GME UHF frequency upgrades

[Don 130]

I spoke to a bloke from GME today about the possibility of upgrading my TX 3440 when the time comes. He told me these things;
The new rules probably won't be released to the industry/public until about early Feb next year, so till then nobody is certain of anything.
They intend to be able to upgrade the majority of vehicle fitted sets except some early 4400 units.
They will probably do upgrades only for the first year of the new system because they'll have to order all the chips for all the upgrades in advance.
The units will be best upgraded by returning them to GME as they have the technology to assemble the various components correctly. Turnaround is expected to be two or three days
I've been invited to contact him again in the new year when things are certain, so I'll add to this then. Don.

[boobook]

Interesting nod, I called GME 2 weeks ago and after speaking to a few people who said they didn't know the situation, I got on to to a service guy who said that anything manufactured before about Mid November 2010 had a chipset that only does 25Khz ( 40 channels) and all production units made after then would be 80 channels capable, but would ship with 40 channels till end of Jan. ACMA pushed back 80 channels from Jan 1 to end of Jan to help manufacturers clear stock over xmas.

He said it was not technically possible to upgrade units made before November, but I got the impression that GME just didn't want to do it because they would rather sell new ones.

It will be interesting to see what really happens.

[miky]

Not true. Mine is MUCH earlier than November.

Nowadays, it's all done via software not hardware.

.

[Disco44]

What about Icoms ? How will they fare? Mine is a 440 ( I think) It;s too late and wet to go down and check.

[miky]

What about Icoms ? How will they fare? Mine is a 440 ( I think) It;s too late and wet to go down and check.

The 440 software that I have allows current 40 channels and you cannot change the settings.
BUT... you can enter any frequencies you like and set them "wide" or "narrow". The catch is that they are receive only. To me, it only needs a software upgrade (to the programming software) to allow TX on any frequencies.
The 440 allows for 128 channels.


The 400 Pro has no such restrictions and of course it is a 25W unit.

.

[Disco44]

[QUOTE=miky;1395565]The 440 software that I have allows current 40 channels and you cannot change the settings.
BUT... you can enter any frequencies you like and set them "wide" or "narrow". The catch is that they are receive only. To me, it only needs a software upgrade (to the programming software) to allow TX on any frequencies.
The 440 allows for 128 channels.


The 400 Pro has no such restrictions and of course it is a 25W unit.

I've checked mine and it is a 400 pro that means it will be OK but does it need a software upgrade to access all the channels?
Thanks

[KarlB]

It is my understanding that the ICOM IC-400PRO only uses 25 watt power output for licenced commercial frequencies (ACMA licensed users only). The Citizen Band frequencies power output is only 5 watts.

Cheers
KarlB
:)

[incisor]

you can set an icom 400 pro to 1watt 5 watt and 25watt on any of the available frequencies the unit supports

whether you can do so and then legally use it, is an entirely different issue.

[miky]

Oh dear... me not being specific enough again :(

Any radio on uhf cb must only be used at 5W maximum.

The advantage of the Icom 400 Pro is that it can be used on cb (5W) and also on commercial or amateur frequencies at 25W (more actually if you tweak it).

The radio is programmed via a software programme, so you connect the radio to a computer running the software and away you go.

The gme 38xx series can also be programmed to 25W.
I have the gme 3840 which has a remote control head. I run 25W commercial and 5W cb.