UHF Radio Purchase

woodiebro · Post by **woodiebro** » 12 November 04 4:34 pm

Hi All
I want to buy 2 handheld UHF radios, My budget is around $100 each or below, and I want reasonable quality. Can you advise what I should be looking for. Usage apart from caching would be vehicle to vehicle as sometimes when we go away on extended trips my wife takes her car with a trailer and all the gear and I take mine to tow the boat, so we would like to keep in touch.
Thanks
Woodiebro

Gunn Parker · Post by **Gunn Parker** » 12 November 04 5:01 pm

Check this thread Peskys store, I have two hand helds and they work very well.
Andrew

Geof · Post by **Geof** » 12 November 04 6:08 pm

I have been in convoy with other people using those little 1 watt (so called /if your lucky) sets and 1 km is pushing it for range. If you are traveling with the other car directly in front they'l be fine if there loud enough. The best set up I'v used had 5 watt sets with 6.5dB (not sure if that was dBi or dBd) antennas and we were geting over 30 km on flat ground simplex but for that your talking >$300 each at least (with good antenna).

As for the boat - they'l have better range over water than land you may get the quoted "up to" range or more. Same goes if you have full line of site I.E. hilltop - hilltop.

$100 or below and reasonable quality do not belong in the same sentence in my book.

swampgecko · Post by **swampgecko** » 12 November 04 9:14 pm

I have a pair of 1 watt UHF radios and they do the trick for me... it all depends on what you want them for... I got the GME TX610's just after they hit the market 12months ago. They are good for what I wanted which was a light weight hand held that can be used for close range car comms, bushwalking and such. Even though they are 1 watt they don't get out too far in the bush, they are line of sight.... even 5 watt radios can have hassles getting out through thick scrub at times too.

It all depends on where you are at the time of use. If at the bottom of a valley you aint going to get a lot of range except straight up.

The best I distance I got out of my handhelds were 15klms.... that was direct line distance. I was parked at a lookout at the top of Kurrajong Heights and the missus was at home in Richmond. I also get 3klm range on the lowlands around Richmond. When I used them in the forests around Newens however it was a different story, 1klm was the best I could get, to another handheld.

Easy Rollins · Post by **Easy Rollins** » 13 November 04 9:30 am

Uniden have just released their UH039P.Comes as a pair with desktop charger and rechargable battery packs-0.7watt.
$124rrp

Try Prestige Comms.
UH041P's (1 watt) are $184.HTH

Damo. · Post by **Damo.** » 15 November 04 12:13 am

The basic Uniden 0.5 watt models are $58 for a pair at DSE. Good if you want something to stick in your pocket, they are tiny.
A pair of the 1 watt model which comes with batteries and charger is a little under $200.

Easy Rollins · Post by **Easy Rollins** » 15 November 04 1:04 am

Damo,

That's the trap I nearly fell into.$68 plus batteries 4@$20(rechargable) plus a charger($25).

68+20+25=$113.

Damo. · Post by **Damo.** » 15 November 04 6:13 am

Actually those ones take 3 AAA each. Yeah, you wouldn't get them if you wanted to run off rechargables. Go the pack. Ok if you use them very infrequently though. Disposables last a fair while.

Phlosten · Post by **Phlosten** » 15 November 04 6:13 pm

Maybe it might be easier investing in 2x Cans Of Heinz Baked Beans and a large ball of string.
<P>

<P>
It would be cheap, you would have a lunch, no need for batteries.

EcoTeam · Post by **EcoTeam** » 15 November 04 6:24 pm

The only low cost (<$100) "quality" radios are the Unidens.
They are very well made (from an electronics perspective) and they have good speech quality. The cheaper brands from DSE/Jaycar aren't nearly as good, and some are just complete crap.
The Uniden 039's have cornered tha low cost market at $58 at DSE, you simply can't beat them unless you absolutely need features like a wireless headset or more output power.

The 0.5W units are perfectly fine for most general uses, and car-car use.

