UHF Radios

Frank, my experience has been that the Icom brand are excellent.
This thread should generate a few answers, as almost everyone has an opinion so I'll leave it there :))

Top quality is Icom but it is also top price.

Most sets are similar as there are only a few sources.

Uniden?
GME?

From a radio engineers point of view the Icom is also the only one I could reccomend. (they only really have 1 model)

Robin Miller

UHF is a limited mode of communication with HF and Sat-phone providing more realistic capabilities. But UHF does have its place for short range (line of sight) chatter on the open road. The option of dual channel for repeaters will extend your range beyond line of sight provided there is a repeater in your vicinity.

I recently went down the same path and opted for a handheld unit. I bought a GME TX630 that has about two watts transmit power in stead of the standard half watt.

Dash mounted units provide the addition of a better antennae and five watts transmit power but still only work line of sight. They would however provide better coms than the portables without the flexibility of using it away from the car.

The undisciplined use of the network by the majority of users relegates it to a second class communications system and I couldn’t imagine that I would use it for other than chatting to another operator in the same group or convoy. I would therefore find it hard to justify spending $700 – 800 for a fully installed system when a good handheld will do much the same job for half the price. GME, I-Com and Uniden are all good quality units.

Gday Dax, you asked a simple question mate , so rather than trying to baffle you with whats better and what works and what doesnt , i'll simply say for what you are after you couldnt go past either a Uniden or GME both obtainable at a reasonable price , i recently bought mine a GME TX 3220 from Prestige Communications in W.A for $287.00 plus $5.00 delivery, delivered to my front door in S.A, excellent service to, paid for it online with my card sunday night and it arrived here Tues afternoon. ...hope this helps you out ......Cheers.......Dave

[url=http://www.prestigecom.net.au]

Here we have 2 Phillips 620 sets, they have been going fairly well for 15+ years, a couple of uniden sets, had some trouble with them. We also have a bunch of GME 3200 sets and they are mostly good. 1 has a slight microphone problem but otherwise good.
NickR

All of the above is good advice.

If you go for a hand-held you have to decide what power output you want. They start at a 1/4 watt and go up to 5 watts. I would suggest that 2 watts is good in a hand held and will certainly work from one end of a small convoy to the other. 5 watt hand helds are usually fairly large, expensive and are (I reckon) not needed. The dinky little handhelds are usually very low power output and the small buttons are not good for those of us that have big fingers or need new glasses but are to cheap to get them :-)) I would definitely recommend that if you get a hand held then get one that uses standard size AA batteries. You can then use rechargeables. If you are getting a charger then get one that you use on 230 OR 12 volts when in the car.

OK mid-range prices, here's some, I'm looking for one too:

GME TX3220 $290 to $320
Uniden UH012SX $250
Uniden UHO88SX $250, DIN size.
Uniden UH089SX $250
Uniden UHO95SX (scanner & CB too) $290 to $330, DIN size.

If you research UHF on this forum, you'll find GME tend to be regarded as having better quality and voice clarity than the Uniden units, but the Uniden users appear happy like those above.

All brands have higher priced models than these listed, if you're going the whole hog, look at the Icom model.

Don't forget to budget for an antenna and installation.

Cheers,

Mark.

Hi Dax, look to see where your going to mount the radio or control head, or might want the new GME with all the buttons on the mic.

I would go the GME, locally made and suport around Australia with exellant build quality.

If you want to pay abit more get the Icom IC400 pro, the icom is what we use but it died a couple of weeks ago, we took it in for repairs and it looks like the final transistors have gone...they said it is not common but are seeing more with this problem (3 in the last month).

I would go vehicle mounted instead of hand held better range and ease of use, hand helds are great for portability.

UHF is an ideal way of communication in the outback with local property owners and other road users.

Don't get sat phones and HF radios mixed up with UHF radios, they all have there own advantages.

The ideal thing would be a UHF and a HF radio or a sat phone that works or all three.

Regards Richard

I've had Uniden and GME sets and a GME handheld. They all worked well. Some people think the voice quality on the GME is a little better but I didn't think it was a huge difference. Have heard ICOM are good sets but have never used one. To the casual user they are much of a muchness.

All issues I have had have been related to antena's falling apart. If you are planning to do a lot of dirt get a good antenna. I have lost or broken at least six of the wire type antenna's. The last one I got (GME on a heavy spring base) has lasted much longer but it was 3 times the price too.

Steve

Hi everyone

Thanks very much for all your feedback, I certainly wasn't expecting that much information but all the same still all good advice.

Now with all this advice in hand it's off to a couple of electronics shops.

So thanks again

Cheers
Dax