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Uhf For The Ute


Bullcat

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The unidens seem pretty good but the ones i have seen did sound a little quiet probably not all models but. I own a GME TRX4400 Pretty good in range and very clear. Also it has an extra 20 channels you can program in yourself to say, ambulance channels or police if you know their frequency only to listen in though you can't talk on those extra channels. Depends on what price range you are looking at It was a little dearer than most.

Edited by Sharpshooter
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Ive always had a Uniden radio can't say I have had any trouble with it .(Uh011) there a fairly old model with no scan.if your after the bells and whistles you will pay fairly big dollars.most radios today are 5 watt unless you get something commercial.but for what you need a couple of hundred bucks will get you a good radio.

Just as important is a good antenna with a selected Db for the terrain you will be useing it in.Hilly/mountains or flat country or a mixture. I use a GME electrophone in 9db it gives me good Receive and transmit in most country type. Darren

(ps check out Ebay there usually got some bargains)

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Guest zx9john

I've done heaps of work with HF, UHF and even HAM radio.

The biggest obstacle in a mobile environment is clean power and good earths.... before you buy any radio make sure you can...

1. Run power using at least 20AWG directly from the battery terminals (don't try to take 12V from the dash)

2. Earth the radio housing to the bodywork and use a multimeter to make sure it's 0 ohm's between the earth and the negative battery terminal

3. Earth the block of your motor to the body work - use braided line or high amp wire - there is lots of electrical noise generated by EFI, ignition and the alternator. Some cars are shocking for it, like VW's can be "heard" as electrical noise long before the exhaust sounds can be heard by the ear.

4. Earth the base/mount of the antenna and make sure the connection is 0 ohms like in 2.

Other tips,

1. Antenna placement will effect transmission direction! Most people don't realise that when they place the antenna up front on the roo bar they wind up squirting most of the RF energy out over the rear bumper. Dual antenna's help avoid this to some extent but they must be balanced for correct SWR levels. It's often better to mount the antenna on the boot or roof (roof racks are not good).

2. SWR is important - if you are going to spend $300 on a radio the last thing you want is an SWR over 1.5 - the finals will heat up and fail early. Find someone with a SWR meter and test your setup before using it too much. Tuning the SWR may involve trimming the antenna or using a coil

3. The gain of the antenna is more important than the output rating of the radio. i.e 3W radio and a 12dB antenna is much better than a 5W radio and a 9dB antenna

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