Which UHF Radio to Buy

I had one of these before it was ripped off by some low life.

It worked extremely well, and being cheaper than the opposition's equivalent unit it's great value.

I now have the oppositions unit though... because my insurance payout payed for it. It's no better than the Uniden - in any sense.

It Isn't necessarily better. It is the same old Toyota v Nissan thing.

Recent tests identified a 1-2 Km advantage of a GME unit over a Uniden one at extreme range of 18-20 Kms.
What the test did not identify was whether an identical aerial was used for the test and whether the aerial was located in the same place on the test vehicles. Probably not.

Each brand and model of the GME or Uniden units have their own specific features to tempt the buying public and IMHO the final choice would be better based on VALUE for money at the time of purchase.

Then there is the Icom product to throw into the debate.

Most independent distributors (e.g. Prestige Communications) stock and sell all major brands, so there must be a similar market level for them.

If one were to be "true blue" then maybe the GME Electrophone has an advantage of being locally (Aussie) made. That's about it.

THe best thing about the GME4400 for me is that it has 20 user programmable receive only channels which can be tuned to the police channels that are still using uhf.
This was only available on units after a certain serial number, details were on the site. there are still plenty of police channels around sydney, blue mountains and up the coast. and they recur in different areas. if i remember correctly the frequency used around the sutherland shire is the same as the one used at kirra beach on the QLD border.

I have the GME uhf and a Uniden ssb am mounted in an overhead centre console, both perform well.

Of course as digital comes into use this will be a less useful feature.

I have an as new GME 4400 that I was going to put in the trader section
if you are interested - Steve

Ok, what ever you do make sure you put the arial as high as possible. If you have a roof rack put it on there. I have a small rubber arial on 99% of the time and its very good, but i also carry a 6db arial to put on when height is not an issue.

This is a message for SteveL (sorry Bruce for using your thread!)...

I'm interested in the 4400 - send me an email on adrian DOT panow AT bigpond DOT com

Thanks,

Adrian

Throw the overhead out and keep the UHF - you still picked up a bargain!!

More likely to be a poor arial.Uniden give crystal clear transmition.

If thats the case unidens must be fussy about ariel conections because that example was just 1 of a few cases where i have had trouble comunicating and every time the radio was uniden