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UHF Radio - Tips and tricks wanted

bootyinblue

By bootyinblue
in Boating

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bootyinblue Newbie

bootyinblue

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Looking at getting a truck mounted UHF radio for the Navara but really have no idea about them apart from push the button and talk.

The GME 3420 caught my eye as I can fit the face plate separate to the unit giving a neat fit for where I want to put it. No idea about what sort of aerial I need to fit, apart from there is a tab for it on my bull bar.

Open to any ideas and suggestions or comments about this sort of stuff so I can make an informed decision.

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mangler Newbie

mangler

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I've spent a bit of time talking over UHF's so here's my two bobs worth.

Used to work on a few big farms, with UHF's everywhere, in all the tractors, all the utes, in the sheds, in the trucks, in the dozers, in the headers, in the grader, handheld ones for the motorbikes, in the jackaroos quarters, in the shearers quarters, in the local pub... Anyway, needless to say I did a fair bit of communication via UHF radio.

The unit:

In my experience, the GME's were just that bit clearer, but found the Unidens were just that bit tougher physically. But that was in tractors & dozers, I've never sen a GME fall to bits in a ute yet. Won't talk about the range/reception here as that is mostly to do with the aerials.

Look for a unit that has an easy to read display from the angle you are gonna be looking at it. Also look at where the speaker is mounted, if you are gonna mount the unit in the dash, make sure the speaker is on the front of it, not on the bottom. Or you can just get an external speaker for about $25 that will blow your eardrums.

Looking at the GME3420, I'd say that the speaker is in the unit, rather than on the faceplate, so an external speaker would be the go to get the most out of it.

I have a Uniden it does it's job, but a GME would be just as good (Australian made too!). Another brand that has been getting good reviews is the Icom brand, but I haven't had anything to do wit these at all. But at the end of the day it really depends on the aerial!

Aerials: The "gain" is rated in dB's 1.5dB, 3dB, 4.5dB, 6dB, 9dB etc. Basically the higher the dB rating, the further the distance it will send/receive. BUT here's the catch, that's on flat ground only. In the hills, it is a totally different story, a lower gain is what you want. See picture to understand why (excuse my crap drawing!)

[img size=499]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Gain.JPG

The aerial I would recommend to anyone who does a bit of 4wd etc is the GME AE4705. It is a 4.5 dB gain so good for round town and highways etc. It is a white aerial 4 ft long with a good spring base.

But wait theres more he says!!! The beauty of this aerial is it is designed so the spring can bu used with any of the GME AE47** series, All you do is undo the grub screw, unscrew the aerial, screw a different one on, do up grub screw and off you go. The different aerials you can get to fit on this spring base range from small 30cm wire ones, to a big 7ft long 6dB gain white aerial. So if you going into undercover car parks a lot, you might opt for a small wire one, for around town, 4wding, on the highway you'd screw the 4 ft white one on, and when you head west of the Great Divide you screw on the big tall 7ft one.

Whilst these aerials aren't the cheapest, they are well worth the coin, they perform great and are tough as. I've got the 7ft (6dB) one and the 4ft (4.5dB) one. On flat ground out west with the 7ft one I could call back to the station from the pub (45km by road, about 35 as the crow flies), and for around here I just use the 4ft one & it is great. They've both been bush bashed ridiculously, smashed into height warnings on drive throughs and carparks etc and still going strong!

People recommend that you put the aerial in the middle of the roof so it gets a good ground plane, but this is totally not practical, so just go for the bullbar & you'll be sweet!

If you want to go to a shop, don't go to a 4wd shop, go to OLBIS Industries at Rocklea, they know their stuff! (No I don't work for them)

If you need help installing or have further Questions, PM me!

Sorry for the novel:blush:

Cheers,

Matt

P.S. Gee that took a long time to write!!!

post-2878-14459847641_thumb.jpg

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mangler Newbie

mangler

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bootyinblue wrote:

Matt,

You're a deadset champ with info like that! And nothing wrong with your drawings at all.

Here is the prices I have so far

Olbis Andrews Comms

GME3420 $435 $339

AE4018K1 6dB $149 $99

No worries, I forgot about online shopping, I just assume coz I don't do it, no one else does... :blush:

Some good prices you got there.

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  • 1 month later...
bootyinblue Newbie

bootyinblue

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Just thought I would post the wash up from this thread.

I steered away from the 3420 with the remote head thing (as most people end up having to install an external speaker as the original speaker is tucked up in the dash somewhere) and sort of defeating the neat appearance.

Got on to a mob called contact communications and ordered a 3220 which had a 4.5db antenna included. Ordered a different aerial aswell which is a interchangeable 6 and 9db ust for the fun of it.

But wait for it, check out the prices and all here is 3 days from Western Australia.

1 GME Electrophone TX3220 UHF CB *BONUS Antenna* $268.00

1 AE409L UHF CB Antenna $70.00

Subtotal : $338.00

Shipping : $0.00

Tax Total : $30.73

Total: $338.00

By far the cheapest price ever....

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