Editor's Note:  Mark B., who wrote this article, kindly donated his honorarium to a webBikeWorld charity.

This is a review of my experience installing and using the StarCom1 Advance motorcycle communication system.  The kit and accessories were purchased from Jeff at Bike Effects (see below).

I’m an experienced user of bike-to-bike communication systems; I used to ride with the Collett helmet mounted units.  I also have a great deal of experience using police and aviation communication systems.

Eventually, repeated problems and lack of range forced me to shelve the system.  I'm not certain if my experience is unique, as I did not find many other bikers using the Collett system. 

Anyhow, back to the StarCom1.  I had been looking and researching all the major suppliers for several years, including StarCom1, Autocom, J&M and Baehr.  It normally doesn’t take me several years to figure what I want but I had no real reason to make a purchase until recently.

The catalyst was a riding partner Scott, who had purchased an Autocom system and with whom I would be riding to the BMW Rally in Finger Lakes.

I had always been attracted to the StarCom1 products mainly due to their repeated claims of “clarity at any speed”.  Also, their products seemed to be designed for simplicity, ease-of-use and for installation on motorcycles.  I certainly wasn’t basing my purchase decision on their web site, which seems to have been designed back in the stone ages of the Internet!

After reading countless reviews and touching and feeling the various products at vendor displays, I decided on the StarCom for really one main reason: remote volume control.  I wanted to be able to adjust the volume without having to remove the darn seat every time (even more of a problem if you have to mount the unit somewhere less accessible, such as under the tank).

Yes, Autocom and others will tell you that once the volume is set,  it never really has to be touched again, as they all automatically adjust to background noise levels.  They do, but it isn’t perfect and there are times when being able to adjust the volume on the fly is invaluable -- more on that later.

So, I placed my order and everything received as a few weeks later (shipment had to cross a border).  The order consisted of:

• StarCom1 Advance

• 2 x open face helmet kits (we have Shoei Multitec helmets)

• Push-to-Talk (PTT) 03

• Remote volume control

• Bulkhead fitting kit (cables and plate for remote mounting the jacks)

• Interface cable for a two-way radio

Installation
The StarCom1 Advance kit comes with the unit, a music lead, headset extension cables, instructions and various other bits and pieces needed to install and mount the system.  Mine was to be installed on my 2001 R1150GS.

StarCom1, mounted and fully operational!

I won’t go into the details of the installation other than to say the longest part was choosing where to mount everything.  You can see from the pics how it ended up. 

What you don’t know is that I first installed the PTT under the grip.  This worked great….up until the point where I needed to signal a left-hand turn!  Sigh, good ‘ol BMW turn signals.

PTT mounted ABOVE the grip

Owners of other motorcycle models may need to make some adjustments to the various brackets depending on the diameter of the surfaces where the bits will be mounted. 

I had to cut the sleeve off the volume control strap in order to get it tight enough.  I then had to add a layer of rubber under the bulkhead strap to also get it tight.  After the components are mounted, it will be obvious what might be necessary to make any required adjustments, if any.

Rider and Passenger Jacks

There are a couple of dip switches inside the unit that must be set before the unit is installed.  I left numbers 2 and 3 in the OFF position and moved 1 and 4 to ON as I wanted the rider and passenger to have sidetone. 

Switch 2 just enables sidetone for the two-way radio (if you’ve left the master rider sidetone switch 1 in its default OFF position).  StarCom has an online manual that explains the procedure.

Since I had mounted the helmet kits the night before, I was ready for the first test.  It had taken me about 30 minutes to figure out the best way to mount the kit in the first helmet and it took me about 10 minutes to do the same in the other helmet, a Shoei Multitec.  I had purchased the Open Face kits as I wanted to be able to use the microphone even when the helmet was open.

Helmet Kit With Boom Microphone

Speakers Mounted in Helmet Ear Pocket

Experience
Now came the test.  I plugged in the rider headset, my trusty iPod and pressed play. 

