uhf radios
Submitted: Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004 at 00:30
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Vojta
Hi All, from the recent posts i can see that this is a pretty popular topic, and yes i too am looking at getting a uhf unit for the patrol. It will be used for mainly for car to car use, and on trips which unfortunately dont venture too far into this great land so the range should be adequate.
Anyway with the help of this
forum (which is simply tremendous) i have narrowed it down to either the GME4400 or the IC400 (but which one?). At this stage i am leaning towards the IC400 for the greater additional channels and the fact that it can be (illegal i know) powered up to the full 25watt. What are peoples experiences with these units particularly the IC400.
The only other unit which i am considering at this time is theTAIT T2020. Has anyone got any info on the TAIT model as i have found info on this unit hard to come by. I know the tech info on it but looking for peoples experiences with the unit. As far as usage goes all i've heard is that it may be more prone to overheating then other units as it has a very small heatsink ???
Also if were to get the TAIT which is able to TX & RX in the 430-520Mhz range what sort of aerial should i be looking at getting so as not to blow the unit which would be quite disheartening .... if possible please be specific about the brand and model of the aerial.
Finally in respect of the additional channels that can be tuned on all of these models, through one of the other posts i found a site which lists all the freq used in NSW by the various groups, so for no particular reason i looked up the local police codes and noticed that 469.8250 is a simplex radar channel (state wide) does this mean that if i tune on the channels to this freq i may actually have some sort of a crude radar detector, has anyone done this or considered this or am i missing some key info here ????
any and all comments appreciated
cheers,
vojta.
Reply By: Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club - Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004 at 20:40
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004 at 20:40
Transmitting at Commercial power (25 watts) does make a difference, it does allow a greater degree of penetration of natural and artificial obstructions.
But then the person you're talking too needs to have it too, and if you've got a garden variety aerial, the difference will be lost.
That said, I'm guessing that you would need to have a dealer tune one of the public channels to be 25w. I can't imagine that this would be a user programable feature. i don't know, I've never used one, and would be keen to hear from anyone who's got one as to how this is actually done.
I know that you can obtain pirate dealer programming software on the net, and that the programming leads can be easily made from components at Tandy, but it is Illegal, and heavy fines do apply for people using non public channels, or using commercial spec on public channels.
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Reply By: Member - Bob L - Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004 at 22:33
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004 at 22:33
Vojta
Had a nice fat reply and just lost it.
The Tait 2020 will be ok heatsink wise and never been a problem but bear in mind this is a commercial unit and expensive by comparison.Dealer programable.
We also sell TX4400 ($439) and the IC400PRO ($469).
The TX4400 at 5watts with 20 user programmable Rx channels as your aware.
The Icom is similar to a scanner in that channels are in banks making it a little more difficult to use. ie sold one recently with standard 40 channels plus 1 commercial channel and found wiping 1st bank and putting everything in second bank the only way to make it easy to use.
Icom would can any dealerwho supplied this unit with 25 watt output on cb frequencies but it is still a good unit at 5 watts with a wider frequency range.
As somebody stated 25 watts is good to get out but will not help you receive and best range can be obtained with a good antenna system.
When asked I usually say as far as you can see plus a bit more.
Cheers
Bob L
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