Watersports Radio design project help.

[ESharp]

Hey guys, recently as part of my Electrical Engineering course at university my group and I were asked to come up with a design for a communications device for extreme sports. We believe that durable radio communicator would fit the bill and wanted to gather the thoughts and opinions of those involved in extreme sports.

Obviously the radio would not be used under the water however we were thinking that it may prove valuable in contacting the shore/boat when surfaced or as a means of contacting the emergency services etc.

Since I have had sound equipment advice from this forum in the past and want to include scuba diving on the list of sports the radio could be applied to I would be very grateful if you could provide answers to some questions relating to the design of the radio and how important you think certain features are. This will be invaluable in justifying particular aspects of the design in the report.

How important do you think on a scale of 1-10 (1 being not very important and 10 being critically important) the following features of the radio are?

Impact resistance, waterproofing( a given in the case of diving), Battery life, Aesthetic appearance, Pressure resistance,weight and safety features/fail safes.

Would you prefer it to be wrist or harness/belt mounted?

Would a panic/distress transponder be useful to you?

What kind of price would you be willing to pay for this kind of device?

Any additional comments on what else we could add would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for helping out.

If you have any questions you can email me at wlb12143@uni.strath.ac.uk

 

[Chocula]

Things that I would like to see in a multi-sports radio:
Marine VHF transmit and receive (any ocean sport such as kayaking, scuba, etc.)
GSRM/FRS transmit and receive, because I cannot legally chat with someone on land using Marine VHF.
Easily modifiable to use Ham Radio frequencies (clip a diode, etc) and have full keypad.
Have a built in GPS that can display lat/long.
Have a built in TNC and support APRS with no additional hardware.
Water proofing to at least 10ft, then possibly a case for waterproofing down to recreational dive limits (would not need to be usable when inside the case).
Freeze and impact resistant.
Connectors for external headset and antenna that don't compromise waterproofing. (headset is required for hang gliding, motorcycles, and nice for cycling)
Small enough to fit in a life jacket pocket without the extra case.
Rechargeable battery capacity similar to existing hand helds, with an external power jack to connect to a 5-14 volt source in case of emergency.
The Kenwood TH-D72A would be a good starting point, but it does not have the necessary waterproofing or Marine/FRS/GSRM frequencies.

I would pay up to $700 if you could get everything I wanted, up to $400 if there were no ham frequencies eliminating the need for the keypad.
If it did not have a GPS and Marine/FRS/GSRM frequencies, I would not be interested as there are already products available.


Yes, I am dreaming, but you asked. I am thinking of the car the Homer Simpson designed as I write this. You would sell at least one!

-Chocula

 

[Hickdive]

I'd pay about $300;

Nautilus Lifeline VHF Radio w/GPS - Dive Gear Express

PS There's a fairly active dive club at Strathclyde Uni.

 

[Chocula]

The Nautilus Lifeline is a great concept for the marine environment, but unfortunately limited to just that, since it is lacking any frequencies needed for land based communications.

 

[Hickdive]

The Nautilus Lifeline is a great concept for the marine environment, but unfortunately limited to just that, since it is lacking any frequencies needed for land based communications.

And if it had land-based frequencies it would unfortunately be limited to use for land communications. I'm going out on a limb here I know but I'm guessing the OP was asking divers for opinions of a device useful in diving environments.

 

[Chocula]

And if it had land-based frequencies it would unfortunately be limited to use for land communications. I'm going out on a limb here I know but I'm guessing the OP was asking divers for opinions of a device useful in diving environments.

I don't want just land based frequencies, I want both; and for them to be in one, easy to carry device. Many land based frequencies are not limited to just land, but having marine frequencies, which are limited, is essential for a marine environment because that is what is monitored.

I read this as for extreme sports, not just diving.

 

[ESharp]

Thanks for the responses guys!

Sorry if I was a little bit unclear with my intentions, what I was really looking for was scoring in the categories I posted above so I would have some data to justify features included in the design.

However you make an excellent point about the frequencies that should be incorporated into the radio. A mode selector for land and sea based environments seems to be the key to the problem. In addition that feature list you posted Chocula is proving very useful, we will see just how much it's possible to cram in.

Thanks again for all the comments, if you guys have any other suggestions or thoughts that would very helpful.