Hey!  It works and the music sounded great.  I played around with VOX, the volume settings, balance, mic sensitivity and then went for a ride.  Although the recommended settings worked pretty good, owners may still want to adjust VOX and mic sensitivity to suit their riding style (how loud you speak, how fast you ride with the helmet in the open position, etc).

With my custom moulded earplugs in, the music was clear and kept good tone up until about 100 kph.  After which, the music became less tonally perfect and was relegated to more of a background distraction than a concert in my ears.  This is due to the terrible wind noise behind the fairing of a stock GS.  At any rate, even at speed, it was still pleasurable to be able to listen to tunes.

So, over to Scott’s house (the guy with the Autocom) to go for a ride with his two-way FRS radios.  Note that in order to have bike-to-bike communications, FRS radios must be connected to the StarCom intercom with the radio inputs.

We selected the same frequencies for the two-ways and went riding.  You should be aware that when you select an FRS channel on a 5 watt radio, your radio will limit you to max 1 watt transmission power.  So, if you have a multi-band radio, select either GMRS or a non-FRS frequency band for the best range.

We first went riding around town and got used to the radios.  I recommend setting the StarCom1 volume to a little less than half and then set the radio volume to a level where it can be clearly heard when the bike is stopped.

Everything worked great around town and I quickly got used to the PTT, as I did not want VOX enabled for the two-way.  Now, for the real test, a high speed run down the Autobahn known in our area as Highway 416:

• 80 kph – conversation clear as a bell.

• 100 kph – conversation clear as a bell.

• 120 kph – conversation clear as a bell.

• 150 kph – conversation clear as hell!!!

Ok, now I'm ecstatic!  The music is muting as it should, I can hear Scott and he can hear me.  All is well with the world.  We then did some range tests and figured that we could get about a 5 km range in non-FRS mode and about 1 km using the FRS frequencies.  So, if most of your riding is with partners that ride at normal spacing, FRS should be fine.

A few days later we went on our trip down to Watkins Glen for the rally.  It was really great having the radios so we could coordinate stops, change routing if we wanted, talk about what we wanted to do at the rally, which winery to stop at, etc.  As most of our trip was on back roads, the music was clear and sounded as good as is possible with helmet speakers.  Scott used in-ear speakers so his music quality was a bit better.

I am pleased enough with the music quality from the supplied helmet speakers that I am going to stick with them and not bother with my Etymotics earphones.

The automatic volume adjustment on the StarCom1 worked flawlessly.  The volume was the same stopped as it was at highway speed.  I never had to adjust the volume except as noted below.

Now, to tell you why remote volume control is so important.  There were three of us on this trip and the third rider did not have a comm. system.  When we were stopped at a light, I would raise my helmet to talk to the other rider and since VOX was off (see Problem # 1 below), the music would not mute and I would not be able hear him.  Well, I would just turn the volume down while talking and we could converse just fine.

StarCom1 Advance Remote Volume Control

The other reason why being able to remotely adjust the volume is a must becomes obvious on a short trip without earplugs.  Believe me, the volume adjusted for when you are wearing earplugs is WAY too loud for when you aren’t wearing them.  A third reason is that not all songs play at the same level.  With the remote volume, I turn up the soft tunes and turn down the loud ones.

Scott with the Autocom was not able to hear me on one part of the trip.  Here’s why: before we got on the highway for the last part of the trip back, he took out his in-ear earphones and went to the helmet speakers.  As he had adjusted his volume for the in-ear speakers, it was not adjusted loud enough for the helmet speakers plus moulded earplugs.  I could hear him but he could not hear me once we got some speed going.

Problems
I got my other half to plug into the passenger jack.  She could hear me but I couldn’t hear her.  Hmmm, is this something I should fix?  I then tried swapping jacks; she plugged into the rider jack and I plugged into the passenger jack.  Yup, that worked.  So, I asked myself what the heck would that signify!

Another problem arose when I determined that even with the PTT 03, my radio would still transmit when I was just talking to a passenger or even just to myself (with VOX on).  The PTT 03 is supposed to disable VOX transmission over the two-way.

