Keeping in communication

The mobile phone makes keeping in touch simple where reception is available, but away in remote areas communication is not so simple. In some remote areas of the country and coast it's simply not possible to stay in touch with your mates via mobile phone.

I've never had a road radio until last year when I purchased a Uniden UH500SX 40 channel UHF CB radio. It is not to be confused with purpose CB radios, which are another step up. The later type of radio has limited range and is popular when travelling in trucks, or working around the farm.

The range is generally limited to seven kilometers in line sight and sometimes less in hilly areas.

I fitted this new radio to my old Toyota Landcruiser before heading to the tip of the Cape York in company with my neighbours and good friends, Neale and Margaret Ellis.

A full range of fitting instruction and accessories is included. In my case I had to fit the unit alongside the passenger firewall as dash fitting is not possible in a 100S LandCruiser.

My Uniden radio cost under $300 including the CD900 Series aerial, which I fitted to the bulbar for the best performance. The unit has a frontline speaker, though an optinal remote LCD speaker microphone is available, as well as a VOIX headset if you talk rubbish a lot and annoy the hell out of everyone.

Mobile/E-DIN in size, the unit is designed and made in Japan, has a two year warranty and is built for the rugged use encountered in the Australian outback.

The 40 channels are programmable with a maximum five Watt TX output power. The speaker is mounted at the front of the unit, which gives good clarity white the screen and LCD panel is blacklit for easy viewing in poor light and mounting position, with a three level dimmer function.

An RF level bar indicator views the radio's frequency level strength, and one touch recalling makes switching to your favourite channel and back. With the touch of one microphone button simple. Open scans makes it possible to scan and lock onto all active channels. The unit also has Group scan with priority channels watch, which allows me to monitor/listen to others in a group, while dual watch allows monitoring of the priority channel for activity every two seconds while monitoring another UHF channel at the same time.

And here's the best bit. The range extender allows operation via a local UHF repeater station (if available) up to 30-100km increase range. The busy channel lockouts shuts your transmission down if activity is detected, while an audible beep confirms the completion of your transmission. A call-tome function enables you to choose five wake-up tones to initiate your transmission with the touch of a microphone button, while the interference eliminator blocks out unwanter or nuisance conversations. This is backed by the digital code squelcher that can select 104 alternate digital codes sent with your transmission and is compatible with other receivers, enabling them to receive or block out unwanter conversations.

Added additions include vox hands free capability with a voice activated circuity and optional and optional speaker handset microphone. The remote LCD speaker microphone. The remote LCD speaker microphone has full backlit display. The rear MIC jack, a secondary jack enables discrete connection of the standard or remote LCD speaker microphone. It can be extended with a two metre extension kit.

Guidelines and Conduct:

There are rules and regulations that control conduct on radios, though with the language that comes over the air it is largely unenforceable. Channels 5 and 35 are used for emergency channels and CTCSS and DCS will not operate on them. Channel 11 is a calling channel, while channels 22 and 23 are for telemetry and tele-command use and TX is prohibited on them. General communication is accepted on all other channels with these guidelines: channel 40 is the recognized road channel and widely used by truckies and road construction workers. It makes good sense to switch to channel 40 when driving on roads used by haul trucks and road trains, and in areas where road works are in progress. If are familiar with truck jargon you will know where the boys in blue have radar traps on the highway, the reason that only one truckie is generally booked because the word spreads quickly on CH40.

In some areas you are advised bu signs to switch to channel 40 so that you can monitor the progress and road conditions ahead. Channels 01-08 (and 31-18) are repeater channels.

In use we select a channel of choice so that we can communicate between the others in the group. One of our fishing convoys to the Cape had nine vehicles and there was busy chatter on the airwaves as we travelled to and from our destination, the bloke at the rear had a flat, so a couple turned back to him as the other pressed on. Thus while the convoy was split the radio told all and Sunday where everyone was. It's a good system and keeps convoys from one ro more vehicles in touch with others.

Road radios are available from most auto electrical dealers and range in prices from $200 to $600, including aerials. It is advisable to have them fitted by the supplier, or a qualified person, though it you understand auto electrics it is a relatively simple task to install a UHF CB radio yourself.