ExplorOz Team - David replied:

Shane,Most people we know usually use the truck channel 40 however, the language can be a bit of a problem some times. Unless you are on a 4WD club trip (they usually use one specific channel for the club) - I suggest that you use 40. Some caravaners and 4x4 users mark on the back of their rigs what channel they use - in this case you can select the channel and chat. Generally road works, trucks and other users sit on and use 40.Safe trip & Enjoy - David

Roger Lowry replied:

Hi Shane,
The Caravan industry and indeed the trucking industry are promoting ch.18 as the caravaners channel. However when travelling the outback usually without a van because of the terrain. 4wdrivers use ch.10 the outback channel.
We all know the highway ch.40 is used by the trucking industry, whilst most use decent language some are rather crude. I personally have my uhf set to scan channels 40, 18, & 12 in group scan with my prioroty ch. set at 12 because it is My 4wd club ch.
Hope this helps, & have a good trip.
Regards Dodg.

Tony replied:

Shane, on the Pacifc Highway (national route 1) between Sydney and Brisbane the transport industry use channel 29 uhf, everywhere else the trucks use 40. I don't know why this is, it just is.

Sean replied:

Caravanners typically use UHF 18 but the trucks use UHF40. I live in the NT and 40 is good (not much traffic) and I can use it to call up the road trains.
Dont forget duplex which can have a huge range if there is a repeater about (up to 100km) on a handheld and more on a in-car unit.
Tip - to find the duplex channel set channels 1 to 9 to duplex and for each channel press the transmit bution for one second. If it is a duplex channel you will see
the signal come back on the unit. Some repeaters (such as Longreach in QLD) will send back an automatic message when you do this. This can really hep in
emergencies.

Hope this makes sense

Sean