I notified Tecstar, the manufacturer of the push-to-talk of the problems and they sent me two new kits and a new PTT 03.  I was very impressed as they shipped the parts all the way from the UK via UPS air and I had everything here in Canada within a couple of days.  The new helmet kit solved the problem of the passenger not being able to transmit but the replacement PTT 03 has not solved the issue of VOX conversations being transmitted over the radio.

So for now, I’ve shut off VOX which is not a big deal.  Whenever I have to mute the music, I’ll just turn the volume down and auto music muting feature still works when I am transmitting or receiving over the two-way.  I believe a cell phone conversation would also mute the music as both radio and cell have the same priority.

The only time this will be an issue is when I have a passenger.  Although VOX is not needed for rider to passenger communications, the music will not mute.  Since I don’t ride with a passenger very often, this will not be an issue and I will continue to work with Tecstar to get the problem resolved.  I suspect that I will need a replacement unit.

Although this is not meant to be a comparison article as I did not evaluate the features of the Autocom, I can tell you there are a couple of ways where in my opinion, the StarCom1 is better. 

The StarCom1 is connected directly to the battery and powers up when the rider plugs in.  The Autocom is always on so must be connected to a switched power source.  The disadvantage is an Autocom equipped bike has to be running in order to listen to music or communicate.  Not a big deal but when you are sitting in line at customs or running tests on the system, it is a pain to have your bike running and possibly overheating.

The other advantage is in size; the StarCom1 Advance is considerably smaller than Scott’s Autocom unit (he has the SuperPro AVI) so mounting on space challenged motorcycles has the advantage going to the StarCom1.  The third advantage is in accessories.  There are a few items such as the bulkhead fitting kits and remote volume that aren’t available from Autocom.

Final Note
I am very pleased with the StarCom1 and would highly recommend this unit to anyone looking for a complete communications package.  If your main interest is music and two-way, there is, in my opinion, no better package out there.  If you want more flexibility in determining audio priorities or need to plug in more than four devices, this may not suit your needs.  However, the remote volume control, small package, great helmet kits and value for money are hard to beat.

Is it perfect?  No, of course not.  The user guide is full of errors and even the latest version I pulled from their web site gives contradictory instructions for setting passenger volume on page 2 and on page 15.  What they call balance is really a fader and having to take the unit apart to change switch settings is not a great design.

There is a new fully digital version ($429.00 US) that automates most of the adjustments, keeps the same form factor and adds four more inputs for a total of eight.  I haven’t had the opportunity to test that unit so I can’t recommend it. 

Midland GXT 800 GMRS/FRS Radios
I did something quite unlike me.  Knowing that there was no way I could order in any radios before our trip, I ordered the StarCom1 with the interface cable for my friend’s iCom radios.  Then, I went hunting on the Internet for radios that used the same cable.  I know, a very backwards way of shopping!

Anyway, ended up at the Midland web site when I discovered they use the same interface cable as that supplied for the iCom.  I received the radios after the trip and had the opportunity to test them on an hour long run a couple of days ago.

Using my Midland (Scott kept his iCom as the StarCom1 supplied cable worked with both the iCom and the Midland, his Autocom cable only worked with the iCom), we found that clarity was as good as the more expensive iComs and the range perhaps a tad better.  Highly recommend these radios too as you can turn on the “roger” beep which lets your riding partners know when you have finished transmitting.  Best of all, they are waterproof so you can mount them to the handlebar.

The units were purchased on eBay from cjansales who had a great price and shipped exactly what was promised. One of the few trustworthy power sellers I’ve come across.

Product Review:  StarCom1 Advance Motorcycle Intercom
Available From:  StarCom1	Suggested Retail Price:  $$287.94 US
Colours:  Silver/Black	Made in:  UK
Review Date:  October 2007
Product Comments:  Universal fit, runs off bike DC power source, standard leads should be long enough for any motorcycle.