Group Communication

[Joseph Levandoski]

Last season, my father and I were out on a ride at night and became separated by quite a few miles (you know those moments where the snow dust from everyone up front is too much and you drop WAY back). He ended up turning off the main trail onto another trail (for those of you familiar with Aroostook County, he took a right off ITS 85S and started heading up the Allagash instead of continuing down ITS 85S to Portage from Eagle Lake). In this instance, we were too far apart from each other for reliable radio communication, but still had visual cues that (1) he was going down the wrong trail and (2) I had turned around to go looking for him.

Now that this little escapade has happened (though we're perfectly comfortable with being separated by distance), I'm looking to see how you and your groups stay in communication with each other using means other than radios - we've had iffy luck with them in the past (luckily in this case, two 200HP SideWinders had little trouble closing down on each other once we got pointed in the right direction).

 

[josnow]

So in the past our group has used Chatterbox communicators spread throughout. Leader, a couple mid pack and last guy in line. They were great when new but battery life in the cold once a few years old is not great. We found a cheap alternative to be lead and last guys carry some handheld gmsr radios. I’m the lead and if there is an issue last guy sends out the emergency beep. I have yet to not hear the beep. When I do I pull over and radio back to find out what’s going on. We are not in constant communication but gives us peace of mind and does the trick. Radios we have have 7 mile range

 

[Teamblue4]

We wait at every intersection for the rider behind you.

 

[Kenjeepman78]

We wait at every intersection for the rider behind you.

X2 if we have a group of say four the third rider waits for the fourth, second waits for third and so on. I’ve been the fourth before and had an issue. It has worked well for us.

 

[maim]

We wait at every intersection for the rider behind you.

what i do when i lead. saves some trouble with missed turns and new riders to an area worrying about keeping up.

 

[josnow]

We wait at every intersection for the rider behind you.

Yes we do the same as well and have not lost someone at an intersection. We use the radio more for mechanical breakdowns and such. Don’t like getting to the next intersection 10 miles away and realize someone is having issues 7 miles back

 

[sgauthier]

we have one communicator at the front and one at the back in case of trouble. It is nice when everyone has one so you can warn them of oncoming traffic thou.

 

[Joseph Levandoski]

We wait at every intersection for the rider behind you.

Usually, it's just my father and I (maybe a third if they can make the trip). Usually, that third rider and I are running up front leaving my father in the back to deal with the massive cloud of snow dust. We've ridden Aroostook County for nearly 15+ years, so we're familiar with pretty much everything from the little dip in the trail to where the stop signs are hidden beneath 3' of snow. Generally speaking, we stop at most intersections to at least look for a headlight in the distance before moving on - this particular situation was a fluke in the system and showed a problem (and us being engineers are trying to come up with a ridiculously complex fix for something that may happen once). This particular night, I could see his headlight behind me for most of the ride, but we got a little separated (the intersection in question was also on a logging road and the signage in Northern Maine isn't always the best). I made it maybe another 2 miles down the trail before I waited and turned around.

 

[InRBigness]

I run Sena s20's they dont have super long range as we are mostly in the trees but its a few miles at least. I am happy with them plus I can answer my phone and listen to music.

 

[yamadoo]

We also preach you are responsible for the person / rider behind you.
Last guy has to be experienced know trail, destination etc.
Last year we lost the last guy in the UP when we didn’t follow this strictly, it was a stressful couple hours thankfully we found him.

 

[TOMBOB]

Just to add we have a group of eight guys. We use the rule if you get separated you stop until the group comes back
do not try to guess which way they turned.
They always one he drove back to hotel and we were out trying find him two hours of hell
He got his #*$&@ chewed out

 

[1nc 2000]

Do the groomers still transmit the warning that the communicators pick up?
With the groomers running during the day now near Munising MI it gets scary on corners now.

 

[Wannaviper]

We run the UClear's that are Bluetooth so they are connected to our phones. Their range is not good, but if you happen to be riding in an area where you have cellphone reception, you can call your riding buddy on the phone. If we have anyone with us that is not familiar with the area we are riding in, we definitely stop at all intersections. We learned our lesson years ago with one riding buddy that always took the wrong turn.

 

[RobX-1]

Do the groomers still transmit the warning that the communicators pick up?
With the groomers running during the day now near Munising MI it gets scary on corners now.

We ride in the U.P. and definitely around Munising and I know my riding buddies that use the Collett communicators will beep when there's a groomer near by. I use Cardo G4 scala rider communicators and they do not.