UHF CB Radios

[FastR1Red]

Those handhelds you just posted up are not 5watts. They're only 2.

Also look at the Vertex VX426 if you want something that will last, it's got all the aussie channels, normal 40, plus can be programmed to take the 80 narrowband channels when that's introduced. And it's 5 watts output.

15km range for ANY 5 watt radio is a no go, unless you're sitting on a hilltop and have line of site to the guy you're talking to.

The handheld won't cut it either, although it has 5 watts output, the antenna is extremely inefficient and most of the power is loaded into the antenna.

For a real 15km with a few watts you're going to need a car mounted antenna, either ground independent or body mounted.

Best you could hope for is about 1 to 2km with those 2 watt radios.

Edited 22/01/11 07:55 AM by FastR1Red

[_John_]

This guy is telling it like it is. My 5 watt Uniden was pretty okay, certainly better than the 2`s we had, but unless you got a 6 foot helicoil whip on your hardhat you ain`t gonna set any records. I used to use mine on cruises and again, it was slightly better than a cheap arse one.

The Uniden I had was a 78 I think, 5 watt anyway, it took a beating on my hip at work but unfortunately was in my Lab ( an ex refrig shipping container ) and after 30 metres of flood water went through work the other day I beleive it`s in New Zealand now. After the piss poor lousy warrantee service I got from Uniden Ima buy a GME next.

[FastR1Red]

If you really need the distance......

This is mine.

[_John_]

hectic. I gotta fish the UHF and Scanner combo out of my former work beater Daewoo and put it in my BF Ute Work Beater. One day.. reckon I`ll just stick a decent whip on the top of the tray frame.

[icer]

lol I know what you have FastR1Red .. I seen it! LOL

ye the uniden 76sx is 5 watt.

FYI for everyone else:

-------------

The UH076SX is a compact 5 Watt UHF radio featuring rugged waterproof construction to operate in the most intense environments.

The UH076SX is an ultra compact unit consisting of 40 License Free Channels, CTCSS, Long life Super Switch and many more features. Designed in Japan to offer outstanding performance in virtually all conditions and situations.

The UH076SX has a range of up to 12km and with its Range Extender (Duplex) Capability the unit can achieve even further range depending on the location of your local repeater station and topographical conditions.

----------------------------

[_John_]

*Beep*: It`s a decent unit, I had one. It works well and I think mine was actually waterproof according to the blurb that came with it.

Just that if something does go wrong with it, Uniden are a bunch Basenko`s about fixing it.

That was my experience.

[Rockatansky]

Found some really bad reviews for the GME TX670 (poor sound quality and battery life) so now focusing on picking up either a Uniden 710SX or 720SX via eBay and see how they run.

[Kingers.]

Ok I'm toying around with the idea of getting a UHF radio for my car, it would mainly be used for cruises and to listening to emergency services. Now I know there's remote mount ones out there but I'm after one that can listen in on the police stations. I know police have gone to encrypted digital and can't listen in on em but the rural haven't. I want to if I can be able to listen in on the Lilydale police as I live out this way and also the police servicing Mt Donna and lake mountain. Is there UHF radios that can still do that?

Was thinkin of getting a handheld as I do a fair bit of moto riding but it seems that the 5 watt ones still won't give me a whole lota range. And I don't think they make a scanner\UHF combo anymore??

Now for my next question. I dont want to mount an aerial on my car that is visible, so are there small powerful aerials out there that won't suffer from being mounted in the engine bay or mounted under the car along the rails? I know itd be alot better to mount it to the body and pointing up, but I just don't want to have a big visible areial on my car. I think I've heard something about glass aerials? I wouldn't mind mount a small one on the body as long as it's not to noticeable.

Thanks

[PCW]

You can get internal glass mount antennas that stick to the inside, not very high power I think around 2.5db. this is fine if you are using it to monitor and speak car to car or close to line of site.

www.ebay.com.au/itm/UHF-Transparent-glass-Antenna-/260780096879?pt=AU_Electronics_Radio_Equipment&hash=item3cb7b47d6f

GME use to do the programmable UHF that you could program the different UHF emergency services into. not sure if they still offer this as the Police etc have changed to different frequency.

The other thing to look for is the new UHF radios that offer 80 channels. Apparently the current 40 channels will be fazed out in the next couple of years and you will need to upgrade to these new ones.

Suggest you have a look at the GME and Uniden web sites for further info.

Cheers,

Pete

[FastR1Red]

UHF CB's are of course 476-477MHz. The 80 channels still haven't been legislated through ACMA but 40 channel radios are available that can be upgraded to 80. Take a look at the new GME TX3540 with the remote mic.

Rural police are VHF, they operate 162-164MHz. You will need a separate radio and antenna. Especially around Mt Donna Buang , Lake Mountain and Reefton etc you're gonna need a decent external VHF antenna.

As for hidden antennas there's lots of options. Internal antennas are pretty poor performers. The most discrete is an onglass external. They work quite ok and not very obtrusive.

On the pic below you can see the small onglass antenna on the top right of the rear screen.

The others are for well pretty much everything.