS for the TFT system and displays the current "official" speed limit on the TFT. Highway Radar has been exceptionally good with the live updates, aircraft warnings, cameras and tons of settings options. The R8 has a lot more range than the old Passport 9500ix and best of all, direction of where the radar threat is coming from. My only complaint is that I wish I could add a couple decibels to the notifications. Otherwise, nearly nothing to criticize as long as the system boots up.
On my Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the volume automatically goes to about 3/4, even if it was full volume before when I connect any kind of headphone. The reasoning I think is to protect your hearing when you plug in headphones. The workaround is to start the BT connections, then go back to the phone and increase the volume manually.
Chris
Interesting. If that's the case, you might be able to use a routine to automate this. Unfortunately, if it works, I don't think Routines are available on non-samsung phones. You could probably use Tasker, on other Android phones, to accomplish the same thing.
OP
OP
Ah... the difference is BT only supports 2 AUDIO channels... The dongle is an Audio out device.A woman on another forum said something that has stuck with me for years. "If you don't ride in the rain in Seattle, you don't ride." Truer words were never spoken.
I delete the BT connections to my BMW during the summer months. The Zumo XT connects to the Sena BT headset using the GPS BT channel. The phone connects to the Zumo XT. That uses both BT channels on the Zumo XT and gives GPS directions/Music/Phone.
The Uniden R7 connects to the Sena BT headset on the phone BT channel through a BT transmitter. That uses up the Sena's two BT channels. Unfortunately or fortunately, that means I can't connect to anyone else without dropping the RD warnings.
If you're interested in the BT transmitter, here is one similar to what I'm using. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G8Q7NXZ?language=en_US
The biggest limitation I'm seeing on this, is I need three BT channels, and only two are possible.
Chris
The R4/R8 detectors must use a different BT frequency allowing it to be connected to the phone but not use up one of the Audio BT channels. So, they connect to the phone and the phone already has an audio channel connected so the alerts come from the phone not a BT audio channel on the RD.
For instance, I also have a Garmin watch that I get email/texts alerts from but if you look at the connections on the phone it does not show connected as those typically only show acttive Audio connections.
Not sure if there's a non-Audio BT dongle?
(Edit - since the dongle would need to be connected to the audio out, I don't think that option exists so you're forced to a RD w/BT chip in it.)
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treemuncher
Vegetation Terrorist
The Highway Radar has an option for 100% volume on start up, faster speech rate and agressive volume normalization. These settings make it as loud as possible for the system, which is good. However, I always wear earplugs and a slight higher bump in max volume would be better. This is most likely on the Cardo end of the spectrum as HR works great in the other vehicles.
drrod
Site Supporter
Yes, it is because of the difference in the currencies.
Do you run into the same "issue" with Highway Radar that you get with Waze? In other words, Waze is great in the Seattle Metro area where there are tens of thousands of drivers on the road reporting in. But in Podunk, WA where there is only one stop light in town, Waze is useless. You're the only person reporting an LEO sighting.
Chris
Chris
OP
OP
HW Radar is simply an app that interfaces with the Uniden and provide RD settings and alerts to the phone. It allows for also connecting to waze so you get both if you want. If you are out in the country, then you rely on the RD mainly but in the larger cities you can get some waze input. So waze is considered and additional source of info but that's it. I take waze with a grain of salt as some of that info is not always correct, I'd say around here it's about 80% accurate.
I ride "sane" maybe 80-90 percent of the time. It's only when I get out with some of you on rallies that common sense becomes uncommon for me. In a lot of those cases, I like to ride at the rear so I get maximum warning of an LEO lighting up the ride leader and that's when a RD really comes in handy.
During the "winter" months, I'm usually pacing the traffic around me. But there are two roads that I would really be prone to exceed the speed limit on. One is my own road. If there's no traffic it is really easy to get up to speeds that'll earn a performance reward. The other is on the way to church. Five lanes, two each way with a left turn lane. Wide open. Straight. And so many people exceed the 35 mph speed limit by 10 or more mph. In a group of vehicles ...I just know the guy with the motorcycle (me) is going to get pulled over.
It is soooo easy to exceed a 30 mph speed limit on a bike made to go 140 mph without realizing it.
Chris
During the "winter" months, I'm usually pacing the traffic around me. But there are two roads that I would really be prone to exceed the speed limit on. One is my own road. If there's no traffic it is really easy to get up to speeds that'll earn a performance reward. The other is on the way to church. Five lanes, two each way with a left turn lane. Wide open. Straight. And so many people exceed the 35 mph speed limit by 10 or more mph. In a group of vehicles ...I just know the guy with the motorcycle (me) is going to get pulled over.
It is soooo easy to exceed a 30 mph speed limit on a bike made to go 140 mph without realizing it.
Chris
OP
OP
On my way back from AR last month I was going through a medium sized town and the SUV next to me kept speeding past me then I'd catch up... but in a 40mph zone and we didn't speed, just toggling back and forth.I ride "sane" maybe 80-90 percent of the time. It's only when I get out with some of you on rallies that common sense becomes uncommon for me. In a lot of those cases, I like to ride at the rear so I get maximum warning of an LEO lighting up the ride leader and that's when a RD really comes in handy.
