UHF communications
Submitted: Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 10:23
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geriatricyclist
Gday- this is two
wheels not 4!! I am a touring cyclist who often rides bush roads and I am looking at fitting a handheld UHF to my bike for emerg communications- any suggestions from the more experienced bush tourists??
can't afford a 5 watt- prob 2 watt most I can afford and debating fitting an external aerial to get max value out of the hand held. Do most 2 watts have removable aerial which can be unscrewed and replaced with lead to larger aerial??
Obviously not enough metal on a push bike to get a reasonable ground plane like a metal car roof- this likely to be a problem??
What channels do most 4WD folks monitor? Haven't got into trouble yet but nearly been skittled by flying roos more than once and had the odd bovine get jumpy and again nearly skittle me when charging off- hope if anything goes wrong there will be someone somewhere listening willing to help!! Seem to be a large number of reapeaters available for duplex transceivers.
Many thanks- Dave
Reply By: Utemad - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 11:33
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 11:33
I think Uniden are the only makers of the sub 5 watt handhelds except for one GME. Except for the no name brands of course.
AnswerID:
77098
Reply By: Rob! - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 11:35
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 11:35
Hi Dave
A 2 watt, like say a uniden UH 044 probably will not give you the range needed in any emergency situation. You might be better of buying a 2nd hand 5 watt like UH056 for $120-$150 on ebay. Also, unlike cars you don't have a constant access to an electrical source to recharge your batteries.
If you only want to use it for emergencies then perhaps an EPIRB is the better way to go, especially if you're riding alone.
Hope this helps somewhat.
R.
AnswerID:
77099
Reply By: geriatricyclist - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 11:52
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 11:52
utemad and rob- thank you both- informative useful answers. Rob- re EPIRB- have investigated that one already- prob will get an errrr 121 MHZ (???) personal one for the next few years and by then hopefully the personal EPIRBs on 406 MHz with GPS location data will be affordable. However it seems 121 Mhz often takes several hours to get a location- and it is only for life and death situations- if I could get a UHF to work at least some of the time it could improve my chances when out of mobile range (which is most of the time!!) when I have breakdowns and the like. Never tried e-bay- I can smell a challenge coming on!! Was wondering about minimum useful power.
Cheers
Dave
AnswerID:
77101
Reply By: Darryn - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 12:42
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 12:42
Hi Dave, I have noticed most newer handhelds both commercial and UHFCB are not capable of taking an external antenna or external power. When looking for a unit look for one that states it has a BNC antenna connection. These allow for external antennas. There is a ground independant antenna available that is only 200mm long and can be mounted anywhere even on a length of PVC pipe however you would have to be upright for it to work
well. Most of the older handhelds have BNC connections but in some cases batteries are becoming hard to get. I'm pretty sure the GME 6000 has BNC connections as
well as scan which could be useful in your situation but it is fairly pricey.
Cheers Darryn
AnswerID:
77113
Follow Up By: Utemad - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 12:49
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 12:49
All the uniden and GME handhelds of 5w should have external antenna options. However I wouldn't bother. You don't have a steel shell around you (like a car) to interfere with reception. If you need better reception climb a tree or otherwise a higher location.
Older batteries can be repacked if need be.
I too would prefer a s/h 5w than a new low power one for this circumstance.
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Follow Up By: Darryn - Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004 at 09:44
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004 at 09:44
G'Day Utemad, the newer H/Helds without BNC connectors are supposedly unable to take external antennas but I'm not 100% sure of this. I know that the BNC ones can definatley do it. A mate has a new Uniden 5W and it has the newer connection style which could take an external antenna if there was a plug available but there isn't any info as to what the connection is. If any has any info it would be most appriciated.
Regd's Darryn
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Utemad - Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004 at 10:08
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004 at 10:08
My work bought 2 of the
water resistant Unidens recently. I remember taking them out of their boxes and having to attach the antennas. However I don't recall what connection they used. However if it isn't BNC and there is no plug currently available to attach an external antenna then I would imagine it is only a matter of time before one is developed. Maybe.
Although, now that you mention it, I think the antennas screwed in and had a rubber seal as they are meant to be very
water resistant (we've left them out in the rain before and have had no issues).
Utemad
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Banjo (SA) - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 13:25
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 13:25
Amen to the above contributions Geri in general - as I see it, you will need all of 5watts to stand a chance, and it won't be for long - they chew up the
battery power when on transmit. You are not really in circumstances that allow for effective comms - power sourcing is the snag. An Epirb may be a good option though (but only if you have real drama - quite useless for every other issue). Check the Epirb story out - signals from the basic ones are often put on the slow train (plagued with false alarms), while the pricey pro versions havepersonal ID signature built in).
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Bob of KAOS - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 15:29
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 15:29
Jerry,
interesting problem. My guess is that you won't be far from the road with your bike, and therefore if you are in an incident you will be seeking help from passing traffic. In isolated country you will probably hear the car at about the time it comes into UHF range. You will have a window of opportunity as it transits your circle of UHF range in which to find the channel they are monitoring. In that situation I can't see more power conferring much benefit.
It may be that if you are lying there injured your best bet may be to drag yourself onto the road shoulder and try to attract the attention of passing motorists by waving (although with some of the people on this
forum it might be better to remain in hiding :-)
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Reply By: Member - Gerk Yorke Pen (SA) - Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 23:18
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 at 23:18
Geriatriccyclist hmmm not related to Deslexic are you? There's not that much difference between 1watt and 5 signal wise. however as far as I'm aware the lower wattage units don't have prevision for plugin antennas. Most of the new antennas are independant ground plane so no need to fit a car bonnett to the bike to get a ground plane.
There's a list of repeaters for oz on the main page of explore oz that would be your best chance of communication if your in range or ch 40 for a trucky ch 10 for some 4x4 club members. hope this helps.
AnswerID:
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