unless your going bush dont bother with a radio .......i have one in my ford and have now done 3 trips within 150k of Adelaide .with van on ......the radio was on and not a soul i heard and it was installed by a radio tech ......im taking mine out soon ...............unless you travel in convoy ......as a single vehicle there no use .........IMO

Although I have an Amateur Radio licence I always have a UHF CB in the vehicle mainly to talk to truck drivers when they come up behind me (I usually travel at 90kph) and advise them to overtake when they wish and I'll slow down for them - just courtesy I think and the truck drivers really appreciate it.

If you are off the beaten track CB may also be useful as most off-road 4WDs have one but there is no standard channel used by them - trucks use ch 40.

As an emergency tool and just like mobile phones - it's close to useless. If you are going to serious places then check up on comms. I have written before on this forum about such.

When I'm traveling I set my UHF to open scan mode and scan all channels, that way I can hear what's active in the area I'm in. You don't miss much that way. Hand held CB's don't get very good reception inside a vehicle unless you plug in an external magnetic antenna that's placed on your roof.

I think anyone traveling on roads frequented by heavy vehicles should out of courtesy have a UHF on the trucking chanel. I travel at around 90kph so when l see a truck catching up, l contact them and help them on their way around me. I think a portable UHF at 5w is adequate for this job. Twice now on the Hume having the UHF on, has alerted me to sudden issues ahead.

Thank you all for your replies. I've ended up buying the radio from Anaconda for $89. Hopefully it's good enough to chat with potential overtakers and being so cheap, it's not too hard on the wallet.

Hi Buzz, After doing a bit of research on 5 watt hand helds, I bought the TRX 5 watt from Anaconda for $99, and I'm very impressed with it.

After a couple of battery cycles from dead flat to full charge, I'm getting 36 continuous hours of occasional transmissions and stand by from a single charge, I mean that is leaving the radio switched on for the whole time, obviously, if you switched off over night, you would get even more time out of a charge.

Range wise, the best I've had so far is 8Kms, which wasn't line of sight mind you, but in semi open country. Anywhere between 50 metres and 3 K's in bush, the reception is strong and very clear.  Following the manual, I found it very easy to change some of the default settings such as squelch, battery saver and other things of personal choice.

Sound wise, the speaker is excellent, with no distortion of reception or crackling. The anntena is around the 1.5 to 2 dBi gain mark, or so the fellow on the Tech line help number seemed to think, he offered to find out exactly if I was desperate to know. The Techy did say when transmitting, hold the antenna completely vertical to get the best out of the antenna, but that tip applies to any radio transmitter I guess. The warranty stated on the box is for three years, so hopefully if something goes wrong with the unit, it will happen before the 3 years are up, fingers crossed. Overall, for the price, it is a solid little unit and I for one am very pleased with it. I see on a later post you went and picked one up, so I'm guessing you're as pleased as I am with the purchase. Regards

I have a 3 watt GME Handheld, that I am currently using out here camping to talk to Donna using the GME base station at home and utilising the repeater station locally. I have not fit the car one back into the car, as my aerial is real big 15 db, as I don't have a bull bar, on the new car. Can fit it on the side between the bonnet and the guard, but am awaiting a stainless steel bracket to be made( needs to be heavy duty). The 3 watt HH is very good, no problems picking up a repeater station no matter how far away from it I am.

Hi Ric,

Yes, GME have an excellent name for all the good points you need in a CB radio, particularly H Helds. The reason I went with the TRX was 5 watts power for the price. So far, so good.

Good luck sourcing the SS bracket, when you eventually get your antenna up and running, they'll probably hear you in Alaska.

Cheers...

 

 

Good luck with the bracket Ric, I had one on BT50, bracket was strong, but the inside mudguard still had too much flex with the extra weight.

I purchased a TRX 5 watt radio in April 2021 just before we did a lap. I found it excellent to talk with big rigs & wide loads. EG just outside of Cloncurry on the road to Julia Creek a caravan had lost a wheel on a very narrow section of windy road. I was alerted on the radio by a traveller that was at the scene. if I had no radio it would have been interesting as the vehicle was around a blind corner. I would buy a TRX again based on my experience.

tea spoon wrote:

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unless your going bush dont bother with a radio .......i have one in my ford and have now done 3 trips within 150k of Adelaide .with van on ......the radio was on and not a soul i heard and it was installed by a radio tech ......im taking mine out soon ...............unless you travel in convoy ......as a single vehicle there no use .........IMO

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 A rather narrow minded approach. We used ours extensively communicating with approaching trucks to let them know we knew they were

and organise a suitable time/place for them to overtake. Also when you have a wide load coming towards you. Not all pilots are diligent.

A simple question asking for the width of the load. On average, a road is about 8m wide. If load is wider then 4m, you know they're

going to encroach on your side. Gives you plenty of time to slow down and move aside.

We bought a pair of these from JAYCAR when they were on special offer as a pair.

We both do wildlife photography & bush walk individually away from our base camp.

They work well keeping us in contact with each other as long as the terrain is relatively flat.

tea spoon wrote:

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unless your going bush dont bother with a radio .......i have one in my ford and have now done 3 trips within 150k of Adelaide .with van on ......the radio was on and not a soul i heard and it was installed by a radio tech ......im taking mine out soon ...............unless you travel in convoy ......as a single vehicle there no use .........IMO

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 Are you sure that it's set up correctly and that you're on channel 40? Next time you're out just ask 'Can I get a radio check  please'? and you should get a response. If no reply there may be a problem with your set. Although not as busy as it was in the 'Old days' there is always somebody warning of wide loads, accidents, road works etc. Truckies are always up for a bit if a chat if you simply give them a call. 'Copy West bound Blenners" or whatever is all it takes but I would suggest that you not take it out as it could well save your life. Cheers

-- Edited by yobarr on Saturday 25th of June 2022 12:11:19 PM