During the "winter" months, I'm usually pacing the traffic around me. But there are two roads that I would really be prone to exceed the speed limit on. One is my own road. If there's no traffic it is really easy to get up to speeds that'll earn a performance reward. The other is on the way to church. Five lanes, two each way with a left turn lane. Wide open. Straight. And so many people exceed the 35 mph speed limit by 10 or more mph. In a group of vehicles ...I just know the guy with the motorcycle (me) is going to get pulled over.
It is soooo easy to exceed a 30 mph speed limit on a bike made to go 140 mph without realizing it.
Chris
Got to a stop light and I zipped away quickly up to 40mph, because the RD was going off... zooooom!... suv sped past me and got tagged 2 seconds later...
I never speed in any city/town especially from about a mile before and after... but, once in a while you find a trooper out in the middle of nowhere and with instant-on they've tagged me... I hit the brakes and make sure when they pass my brake lights are on and that usually lets them know I get the point and they let me go.... that's happened a couple of times.
I find it is a mental game with me too. Helps to keep me alert. When I get an alert, what band is in on? Where is it? On the old Uniden DFR9, I'd see if I could spot the Mazda nearby because their Blind Spot Radar would set it off. I learned the behaviours of what to worry about and what not to.
So when I went through Twisp (pop 992), I had a K band warning as I approached the outskirts of town. That's usually for grocery store doors, but this one stayed on. I went farther into town and still it stayed on, and then started increasing in volume. Hmm...that's not normal. Finally, the local LEO came by going the other direction. He had an old constant on K band radar in his vehicle. If I wasn't paying attention, it would've been easy for him to catch me doing a few mph over the limit.
The two-channel limitation of BT is a bit of an irritation, but I can live with it. I rarely ride with others and when I do at rallies, it seems no one wants to take the trouble to pair up with me. So having the RD on one channel to the Sena is not that big of a deal.
When I totaled the first XR, I lost the Uniden DFR9 and replaced it with the R7 to get the directional arrows. I wish I'd known the R4 had the BT built in. But I'm not going to buy another RD just to get that.
Chris
So when I went through Twisp (pop 992), I had a K band warning as I approached the outskirts of town. That's usually for grocery store doors, but this one stayed on. I went farther into town and still it stayed on, and then started increasing in volume. Hmm...that's not normal. Finally, the local LEO came by going the other direction. He had an old constant on K band radar in his vehicle. If I wasn't paying attention, it would've been easy for him to catch me doing a few mph over the limit.
The two-channel limitation of BT is a bit of an irritation, but I can live with it. I rarely ride with others and when I do at rallies, it seems no one wants to take the trouble to pair up with me. So having the RD on one channel to the Sena is not that big of a deal.
When I totaled the first XR, I lost the Uniden DFR9 and replaced it with the R7 to get the directional arrows. I wish I'd known the R4 had the BT built in. But I'm not going to buy another RD just to get that.
Chris
OP
OP
A little review based on my first tour using this setup.
The Highway Radar app is pretty cool. Kick off Waze and then the HR app and you see a few circles.
Any crowdsourced alerts inside the circle in the direction you're traveling will ping an alert banner on the phone - something like 'Police Reported - 5 miles away - 10 mins ago... as you approach that location the app will increase a radar-like alert. That all simply uses the gps on your phone and the apps interface with waze.
It also has a heat map based on crowdsourced data for the past year... so, you know places known as speed traps.
Below, for anyone heading north on 75/69 from TX to OK you know there are a couple places where LEOs are almost always parked... so, it gives you something to look out for. None of this uses the rardar detector, this is just places to watch out for and they might be using pop radar and not often so the radar detector may not even pick up on it until it's too late.
When the radar does trigger, you get a visual banner on the phone showing the band and frequency - K bands are green as they are usually signs, cars, etc - low risk signals.
Ka bands are in red and a higher alert - also a percentage is shown to indicate how fast you are approaching the source.
On my way back from ARCampSTOC in the Atoka, OK area I even got an aircraft alert and a blue dotted line showing the plane path... no idea how accurate that is as I never saw a plane.
A couple images from the app site:
Weather overlay:
The Highway Radar app is pretty cool. Kick off Waze and then the HR app and you see a few circles.
Any crowdsourced alerts inside the circle in the direction you're traveling will ping an alert banner on the phone - something like 'Police Reported - 5 miles away - 10 mins ago... as you approach that location the app will increase a radar-like alert. That all simply uses the gps on your phone and the apps interface with waze.
It also has a heat map based on crowdsourced data for the past year... so, you know places known as speed traps.
Below, for anyone heading north on 75/69 from TX to OK you know there are a couple places where LEOs are almost always parked... so, it gives you something to look out for. None of this uses the rardar detector, this is just places to watch out for and they might be using pop radar and not often so the radar detector may not even pick up on it until it's too late.
When the radar does trigger, you get a visual banner on the phone showing the band and frequency - K bands are green as they are usually signs, cars, etc - low risk signals.
Ka bands are in red and a higher alert - also a percentage is shown to indicate how fast you are approaching the source.
On my way back from ARCampSTOC in the Atoka, OK area I even got an aircraft alert and a blue dotted line showing the plane path... no idea how accurate that is as I never saw a plane.
A couple images from the app site:
Weather overlay:
rwthomas1
Site Supporter
I didn't need this thread, I really didn't. Commuting over the same ground daily and running Waze has done OK thus far, but making the regular jump to hyperspace is going to eventually catch up to me. Pun intended. Now y'all got me looking at detectors.....
OP
OP
Sometimes... you have to make the Kessel Run.