I was advised by a friend of mine yesterday that I should have a cb radio incase I have any kind of problems on the road in an area where there may be no mobile signal.   I spoke to a salesman at the Caravan supershow here in Melbourne today and because I was on a budget he suggested I purchase a hand held Unidon with arial attached (bit like a mobile phone) this way it doesn't have to be installed into my car and no external arial needs to be fitted.  Is there anyone out there that has one of these and does it work ok.  I'll be travelling from Melbourne on the Newell to Brissie then following the coast road up to Cairns so not expecting to be in any remote areas

Gilly the Newell can be remote for reception in some places. Have travelled it often and through the middle there is at least 100 ks between towns. In those remote places there is no phone reception. I wonder if this hand held cb would be as good for reception as an installed one. Will know once I get going with mine as it has a cb installed but still to work out how to use it.

We have both systems girls.  A UHF cb in the tug and also hand held uniden.

We use the hand helds for when we are reversing and also when hooking up, saves all the yelling and hand signals.

Sorry I can't help you with the coverage area but Blue tells me that they have an approximate range of 3 kilometers - line of sight.

hi gillyb,
You would need a 5watt hand held range of these depends on the terrain which you are in hilly areas from 500m to 3 klm, on the flat as far as you can see. 1watt or 1.5watt not worth buying for your needs they transmitt 50 m to 500m.
You might find a cheap one on ebay that will fit in your car.

A quality 40 UHF will be invaluable right around the country. The transport channel is UHF 40 Australia wide. The hand held have a range of 3 to 5 klms, but if the money allows, get one fixed in the car. This will give you a chance to talk (briefly) to truckies when passing. Listen for awhile, and don't chatter unnecessarily. These blokes can be a great deal of help on the road, but don't like the general public using "their" channel. Regards. Pipes

I just did a solo trip from SE Qld to NE Vic towing my van, and I purchased two small hand held radios - I realise they have a very limited range, but as I was going to be on major highways, figured they would suffice. I used one of them once - just to ask a truckie for some advice - he was very helpful - but I must say it was fun just listening to the truckies converse with each other - called caravans "wobblies" - got a laught out of that. But I did feel quite safe having it - there is always traffic on the Newell, and most other highways - so unless you are going off the major highways - maybe they are all you need? After having this one, if I was going to do a lot of travelling on less populated roads, I would investigate something more substantial.

I have both hand held and a set in the vehicle, most highways would have a vechile pass you in half hour or less. Being in a camper should see you with enough supplies for a couple of days for a worst case scenario. Hand held would be good to sing out to a truckie that you were in trouble if you needed to and also quite able to comunicate with them when they want to pass. Remote travel would see the need for a hf radio, an epirb and maybe a sat phone. Even in the remote places in aust these days its like a highway sometimes cheers blaze

Gilly . Methinks it is a case of Having to have one - a proper one , not a hand held . I have both . But th hand held was a gift & I carry it in my work bag . It has come handy a couple of times . I am Deputy Captain of our Bush fire brigade , we have them for th fire-line , to keep in touch with everybody . BUT if somebody is down or up a hill or spur , round th corner - 100 to 300yds away - you won't get them . By the way - The truckies channel on Pacific Hwy is 29 , apparently ch40 is too close to Marine Rescue . So Bris-Sydney via Pacific is 29 . Richo

Thank you everyone for your advice, I will probably go for the 5w hand held as anything bigger is going to take too large a slice of my budget at the moment.   Ebay is not possible as I'm leaving on Sunday so will have to purchase from a local retailer.  It will just give me that extra bit of confidence :)

Ma wrote:

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We have both systems girls.  A UHF cb in the tug and also hand held uniden.

We use the hand helds for when we are reversing and also when hooking up, saves all the yelling and hand signals.

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If you get the opportunity Ma, get in a car with a reversing camera and back up to your towball...believe me you will toss the hand held radios and fit a camera.  They ARE that good for coupling. (car to van that is )

 

.. yes .. the cameras are most handy .. well .. until you wish to go for a walk but the other party wants to stay with the Van ..
I carry (2) handhelds ..

Jon

A good UHF radio is very useful Gilly... its limitations are that there has to be someone else within range who has their radio turned on. The signal goes by line of sight, cant go over mountains, so there are places where your range is very short. Its extremely handy on outback roads where there are road trains... they call ahead when they reach certain landmarks, gives you time to safely get off the road to let them pass. And you always get a "Thank you". You get to hear about accidents ahead, speed cameras, wide loads, all sorts of useful info. Get the best you can afford Gilly, especially as you are on your own. Good luck!

Hey Guys n Gals,

Talking of camera systems, if you have a Navman or other GPS that has audio/visual imput you can just buy a camera and hook it into this, I bought a camera from Ebay for about delivered from China for about $30 and havent had an issue, even came with a hole saw to cut the right size apperture for the camera.

This is the seller... http://stores.ebay.com.au/dacks-car-audio?_trksid=p4340.l2563... just cut and paste into your browser address bar.....

I have placed it in a position where i can reverse the ball into the exact spot and just get out and lower the coupling into place...bloody awesome.

