UHF hand held radios

I purchased Unidens from eBay a couple of years ago, and we used them to talk between vehicles in convoy for those who didn't have built in UHFs, and found them quite clear. We were within a kilometre of each other, and these are i think good for around 3 kms. They are the same as the 2ways they use in the shop where i work. I prefer rechargeable batteries, and they take 3 x AAs. They are small and light; easy to take with you if bush walking.

Buy a 5w unit - the cheap low powered ones just dont stack up in scrubby country

GME TX6200 or Uniden UH078 are good buying

We have a GME TX6200 handheld, it's a fantastic radio as you would expect from GME.

All GME radios are made in Australia at the factory in NSW.

The other one I would look at is the Icom IC41s, same specs as the TX6200 but made in Japan.

Icom is a hugh maker of radio equipment for amature and commercial customers.

Apparently the TX6200 was modeled off of the IC41s.

Both of these radios a selectable between 1 and 5 watts output and has all the features you need.

I would try and stay away from anything else, you will only save $200 by buying something else of lower quality. In the long run if you have the radio for 4 years it's only cost you $50 per year more to have something good that will not give you any problems, you can get parts or accessories for them now or in the future and you have the support of many dealers around Australia.

If buying of Ebay have a look at the GME TX6200 tthat the guy from the Barrosa Valley in SA sells on there.

We got ours from him, he is a proper retailer with a very good shop and he has been in business for about 15 years, he supports what he sells and the staff at his shop are very helpful.

Regards Richard

If you just want to talk to another vehicle them 2 watt power output is plenty.
5 watt is real over kill in a hand held.

Some radios are so small it can be difficult to push the little buttons with fat fingers so you may like to see if you can test drive one before you buy.

I would recomend that you get a model that has AA batteries rather then a unique internal battery. You can always use your own rechargeables or swap with camera, MP3, etc.

You might need to keep in mind that some vehicle manufacturers (check your handbooks) advise against using certain electronic items from within side the vehicle. I believe this may include hand held radios, telephones etc. They also advise that the use of an external aerial to overcome the possibility of interferring with vehicle computer/electronics. Just thought you might like to know.
p.s. I have a GME 6200 (5 watt hand held) and it's really great value for money and a superb performer. Most of the others (cheaper variety) are not much more than toys. You only get what you pay for (in most cases).

I have one of the uniden 0.5W.. can't remember the model now, but it's usually pretty clear with vehicles up to 1km away. The model has now been superseeded by a 2W version, and I think sell for around $100-150.

Had a mate buy one of the cheap twin packs.... absolute waste of money. Would have been better off with two plastic cups and some string between.

Basically you seem to get what you pay for. I have seen people with the 5W versions but when I bought mine they were significantly more expensive. They were also larger.

I recommend NOT getting the VOX headset. While the VOX worked reasonably well (initially I bought the gear experimenting for motorcycle communications) the VOX headset is severely overpriced, for what is a normal headset with an inline switch.

icom or
gme

I bought a couple of import KYD ones off ebay last year - have done significant work since then 4wd'ing, and on in the car all the time. They good. 5w output has similar range to a solid mount unit and the price is right. They are the same unit as a motorol@ just rebadged.

And fully programmable with duplexing if you're into that sort of thing.

in a previous career we had 8 or 9 Icom 40s (the model recently superseded by the 41) and they were brilliant, took an absolute caning and kept on performing very well. We also had two Icom F60 waterproof handhelds ~$900 each, but worth it.

The Icoms replaced a set of Unidens that just weren't good enough and outperformed the GME (admittedly the TX6000, not the 6200) when we did testing.

Personally I now have a TX6200 with the car kit as the second radio in the Patrol, (the main one is an Icom 400 pro) and we have 4x 2watt GME TX630s for hire to our clients during courses. We found that the .5 watters were all but useless inside cars, at our training centre with its natural obstacles. The 2 watters however perform adequatley over the relatively short distances that we require comms.

I've got 4 handheld CBs, all Uniden. We use them for anything for bike riding down the park, to giving to any other cars that come with us who don't have an in-car CB.

Two of them are the ancient UH042 (I think it was). The have CTCSS and scan, as well as the ability to put in an external speaker/mic. They take three AA batteries (per radio) and seem to last for ages.

My other two were the same size as the 036 (might even be that model). But they take AAA batteries and seem to go through them quickly. I think that the on/off switch is electronic on those ones (as in you hold the button down to turn it on - whilst the 042 has a physical dial that makes a clear "click" when turned off). I suspect that the 036 type model continually drains a trickle of battery because every time I went to use them after a period of non-use, they were flat. The 042 radios could leave the batteries for ages without going flat. So I always remove the batteries from the smaller ones when not in use. I also only use alkaline batteries, rather than rechargables.

I haven't done any range comparisons between them. Mostly we tend to be in close proximity and they're fine for that.

I remember the 042 radios retailing about $120 per radio when I got them ages ago whilst the 036 type was less than $60 for the pair. But I much prefer the bigger, clunkier and longer-lasting 042.

-geoff