UHF - Hand Held or InCar

In car units have the advantage of longer range due to having a better antenna plus not worrying about batteries going flat.

However hand helds are much more versatile IMO and as you've stated above. You can buy 5W (which is the highest power you can use without having a licence) handhelds which is the best of both worlds. They do have range restrictions due to the small antenna though and you need to remember to charge them.

You can buy cheap 5w handhelds on e-bay for less than $100 delivered and they work really well - but they are a handheld and there are the advantages of the in- car unit as mentioned above. For this price why not buy an in car unit and one of these cheap 5w handhelds for when away from the car.

The handheld battery lasts up to 3days on standby and more than one day with lots of use. It can be recharged in the car.

Garry

Garry

I use a 5w GME hand held and had a aerial adapted to screw onto the fitting and use an cigarette lighter to charge it. Ive had it a while but think it cost about $450 all up.

I would recommend both, but the handheld one probably doesn't need to be a high power unit, depending what you use it for (the 1km range ones could be sufficient).

My first UHF CB was a 5W hand held and it was great for versatility (could use it in the car, on the pushbike, on hikes etc.) but on longer trips, it was always a pain to keep the battery charged...

So I got a vehicle mounted one. The problem was finding somewhere to mount it (not very easy in most modern 4WD's) but once that was sorted, it was great - the CB was always there, always had power from the vehicle and the range was also improved from the handheld (primarily due to having the antenna outside the vehicle - not like the handheld).

I still use the handheld (and even bought a couple of 500mW ones too) for convoys (I can loan them to others who don't have a vehicle mounted CB) and almost invaluable for off-road vehicle recovery (esp. snatching) and for things like hitching the car to a trailer/caravan (don't have to yell, and less chance of the driver not hearing instructions, including the ever important "STOP!" - the handheld can pay for itself in one instant! LOL).

Of course, it will ultimately depend on your individual requirements for a CB.

Both my old man and myself have had KYD 5w hand helds for the past 5 years. We got them off ebay in a two pack deal for about $160 all up.
There is a battery eliminator (12v power supply off a cig lighter)available for $9, and a remote speaker/microphone unit for $20 odd.
I haven't bothered with an in car unit since. Neither of us over various trips - cape, gulf, desert - have found them any different to in car units. ie they all tend to fade in transmission at the same time.
I blew up the lcd screen on mine during a power surge in another vehicle which is unpreferred, but the unit still functions perfectly.
They are also fully programmable which helps me when I'm doing ground ops at airports etc.

It depends on how you will be using them. If for example you are in a group of vehicles and talking regularly to others in the group, say while crossing sandunes in the Simpson and talking each other over, a car mounted is better. If only for occasional use, hand held. Personally, I have both. The hand held is useful to give to someone while they give me guidance when backing for example. Or the handheld goes to whoever is driving our second car on occasional longtrips when we take two vehicles.

I have a GME TX6200 hand held for UHF comms but use an external antenna and extension microphone/speaker. We can take it with us when we get out by swapping the rubber antenna back on.

Cheers

Pete

Keep in mind that you will need FOUR times the power to get TWO times the distance - so to get twice the distnce of a 1 watt radio, you will need to go to 5 watts.

5 watts is the maximum legal power that can be used on the CB channels.

Having both is the way to go. I waffle on about this on my profile page.

I have an ICOM 400 PRO in car and a GME6200 hand held.

Got the GME6200 first some years ago. Fitted the optional longer antenna. Really good unit (except for when the transmit micro switch came off - but that's another story). The ICOM 41S is another good hand held and is the one I would get if buying now.

Had the ICOM fitted last holiday mid trip. After that had some chance to assess strengths and weaknesses of them.

They both have good range. They both have clear reception.

Using a hand held in a car is a bit awkward as is securing it without spending a lot more on mounting accessories (high enough to pretty well cover the cost of an in car unit). In my car the hand held fitted neatly into the door armrest and was pretty good there. In the cruiser I have not found a good spot for it.

In car unit is useless if battery dies.

I did a rescue of a couple of blokes with a vehicle that had a dead battery and they used my hand held to communicate with me during the tow. Their CB was out of action due to the dead battery. That convinced us that there was a need for both.

I too have both, an Icom IC40 h/held and a GME 3200.

With an external aerial the Icom is just as good as the fixed unit and is very handy for communicating back to base when walking or fishing.
I used mine with my quad with an l aerial on the back and its range was good.
I have the larger battery pack on mine and also the cig plug car adapter.

Its all down to personal choice really as most UHF radios are pretty good now apart from the elcheapo variety.

Howard T
I bought 2x Omdi brand 5W handhelds on ebay, under $200 each. One is used in the car with a battery eliminator (battery pack that plugs into cigarette socket). An external aerial is attached to the handheld via an adaptor bought through the ebay dealer (Go Tools I think)
Works as good as a dedicated in car unit, plus has the advantage of taking it ouitside the vehicle.

The other handheld is used for just that - out and about. Comes in handy when reversing the camper etc.

Depends how you're gonna use 'em. Originally got by with 2 x 5 watt handhelds. Then I installed a mobile unit, which has turned out to be excess to requirment. We mainly only use the radio in a convoy situation, or when we want to communicate with trucks and road trains, so TX range is not really important. hand helds give us a couple of kms. When we go hiking, we'll take one each in case one of us wants to shoot down a track to take photos and that has been really handy at times. A friend got bailed up by an aggressive King Brown snake once and never leaves camp without her handheld these days.