Hoo Roo Happy Days
Grumpster

The kids gave me a hand held for Xmas. I haven't used it yet, but have used my sister's before. They're very handy when travelling with friends.

I'm told Ch18 is for the grey nomads to chat, and Ch 40 to listen for truckies. I'll also keep in mind the Ch 29 for the Pacific Highway, thanks Zoomtops.

It's important to communicate with the truckies about what you're doing...ie: turning off here or whatever.

Several years ago, my sister and b-i-l were cleaned up by a B double when they were turning off. They'd done all the right things,,,signalled way in advance of their intention to turn right, moved over to the turning lane, and the truckie was found to be in the wrong.

It may have saved the situation if they'd spoken to him on the UHF, who knows?!

BTW, they weren't hurt, but the Patrol and caravan were a right-off.

Zoomtopz wrote:

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By the way - The truckies channel on Pacific Hwy is 29 , apparently ch40 is too close to Marine Rescue .
So Bris-Sydney via Pacific is 29 .
Richo

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No, the reason channel 29 is used on the Pacific Hwy between Sydney and Brisbane is due to confusion between the New England and Pacific Hwy communications if truckies are using channel 40 on both Hwys.

-- Edited by Ron and Shirley on Monday 14th of March 2011 06:29:03 PM

I posted this back in 08 and I thought it maybe worth reposting;

The UHF Cb comes with 40 FM channels,requires NO licence,and basically has a range varying from 5 to maybe 15 kilometers depending on landscape. The flatter the further you'll talk.

Channel 1 to 8 are known as REPEATER channels,you program the radio for repeaters by going to ch1 then press and hold the DUP button on the front of the radio till it beeps and you'll see DUP in the display.continue this programming through to and including ch8.

repeaters work very simply,on ch1 DUP you transmit ch31,then,receive ch1...its automatic when you press the press to talk button...ch2 transmits 32 and receives ch2.ETC ETC to ch 8 .

repeaters give you VAST improvement in range cause repeaters are usually mounted HIGH on a nearby mountain etc. Range through a repeater can EASILY reach 80+kms...

so,if youre travelling with your friend 300 meters in front of you,go to a channel other than 1 to 8 otherwise you'll interfere with long range traffic..

Channel usage::: ch 11 is the CALLING channel if you want to talk to a stranger.
CH 5 is the Emergency channel [in cities] and uses the repeater for longer range emergencies.
ch18 is the caravan ch
ch20 is the motorhome ch
ch 40 is the Truckies ch

DONT use ch 22 and ch 23 as these are data channels used mostly by farmers to turn on remote water taps to water their stock etc etc,infact the NEW UHF cbs WONT transmit 22 and 23...

using the calling channel if you want to talk to a stranger,put a call out in NORMAL voice in NORMAL english,then IF or ONCE youve got someone you both agree to meet of aclear channel,avoiding the nominated ones above.

Emergencies,in the cities its a simple matter of going to CH 5 ,MAKE sure the DUP is ON,then in plain english call for help,explain your location,if youve got a gps navigator it will display your EXACT position in lat/long so you pass that onto the operator,operrators are volunteers so treat them nicely.
Emergencies in the OUTBACK call ch5 ,if nothing look on ALL 40 chs for someone chatting and break in...

most newer sets comes with scanning,thats the radio checking all 40 channels in less than a second,if it finds activity it STOPS on that channel so you can listen,waits a few seconds then starts scanning again.If you want to stay on a scanned channel simply press the press to talk button ONCE that stops the scanning and you can join in the conversation

OUTBACK Travellers ARE encouraged to travel,if youre NOT talking to someone,then put your UHF cb on SCAN. Reason is if someone has an emergency and does NOT know the proceedure they might call on any channel.You might be the only one to hear them,if you werent scanning youd completely miss their call.

Now,having said that,USE CAUTION if you hear a distress call,you can usually hear the sense of urgency in their voice if its genuine.if in doubt,respond and say you'll notify police at the next town.

in the outback truck drivers [ch 40] will ALWAYS respond to you providing you use plain english ,otherwise they might disregard you as a clown.

talking to a truck driver on 40 is easy,get his direction of travel even if it opposite yours. and say "southbound transport can you hear me",he will know by your strong signal you mean him and he will respond,sometimes a few will respond.

Lastly,in Cities [large cities] i recomend you turn the cb OFF unless you really need it. Theres hundreds of ppl on repeaters all abusing each other,swearing,its NO place for family to listen ...trust me

but PLEASE,outback travellers,if youre not already talking then SCAN,someones life might depend on

Thanks for that Gary and Kerry. Will save this and go get it printed out to put in the van. I had no idea how it all works so grateful for such an exact direction.

Thank you Gary and Kerry, very useful.

Thanks Gary & Kerry, I too have printed your post and have put it in my file on the CB model that I have and put it in the glove box for later.

John

Thank you for that info Gary & Kerry although it sounds a little confusing.  I  bought myself a 5w Unidon handheld yesterday but have not yet had time to take a good look at how it works so your info is going to be a real help I just need to find time to sit down with it and work it all out.   I set out on my trip Sunday morning and my biggest hurdle at the moment is getting my trailer hitched up on my own  after that I think everything else will be a breeze..............that is until I get to my first van park