UHF Advice Needed

[PradoPower Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoPower]

I am ready to purchase a uhf for my 90 Series but before I spend my dollars I was hoping some of you could recommend or give some tips on a good set up to buy for around $500 installed.
Any help would be great.
Thanks

[winniliss Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close winniliss]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Radio brands I would be looking at GME, Uniden or Icom.

Antenna, you need to look at what terrain you be driving over. Use higher gain antenna i.e. 6.5db and above for flat terrain and for hilly terrain i.e. Victoria Alps use 4.5db or less.

Do a net search on this to get more technical advice on where to install the antenna and why. Picture is a 1000 words.

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

I've been very happy with my GME TX3200 for a couple of years now. There'll be new models by now.
Bought it from Prestige Communications in Perth. http://www.prestigecom.net.au/index....ndex&cPath=375 fast service and answered any questions I had.

I've just moved my aerial from the passenger side of the bonnet to the spottie holes of the nudge bar so i'll see today if there's any change in performance due to the aerial location.

[PradoPower Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoPower]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Ok, I did a bit of shopping around this morning and found this model GME TX3100 UHF RADIO + AE4012K1 6.6DBi ANTENNA PROMO for $290 brand new.
Does anybody have any feedback about this model?
I am correct in saying this is a good price for what they are offering?
Any advice would be great.
Thanks

[Taresk Member Find all posts View Profile Close Taresk]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

I've had an ICOM IC400 pro for about ten years now, had it in my 4Runner before the Prado, it's never let me down (although I occasionally forget how to operate the extra functions if I haven't used it in a while), It had an ICOM antenna on the 'Runner, but a GME whip on the Prado (6db) seems to work well in the terrain around here. I think I paid around $450 for the unit, and $70 for the antenna.

[RogueAussie Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RogueAussie]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Not wanting to highjack the thread but inline with what PradoPower is asking ... What is an 'average' price to pay for 'professional' installation. I know it's something I can do myself given time but hey, if something goes wrong it's easier to blame someone else and have them pay to fix it :P

[PradoPower Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close PradoPower]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Not wanting to highjack the thread but inline with what PradoPower is asking ... What is an 'average' price to pay for 'professional' installation. I know it's something I can do myself given time but hey, if something goes wrong it's easier to blame someone else and have them pay to fix it :P

Good question...I ment to ask that as well.
If some knows a rough instal cost that would be great to.
Thanks

[xlr8_87 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close xlr8_87]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

I've got the TX4400 with a decent aerial which cost me around $450 for both, but installed it myself.

Realistically I reckon they'd charge you the same amount as a head unit to wire up, so you'd be looking at between $100-$150.

Also I'd checkout prestigecom.net.au as mentioned above, that's where I got mine from and the prices were better than anywhere else I could find at the time

[Melbo Member Find all posts View Profile Close Melbo]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Hi Gurus,
Looking for some advice regarding getting a UHF. Is there any specific mandatory requirements regarding using handheld devices vs installed devices? I am looking at two uniden units, one is a handheld and other is the fixed one. I would appreciate if you could put your opinions for the same. I am looking at the below two models and couldnot find much difference in the way they operate and due to the ease of use and installation i am leaning towards the handheld :?

http://www.uniden.com.au/australia/p_uh ... _index.asp ( handheld)
vs
http://www.uniden.com.au/australia/p_uh015sx_index.asp (fixed)

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks,
Melbo

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Hey Melbo,
I'm very happy with my install (check my build up), but the 120's don't have the same oem-designed speaker placement as my 90.
You might wanna post in the 120 or 150 series (?) area for tips that are better suited to your vehicle.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