Unless you use these things every day all day, don't use rechargables, a pain in the butt. Alkalines will gives you plenty of life.
The 3 x AA Alkalines in my Uniden UH041's have lasted over a year and a half and have been on at least half a dozen full day abseil trips plus general caching use.

Start with the $58 pair and see how you go. Even if you find you need to upgade you haven't wasted much.

EcoDave

alex · Post by **alex** » 16 November 04 10:18 pm

OK . I don't claim to have any great personal experience here but we now sell the basic handheld units offerred by Magellan Australia and GME and I haven't had any complaints about either yet.

The GME TX610 is a 1 watt unit with all the usual features, it includes a home charger and three rechargable AAAs with RRP of $102.00. You can get a 12 volt car charger for $22.00.

Magellan Australia (soon to be known as Next Destination Pty Ltd) offer the Oregon Scientific TP329 Twin Pack - two 1/2watt radios and dual home charger for $149.60 the set.

As always, Geocacher's discount applies.

Cheers
Alex

Hounddog · Post by **Hounddog** » 09 December 04 7:23 pm

What I have found with 500milliwatt radios is that they are virtually useless in a Hand Held to Hand Held situation. On flat uninterrupted ground, the absolute best we were ever able to achieve was about 1500 metres across a valley, given the right conditions, we could literally shout just as far and hear each other. In rugged hilly terrain they were often unable to reach more than a couple of hundred metres.

Using the units, Hand Held to mobile, does improve range quite a bit, but still only a range of 3 to 3.5 Kms is achieved at best, (often the hilly terrain range is still limited to well under 1km). So I don't know how they can claim a range 5 Kms. It's just not true.

Only 1watt (reasonable) - 5watt (fairly reliable) should be used for anyone serious about communication while Geocaching and Bushwalking. I personally would not rely on a radio with a power output of less than 5 watts. Certainly, radios with outputs any less than 1 watt, just don't cut the mustard. In all honesty, what else would you expect from a radio that costs less than the price of a kiddies Tonka toy.

EcoTeam · Post by **EcoTeam** » 10 December 04 7:54 am

Hounddog wrote:What I have found with 500milliwatt radios is that they are virtually useless in a Hand Held to Hand Held situation. On flat uninterrupted ground, the absolute best we were ever able to achieve was about 1500 metres across a valley, given the right conditions, we could literally shout just as far and hear each other. In rugged hilly terrain they were often unable to reach more than a couple of hundred metres.

Using the units, Hand Held to mobile, does improve range quite a bit, but still only a range of 3 to 3.5 Kms is achieved at best, (often the hilly terrain range is still limited to well under 1km). So I don't know how they can claim a range 5 Kms. It's just not true.

Only 1watt (reasonable) - 5watt (fairly reliable) should be used for anyone serious about communication while Geocaching and Bushwalking. I personally would not rely on a radio with a power output of less than 5 watts. Certainly, radios with outputs any less than 1 watt, just don't cut the mustard. In all honesty, what else would you expect from a radio that costs less than the price of a kiddies Tonka toy.

Whats wrong with a few hundred meters in hilly terrain? That's plenty for a lot of people.

We have no problems with our 500mW Unidens.
Either Car to Car or Person to Person, they do everything we need them to do for caching, bushwalking, abseiling and canyoning.
We don't need to get KM, just hundreds of meters, and the 500mW units are an excellent compromise between performance, size, and battery life.

Our units happily get from the top to the bottom of a 5 pitch abseil, and even deep into canyon slots were there is 100m of thick solid rock between you and the receiver.

They have limitations for sure, but they certainly aren't useless. If we want longer range them we often use someone in the middle as a repeater.

EcoDave

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 10 December 04 11:29 am

I'm planning to upgrade to a longer piece of string and bigger tin cans. :p

- Rog

Ebenezer · Post by **Ebenezer** » 10 December 04 11:41 am

I'm learning semaphore.