Handheld UHF Radio for Road Trips

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  abb on 17/10/2017 - 14:54

  Uniden generally make good gear, but anything at this low end of the price range is going to be cheaply made…

  The UH515 has twice the power of the UH35, $79 a pair from JB. Downside is a non-standard (probably non-replaceable?) rechargeable battery (UH35 has AAAs)

  It would also be great if we can use it to contact the little one when we go camping.

  What do you mean by this? Is your kid wandering around in the bush 1km away, in the next town 25km from camp, or on the other side of the country?

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    trev likes bargains on 17/10/2017 - 15:19

    Thanks abb. I mean something that is not too big to carry around. So kid wandering around just out of sight 😁

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  toristo on 17/10/2017 - 14:55

  How many cars in the convoy? How far apart? What kind of terrain are you travelling through?

  The handhelds might be fine with the kids but next to useless in the car while travelling a couple of KM apart. You won't get anything genuine, new for $100 a pair that will give you a decent mobile experience. To be blunt - are you going to be out of mobile signal while driving? You probably don't need them for a lot of roads.

  If you do, spend the $100 and hire some better quality ones (possibly HF if you're heading way west) and decide if they still add value then buy.

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    trev likes bargains on 17/10/2017 - 15:20

    Trips between ADL and MEL. Also whe. We take people around within ADL.

    Often 2 cars in total.

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  TheBilly on 17/10/2017 - 15:15

  I recently purchased GME 2 watt hand helds - awesome ! I posted the deal also but they sold out. If you can search for it you will find more info on model. In built up residential areas I get about 3-4km range.

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    trev likes bargains on 17/10/2017 - 18:00

    Thanks. I will look around

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  bobbified on 17/10/2017 - 16:07

  +1

  You won't get much distance between the radios in a car without external antennae.
  The car is like a metal box that blocks the radio waves. One car behind another in city driving is fine, but it's different on the highway where the space between cars is usually much larger.

  The UH35-x will be fine around the family camp sites - just bring plenty of batteries if the kids decide to play hide & seek.

  A few years ago, I bought a bunch of these to hand out to people whenever we went on snow trips. They were treated as "disposable". That is, I didn't care if anyone lost it. They are very handy, except when people were on the other side of the mountains (which is expected). Good thing is, they were also more compatible with my other high-powered units.

  (You can also get cheap chinese units off eBay for real cheap, but keep in mind they are generally not legal here).

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  Krazyy on 17/10/2017 - 16:16

  How do you know if an item is two-way communication or just one-way? As in, you can both talk at the same time?

  • 

    wombat81 on 17/10/2017 - 16:40

    UHF is one way technology.

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    bobbified on 17/10/2017 - 17:05

    As in, you can both talk at the same time?

    Two way just means you can talk back and forth - it's got the ability to receive and transmit - but not necessarily at the same time.

    What you're referring to are the simplex and duplex modes:
    Simplex means that one can talk at a time - either receive or transmit only (which is what these two way radios being referred to in this post are);
    Duplex means two people can talk at the same time and still hear each other - receive and transmit at the same time (like a mobile phone).

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  wombat81 on 17/10/2017 - 16:39

  My advice is get 1watt or higher power. 0.5w gets out of range quickly. Go with a known brand and you can't go too wrong. I have a pair of Motorola 1w T5509s and they do the job. They take AA batteries. Uniden or Oricom should do something similar.

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  Shadowsfury on 17/10/2017 - 17:54

  I did this before on my last road trip - pretty useful actually and when travelling as a "convoy" you won't be too far away from each other most of the time. Can't remember model number but its GME brand too - comes as twin packs and singles. Rechargeable via USB like a phone so its always topped up while in the car.

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  [Deactivated] on 17/10/2017 - 18:50

  With unlimited talk on most mobile plans just call them once and leave your phone on speaker. Avoids creepy truckies or grey nomads listening in also.

  Source:I see a heap of stickers on Caravans where John and Joan are monitoring channel 69 on UHF

  • 

    wombat81 on 17/10/2017 - 18:54

    +3

    The whole point of UHF is that it works where mobiles don't. If you stay off channel 40 you won't have to worry about truckies. With 80 channels these days, if someone else is on your channel, just change to another one. It's honestly never an issue.

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    bobbified on 17/10/2017 - 20:04

    +1

    I see a heap of stickers on Caravans where John and Joan are monitoring channel 69 on UHF

    Paranoid much? haha! It's actually to allow fellow motorists like truckies to contact them on the highway for whatever reason.

    • 

      wombat81 on 17/10/2017 - 20:19

      +2

      Yeah, this. Random people honestly aren't interested in listening to your random conversations. In fact people will switch to a different channel to avoid your annoying chatter. No offence, but what you're talking about will be really annoying for anyone outside of your convoy.

      Another thing a UHF is handy for its contacting the truck in front of you (on channel 40) when you want to overtake them. Most truckies will happily help you around them if you are polite. This is especially important in the outback or somewhere like Cape York when you're trying to get past a road train.

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    trev likes bargains on 17/10/2017 - 20:06

    +1

    Good idea @TightBottom. Unfortunately, this wouldn't work for me.

    When we go camping, there is often no cellphone reception. In the areas where there is reception, I wouldn't want to let the people in the other car hear everything that we say. So that is not an option for me.

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  FoxJump on 05/11/2017 - 11:08

  I have a 5w handheld one. It's over your price range.
  However, i'd like to provide an indication of what range I get with them.

  I was able to detect my friend as we approached the campsite 10km away. (I couldn't understand what he was saying, it was very broken up, mostly squelching)
  From 7km away I was able to talk normally.

  Mine was handheld at 5w in a moving car.
  His was wired-into his 4wd, also 5w, with an antenna on the outside.

  I used to have the half-watt ones, they were hard to understand, batteries ran dry quickly, and my useful range form car to car was only a few hundred meters. Basically, the car in front, maybe the one in front of that one. Maybe I had a dodgy set.

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    trev likes bargains on 05/11/2017 - 17:34

    Thanks. I ended up getting a pair of 1.5W Uniden units. I have only used them to speak with road works people in a very rural area. It will get used more before the end of the year.