UHF and AM CB Radio Communications
Submitted: Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 22:32
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fawkesp
Apologies if this sounds like a dumb question, but I am new to the two-way radio game and after reading the section on Communications/UHF I came away a little confused about UHF and AM CB radios. As these two radios operate on different frequencies, though both have 40 channels, I assume that if I used a
UHF radio I would not be able to communicate with a person who used an AM CB even if we were both 'talking' on the same channel - is this correct or am I missing an important fact?
Enlightenment greatfully accepted.
Peter F.
Reply By: Red Frog - Vic - Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 22:47
Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 22:47
No man thats it, you're on the right wave length, UHF and AM CB operate on different freqs and cannot communciate with each other, go for the UHF rig.
AnswerID:
267736
Reply By: Member - Jeff H (QLD) - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 01:06
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 01:06
Peter, I was where you are 3 years ago. (Bad English: get knotted).
We bought a GME TX3200 from Prestige Communications .
Good price, fantastic service.
Others will offer better, I'm sure.
Jeff.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: MEMBER - Darian (SA) - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 07:54
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 07:54
Yep - different frequencies, but more importantly, different technology. I did read that Oz is the only country using UHF in the CB domain - HF (27 meg style) is still used here by a small number of CB'ers - still used widely overseas for CB too. UHF is great for local area comms and everyone on the roads and in the outback uses it. For long distance comms, you need Satphones or the high powered licenced HF.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Douglas M (SA) - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 09:33
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 09:33
Hi Fawkesp,
Don't be tempted like me to use a high powered hand held unit in your vehicle. I bought a Uniden 5 watt unit with external antenna connection, remote mike and car power supply and found out why you should not transmit with the unit in it's charge cradle! It cooks the chip in the charge cradle (yes I know I'm an idiot no need to write in and tell me!). Guess what? there are no spares in Australiia that I can find and a two month wait from Uniden. In other words I have $500 worth of gear that I can't use until uniden feels like getting a supply of new charge cradles. The spare parts guy seemed to know exactly what the problem was so I figured that the problem with
mine was a common one and they have run out of spares. There is also the nuisance of finding somewhere in the vehicle to put the radio which is connected to an external anntenna.
Uniden do a combined UHF-27meg set that I'm looking at to replace the hand held but I'll be doing a bit of research on Uniden's spares and service first.
doug
AnswerID:
267766
Follow Up By: QLD Kev - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 09:47
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 09:47
I have not had that problem with the GME hand held mounted in the cradle etc.
Cheers Kev
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Follow Up By: Robin Miller - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 13:05
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 13:05
Doug , if it was important for you the radio could be jury rigged to charge - it just needs 12v connected to the two contacts of the cradle or the radio for that matter via a dropping resistor like 47 ohm 5 watt. This arrangement is used for a hour or so at a time to charge the radio.
Not ideal, and not reccomended if you have little knowledge of electrical things but it can and does work, because you can overcharge and damage things.
I carry such a setup all the time and have often saved the day with various camera's,phones etc etc which have gone flat at a bad time.
Mind you it can get a bit boring sitting in the car holding two wires onto a battery for a while just because some clown was ill prepared, so I'm Volunteering less these days.
Robin Miller
FollowupID:
530181
Reply By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 10:13
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 10:13
AM is old and is rarely used these days get a quality UHF and enjoy
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Reply By: CLC50 - Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 19:44
Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 19:44
I have a new Uniden with both UHF & AM CB ,its good if someone has only hand Held CB (tin lids) & you can have both on line at the same time or separate
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Reply By: fawkesp - Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007 at 20:02
Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007 at 20:02
My thanks to all for the informative comments, certainly assists me to better understand 'radios'.
Peter F.
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