A:
Make sure that your radio electronics are as far from your car electronics (i.e. MSD box, tach., switches, etc.) as you can get them. Your car electronics will interfere with your radio working to its fullest.
Also make sure that your connections with your radio equipment are clean and tight. To clean connections you can use electric motor cleaner or moistureless canned air (the type used for cleaning keyboards).
If after doing both of these steps you still have static, it's possible that you may need your radio's squelch reset higher or lower. If you have an AVCOMM AWR100 or AWR105 you can see your Lefthander dealer to get this checked out.
A:
Batteries typically last 2-3 years depending on use and maintenance.
A simple way to check your radio batteries is to:
Turn your radio on and drain it completely.
Then, fully charge your radio battery (at least 8 -10 hours, overnight works well).
Now turn the radio on and wait 6 hours. Key in the mic on the radio. If you get two
tones your battery probably needs replacing.
Battery Maintenance:
Older types of batteries (like NiCad) should be fully drained before recharging. A good rule of thumb is to leave your radios at the end of your racing event and let them drain fully. The night before your next racing event recharge your radio batteries overnight. This will help extend the life of your batteries and reduce the creation of a battery life "memory" in NiCad batteries.
Today's newer type radio batteries (Litium Ion) don't generally need to be completely drained before recharging. However it's a good idea to do it peridically to realize its full charging potential. It doesn't hurt the battery to fully drain and then recharge, so if you have a mixture of old and new batteries, the new radio batteries can be on the same maintenance routine as your old radio batteries.
A:
There's a quick check list of things to troubleshoot:
Are all the radios turned on?
Are all the radios on the same channel/frequency?
Are the radio's batteries fully charged?
Are the radio batteries in the radio correctly?
Do all the radios transmit and receive without any peripherals (i.e. headsets, car harnesses etc.) If they, do your problem is most likely not your radio, but with the periperals.
If you've gone through this list and the radios still don't work try one more thing before sending them off to be repaired; Take one radio and one by one check the channels on that radio against the first channel on the other radios. Some times all the frequencies are not programmed onto the same channels.
A:
You should first make sure your radio is functioning properly (use the checklist for "What can I do if my radio doesn't transmit &/or receive?) Also make sure that the mics are up against the mouth of the person trying to speak. The mics are noise cancelling. The mic is looking for the sound that is the loudest. If your mouth is too far from the mic the mic will think it's part of the background noise and try to cancel it out.
A:
The simplest thing to do is to use a back-up channel that has a different frequency.
You might need to have your radio checked to see if there's a private line code attached to that frequency (If you have an AVCOMM AWR100 or AWR105 radio your Lefthander dealer can check this for you). If you don't have a private line code, it can be programmed in.
Q: What is a private line code and how do I get one?
A:
A private line code allows several groups to have the same frequency without talking to or through each other. If you have a different private line code than another group they can't interrupt your flow of communications.
A private line code has to be programmed into your radio. If you have an AVCOMM AWR100 or AWR105 radio your Lefthander dealer can check to see if you have, or need to program, private line code(s) in your radio.