UHF installation

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Just wondering where everyone has their UHF? Im hoping to get one from a bloke i know, 2nd hand, but am not sure where to put it. There is a slot right down the bottom, in line with the gear sticks, sort of. I have the toyota tape player/radio and single cd player so dont have a spot there, and would like to keep them really. Any other possibilities?

cheers

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

slug
I have my uhf mounted under a single DIN stereo, and a 27Mhz radio in the lower pocket at gear stick level. I basicly cut the pocket out and used the seperated front of the pocket as a soround and to hold the radio in, let me nkow if you want a photo.

[prado4x4 Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado4x4]

Re: UHF installation

Just wondering where everyone has their UHF? Im hoping to get one from a bloke i know, 2nd hand, but am not sure where to put it. There is a slot right down the bottom, in line with the gear sticks, sort of. I have the toyota tape player/radio and single cd player so dont have a spot there, and would like to keep them really. Any other possibilities?

cheers

Slug,

It all depends on what UHF you're looking at. The small GME UHF's like the 3200 do fit in the "slot right down the bottom, in line with gear sticks, sort of" that you mentioned. A regular 1/2 din size UHF won't fit there though.

Do you know what make/model the UHF is that you're looking at installing.

John

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Thanks guys.
Im having a look tomorrow so will let you know. They are a few years old so wont be the detachable face or particularly small i assume.

Also, what are the recommended aerials? Some say the wire ones with, a twist in the middle, others the thick white or black ones. Id like something mid range, power and price wise. Am i right in saying the thicker ones are fibreglass and can snap if hit with a branch or something? But are they more powerful then the wire type?

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

Hi Slug,

I got my GME TX3200 last year and I have put it where you are looking at although I cut away the back section so it fitted a bit better.
I have screwed the mic to the left of the steering wheel just to the left of the tank selection switch.

( I plan on having this 90 till it's got about 300,000 klms on it so I'm not too worried about screw holes and selling)

I'll take a couple of pics if I get a chance in the next few days.

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

Also, what are the recommended aerials?

The RF Industries CD900is an awesome antenna system, they are used by a lot of commercial users (mines and stuff) and they have great performance.

They are available from Prestige Communications for $90 including freight.

Hope this helps,

Drew.

[prado4x4 Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado4x4]

I can agree with Drew on the RFI Cd900 aerial. I've got mine hooked up to a GME 3200 (located down in the low recess/slot mentioned - and yes snagga you're right, I did cut the back out from memory, it was done so long ago).

Often when leading groups of vehicles spread out over quite a distance on a dirt road (to avoid the dust), I can pickup messages from guys at the back, that others in the middle of the group can't hear. Plus it seems very flexible. I've had it bent down flat over the bonnet going through dense scrub, and it's never looked like breaking.

Hope it helps.

[lc120_man Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lc120_man]

Also, what are the recommended aerials?

Depends where are you going to use it.. If it is for hilly terrain like high Country 3db Polar antenna would be the pic... if it is for open places - something like Drew suggested should be OK :wink:

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Well i picked it up last night, its from a bloke in the club, and isnt, well, new, but i knew that when i went to have a look. Its a GME, old enough to still have twisting knobs instead of all buttons but it does have scan etc. For the price im pretty happy with it anyway. So now im back to square one, its too big to fit in the slot down low so i might just get it bolted into the passenger side footwell.

One of the auto elecs in town has the RFI antenna and also compared a GME one to it so will go have a look at lunch, he said they were very similar.

Will keep you posted.

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

also, watch out if you have a wire ariel on an elavated feed like the RFI ones and drive a deisel, the wire ariel will snap off about 1-2mm above the nut from vibration. I had a wire ariel on a petrol cruiser for 3 years, then i moved it onto the deisel prado and lost 3 in 12 months, so I upgraded to a big black stick type from Lake Maquarie comms.

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Well its being fitted as we speak! I saw in a brochure while i was there at lunch a diagram which explains the range of the varying dB levels, that made it much easier to understand, i originally assumed the more dB the better, bigger is better isnt it? :lol:

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

Apparently not - that's what I used to think.

The higher dB level flattens the shape of the waveform.

So in hilly or undulating country, the higher dB makes consistent reception more difficult. Whereas it extends the range in flat country.

Diagramatically, it's much easier to comprehend.

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

Hi guys

GME has a great little blurb on this HERE.

Basically - the higher the db number - the longer and flatter the recption umbrella = great for the long, flat open road.
The lower the db number - the shorter but higher the reception umbrella = great for hilly terrain.

You can either carry a couple of different whips for different terrain or go with a mid range unit - that doesn't excel at great distance or great reception in hills but does it all reasonably well = a good compromise.





All the answers are on the net :lol:

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Chippy

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

Nice work, Chippy.

Bugger surfing the net, come to Pradopoint!!

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

ITS IN!!! ITS IN!!!

Yeah, sorry thats what i was saying, after seeing the diagram, similar to the one above, it all made sense! The GME one they had was 4.5 dB, i thought maybe a good compromise between the others which all seemed to be 3 or 6. Went the 6 and will hope for the best.

When i got home last night i sat there listening to conversations. Theres plenty as Horsham is on the main highway from Melbourne to Adelaide so plenty of trucks. Thanks for ther help guys, it will make my first club trip this weekend easier than with the old handheld!

I do have one more question though, why do some people have two aerials? I know some are the HF ones but these are on everyday vehicales around town? Could they in some way have say a 3 and a 6 dB aerial??

sLuG