UHF Radio

Be careful what antenna you choose as some cheap ones will not last on corrugated roads

Regards Don

Just in case you dont know what a single din pocket this is what it is (the same as a standard radio unit size)

The link shown mine fitted in my Patrol

Regards Don

Yep, We've had ours for just over two years now without any dramas.

I second Prestige as a place for good value. I've gone away from the single DIN units to the smaller units like the TX 3100 and TX 3220. They are a lot cheaper and have the same output as the larger ones. The smaller profile means you have a lot more mounting options and can even mount them with velcro as I have done in both the ute and quad. Coupled with a solid areal, they are great little units and much cheaper than the bigger DIN units.

Cheers Mick

What new UHF CB band??

cheers

What he said..

The standard isn't even finalised yet and time for comment with ACMA closes tomorrow.

The only one for sure that will work is a ICOM 400 Pro which can do 12.5Mhz spacing.

I'd go for the ICOM 400 Pro. An excellent unit. Bit biased as I have one. Steep learning curve though and keep the instruction manual handy.

Flynnie

Hi Boobook
There are GME radios that will work as well, but it will come down to what the final reports say on what radios can be reprogrammed.

Cheers

Stephen

My Icom 400 Pro says "BonzInc" on the display when it starts up! I reckon its an excellent UHF unit

Steve, I currently have a GME and talked to their product manager about 5 days ago on this subject. You are right, it depends on the standard finalisations. There are discussions about A/B channel banks verses channels 1-40 and 41 - 80. The GME guy said it may be that the 3340 can me modified, or the 34xx can be modified or none can be modified. He even said they may repackage the TX 3600 for a while until then get a new design if necessary. They simply don't know yet. So I wouldn't buy any GME on the basis that it will have 80 channels just yet. Acutally I wouldn't buy any UHF right now unless I needed it. Even if you are happy with just 40 channels, they will be a lot cheaper on January 2nd given they will be illegal in 5 years.

One thing is for sure, the ICOM 400 can work in all these modes with 12.5khz spacing.

What no one knows is what will happen to repeaters which may not work with newer radios, even if they do they, will sound awful. It is a bit of a mess actually.

Hi Boobook
One point that I was told by our GME rep just last week is that in 5 years times, the old UHF radios will still be legal to use, there are just too many out there and will still be using the same frequencies, just not the newer ones. Like he said, you will still be using the current 40 legal channels, but will not be able to communicate with people and vehicles using the new 80 channels. All stations and properties use UHF radio for many and varied uses, from monitoring tank levels to keeping in contact when out on their properties. They have used these radios for decades and keep doing so when the new frequencies are in place, as the new channels will mean nothing to them. The biggest change will be the repeater stations.

There is still a lot of work to take place and until it takes place, there will be lots of grey areas.

Cheers

Stephen

Steve what the GME rep told you is not correct. While the technical specs are not finalised, the legal ones are.

The old ones will be able to communicate with the new ones in the first 40 channels regardless of what happens, but with reduced quality. But specifically the old ones will be illegal from 2016.

Here is the statement from the horses mouth, the ACMA website.

From 1 January 2016, everyone will be required to use 12.5 kHz equipment only.

Of course a sales rep that only has old ones to sell would like to think tell people they can be used forever.

Hi Boobook. If they think old UHF CBs arent going to be used after 2016 they are dreaming. Same thing hapened back in the days when i was selling 23Ch 27Mhz CBs they were suposed to be ilegal to use when 18Ch was brought in. This didnt stop there for long before 40Ch were made legal, as once the flood gates are opened they are hard to shut & policing them would be a nightmare. Daryl

I prefer the Icom IC440 as it is a bit more flexible.