Member - Jiarna (SA) replied:

Should work fine for the uses you are describing. On a recent trip, one of the convoy only had a hand-held, and he stayed in contact for most of the trip. Not sure about the magnetic mount antenna, but would expect it to give better range while travelling, as the handheld is inside the vehicle.

If you haven't already decided on a particular handheld, I'd recommend the GME TX6000 or similar. They are bigger and more expensive than others but give excellent range, clarity, and battery life as well as having all the features of a fixed unit. I use two in Oodnadatta for emergency call-outs, and have had no problems with them.

Cheers
John

Time replied:

Only problem with the magnetic mount is it will get dust between it and the body, it will be moved and you will end up with scratches on your paint work. Despite being extra careful this is what has happened to me in the past.

Cheers

Buggerlux

Member - Jeff M (WA) replied:

Yeah I guess that would work ok, however I would imagine the only time you would need more range would be in an offroad scenario in which case I wouldn't like the magnetic base on my 4wd. The cany scratch paint work even just driving on the highway, would be worse off road.
There are plenty of ways to install a radio without leaving any permant marks in a 4wd. Use a "Z" bracket mounted with one of your existing bonnet bolts, silicone the unit inside the vehicle somewhere. (that's how mine is and it's never moved an inch!) Wire it direct to the battery so it's easy to remove.

You can stop some of the scratching from the magnetic bases by putting some thinn material/cloth between the base and the car, however this will then make it's magnetic strength a little weaker. Plus I personally think it would just be a pain in the ass. You can buy a cheap $39 handheld for when you are out of the car and a $150 UHF second hand that would be find for convoy/traveling use. I have a 5watt Uniden handheld and 2 x cheapie toy ones. I use the toy ones most of the time because they work great and they are smaller, lighter and doesn't matter if they get dropped or thrown around.

Utemad replied:

If you use a 5w handheld (like the GME tx6200) with an external antenna you will get the same range as a fully wired unit witht the same antenna. I would personally go the hard wired unit myself however a 5 watt handheld would do the trick. More expensive than the equivalent hard wired unit though if you are getting the antenna anyway.

As said before on this thread there are many ways of installing a unit quickly and damage free. Silicone can be a strong bond and can be cleaned off quite easily. Also what about putting a cigarette lighter plug on the unit and not installing it at all. GME has a range of aerials (4700) that can be unscrewed easily and can use a variety of length and db aerials.

I have a cheapy Uniden 0.5 watt unit also. Handy during recovery situations or when someone does not have a unit or a unit in the convoy dies. Great for just about any situation for short range communications really.

My work just bought 2 new Uniden 5w handhelds. Supposedly water and dust proof and amazingly small for a 5w unit. Were only $369 each. Haven't used them yet so don't know how good they are.

Anyway you have lots of options to choose from.

Utemad

Davoe replied:

Have spent many hours using gme 5w handhelds in combination with the pouches and they are very tough I have dropped them many times straight onto rocks and they are definitly dust proof you will get over 12 hours continual use with the battery. They have got less range than an in car unit and they wont recieve faint signals because they go into standby and a faint signal will not activate them

Nudenut replied:

hand helds (a good one) have a definite benefit over a in car. If your in range of a repeater and your on foot you have something should an emergency arise.

From my experience good hand helds with external antenae are almost as good as incar as someone else has said above.

Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club replied:

Yep, it will work and will work (in theory) as well as an in-car job.

I'd recommend the Icom Ic-40s, over the others, but that will be a personal decsion for you to make!!

It can be difficult getting an adaptor for the aerial but they are around.

If it were me I'd get a GME TX3200, installed, and a cheap handheld!

Mad Dog (Victoria) replied:

Should be ok but don't be surprised when connecting a large antenna to a handheld
you get a lot of front end overload. Handhelds usually have very senstive front ends
to compliment the little antenna.

Tim replied:

Don't forget that you will have a cord attached to your UHF, sounds silly but cords clutter up the console and can be a real pain in the @rse, the mobile charger, GPS power and all that stuff.
Tim