UHF CB Handheld
Submitted: Thursday, Nov 21, 2002 at 01:00
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Richard
Hi All, I've been tring exhaustively to try to resolve a query regarding the UHF CB Handhelds, but to no avail. Perhaps someone has some practival experience on this...
I am currently in Holland, and would like to buy a couple of handhelds, a range of up to 5 km's sould be ideal. I will return to Australia in 12 months, but would like to use them here in the meantime.
From what I know so far, the dutch have a frequency range for such a thing in the ranges, 443, 446. 491mhz, and the Australian ones are 476, 477mhz.
The handhelds I have considered are the digitalk and the uniden UH040.
Both at .05w output.
One supplier in Australia told me that the digitalk could be used on the 433mhz frequency, but I can't find any technical data anywhere to support this.
Can anyone comment on this.
Part 2 of the question, is: has anyone got experience in using the Australian units overseas. Is it potentially a problem using the Australian UHF CB walkies overseas (eg. Holland), and what are the chances of causing problems such that I would be detected and fined etc...
Reply By: OziExplorer - Friday, Nov 22, 2002 at 01:00
Friday, Nov 22, 2002 at 01:00
I have no idea about the frequencies, but the Digitalk for range and most importantly speech clarity are lousy. I tried a pair, and there is a thread on the Overlander
forum only a couple of weeks ago how poor the Digitalk are. What is more, the Uniden are designed to be used with NiMH rechargeable batteries, and overall are a substantially superior unit.
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Reply By: Member - Nigel - Friday, Nov 22, 2002 at 01:00
Friday, Nov 22, 2002 at 01:00
The Digitalk are just toys, and the australian models are fixed on the 476.425-477.400 frequency range.
The Uniden handhelds are better quality, but with the 500 mW you will be lucky to get 5km range if both radios were on hilltops with nothing in between. On flat ground the range is about 3km with nothing in between. In forests or towns the range is usually less than half a km.
If you need to get 5km range then you'd have to spend a lot more money on either Icom or GME handhelds to have a chance.
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Reply By: Rob - Tuesday, Nov 26, 2002 at 01:00
Tuesday, Nov 26, 2002 at 01:00
I have quite a bit of experience with radio and can advise you, to use the hand helds in Oz they will have to transmit and recieve on the Australian UHF frequencies i.e. 476 - 477 Mhz range. You cannot legally use anything on 433Mhz.
You will also need to get the units that have a power output of 5watts to get the range you want.
It would be illegal to use Oz UHF radios overseas if their CB band is not the same frequency.
I suggest ICOM or UNIDEN brands for good quality.
Rob
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Follow Up By: Richard - Friday, Nov 29, 2002 at 01:00
Friday, Nov 29, 2002 at 01:00
Thanks for the advice all. From your help and more looking around I have concluded:
- the 27mhz walkies would probably be ok in both countries (not really sure), but for the price range I was in (up to $160 for a pair), you don't get much, only kids toys really, with only up to 500m range.
- Europe have pretty reasonably priced sets on the PMR frequency (446mhz), where you can get a decent pair, including rechargable batteries for around the $150 range, with between 2 and 5km range.
I think its easier to buy the PMR set and use them here in Holland/Europe, sell them off on ebay before I leave, and buy another set (476mhz range, Ozzie approved) when I get back to Australia.
Happy trails! (Hopefully not too much of a cliche.... )
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