hey melbo i recently bought a little handheld gme tx 6100 for these reasons. i don't want or need long range coms anymore i used to use them to pick up radar units when time was money , these days its almost impossible to even achieve the regulation speed limit . i dont want to listen to some d#*khead 20ks away swearing his head off because his IQ is lower than the amount of channels he has.. if im not travelling in close convoy then i won't hear anything over the stereo anyway . with a handheld theres no installation so no holes cut anywhere . i couldn't find anything of an appropriate size that didn't mean cutting , drilling or wiring , or the speaker facing the floor , console or passenger without an external speaker . i dont want gadgets and cables all over the dash or windscreen . if ineed to get out of the car it comes with me and clips to my shirt or belt and if i want to look like a tool , i attach the external mic . its 5 watts , the same power as an in car unit and you can get an external aerial kit for it . it has almost all the same features as the others , if you need more then you should get a sat phone or an hf radio for when you need to contact the space shuttle on final approach . it cost $300 i opened the packet and it installed itself. oh yeah and for optically challenged people like myself you can pick it up to see what your doing with it rather than having to put your specs on and lean down to change something or god forbid trying to explain to the missus how to operate it . :lol: just my opinion i seem to have a lot of them :roll:

[Melbo Member Find all posts View Profile Close Melbo]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

Hi glen_ep / kav,
Thanks for the info and appreciate your response and advice.

Thanks,
Melbo

[Uteracer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Uteracer]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

PradoPower, I've been using Icom product for about 20yrs and I'd reccommend the IC-400Pro as well. They're essentially a commercial spec rig (with robust RX front-end and usually set for 25w) slowed down for UHF-CB purposes. I've got a few of these and they're comparable to Icom's F-2010 UHF commercial rigs of similar technology. The only criticism I have is the coiled lead on the supplied mic these days is a bit stiff, but becomes more flexible over time. And like a few other UHF-CB rigs these days, you can program in a few RX-only frequencies in there as well. I think Icom quotes the freq range of about 450 - 520MHz but the PLL will still lock-up down as far as 432MHz depending on the batch, so ideal for Amateur Radio (or Ham radio) 70cm repeater use as well.

As for an antenna, I strongly reccommend the Polar 317GC elevated feed UHF antenna which I think is rated at about 4.5dBi, have a usable bandwidth of about 20MHz but there is also a broadband version which has a bandwidth of about 40 or 50 MHz, as used by VicPol MMR & conventional. I've had a few Polar 317GC's for over 18yrs and just keep re-using them everytime I change vehicles - they're easy to re-wire as well. And you can also just put a 1/4 wave unity gain antenna on them as well for a lower clearance height or for hilly country.

For antenna selection, the higher the effective gain of the antenna, the narrower the radiation angle will be. So, for hilly country, bang on a 1/4 wave but for flat open country, put a high gain antenna on.

One more thing, your DC supply is important. Don't run the radio via the ignition key or similar. Run the supplied power cable direct back to the battery to reduce your losses or voltage drop. Another tip, run the -ve (or black wire) back to where the battery -ve is first connected to the vehicle chassis - this will avoid your vehicle electrics using your radio (possibly via the antenna coax braid) as the -ve or earth path if the -ve strap fails, which will then toast your rig! Many transcievers are very sensitive to anything less than 13.8v at the radio. The applied tx power will significantly drop if the supply is less than about 13vDC. One of my rigs, an IC-706IIG (amateur radio rig) is especially sensitive to anything below 11.8v in that it goes crazy and will sometimes shutdown.

Sorry I've dragged on a bit, but I hope the above info is of some help in your decision making.

Cheers, UR.

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

One thing to be aware of with your aerial mounting is if you have airbags, & therefore a airbag compatable bullbar you will break most aerials if you mount them on the bullbar then drive some of our "smooth" outback highways ( & Cape York roads as well).

The corrogations set up a nice harmonics in the Airbag compatable bullbar which gets the aerial dancing nicely ... for a while and suddenly you have a "new" stubby aerial. I tried several different brands and models including the "this one will handle anything brand/model" but after breaking my last one in Cape York I moved the mount to the front guard and haven't had an issue since.
Although it does got a flogging from bushes etc mounted on the guard.

If your not doing any touring on our corrogated roads its not an issue.

Lee

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: UHF Advice Needed

The Polar antenna mentioned by Wik above will last on a bullbar - they are made pretty strong.
I use one too, but not with a long whip. Only a 1/4 wave as it does not bounce around as much.
You won't notice too much difference for vehicle to vehicle work if you use an elevated feed antenna with just a 1/4 wave short whip.