the best uhf cb radio?

[ramblingboy42]

, No I'm not telling you which is the best, I'm asking.... has there been shootout to confirm/deny which brand is the better all round cb. I have been told quite emphatically by radio techs that Tait are making the best. I have never seen one in any vehicle I've met up with all over the country.. does anyone REALLY know if there is a clear winner

[Homestar]

I have a GME in one car and a Uniden in the other. Both are very good, robust units that seem to transmit and receive about the same - should be expected though, I have identical aerials on each. I have an additional low gain antenna I can plug into the GME which I have found useful at times when in the bush and it is hilly.

The Uniden is in the L322 and is a UH7760NB as all the controls are on the hand piece and there was no room to mount a traditional unit. It is an 80 channel unit. The GME is an older 40 channel that I bought second hand from a mate. That is fitted in the RRC.

I couldn't recommend one over the other - very happy with both units.

Don't know much about the Tait units apart from that they seem to be more expensive - does this make them better? No idea...

Cheers - Gav

[THE BOOGER]

I have a tait in 1 car at the moment not a cb though prob 20 years old and going strong but we are upgrading all radios (cb and work) to icom 400 pro no problems with them and we can programme them ourselves:)

[Bushie]

I've just replaced my old GME with an Icom IC400pro 80ch set. We've been using the 40 ch ones (about 60 units) at work for around 10 years without a single failure.

We also use a lot of Tait TM9154 as well as Simoco SRM9022 (UHF and VHF) but I'd say you are in a totally different price bracket with them.


Martyn

[numpty]

Not sure that there really is a best.

I've just sourced a GME TX3500 (80 channel) through BCF for $199, to replace my older GME 40 channel. Have never had a problem with the old one either.

We currently have Tait UHF's fitted to all of our vehicles Aus wide and Icom VHF's. Same brands in portables as well and rarely have any problems.

[Grappler]

Picked up a slightly used GME TX3100 at cashies.
Although it only cost $80 I was disappointed when I powered it up and it only had 40 ch. Then I discovered the user upgrade to full 80ch.:D

[Tombie]

Tait>Icom/GME>Uniden

[BMKal]

Have used Tait quite a lot in minesite vehicles. They're not a bad unit, but nothing about them stands out as being any better than the others.

I have both GME and Uniden - both seem to do the job exactly the same - but in the models with the controls in the handpiece, I'd take the Uniden any day of the week. The GME handpiece is crap by comparison.

[ramblingboy42]

just found out our work vehicles have tait digital uhf radios, which appear to be good, but doesn't really help my choosing as I can't play with it or program it...

[joel0407]

Check out the Icom IC F6021.

That's what I'll be getting, when I can afford it.

Happy Days

[Tombie]

Here's a logic - they all work good enough for purpose.

And expensive radio is no better for you than a cheap unit that works well and is reliable.

I have a GME commercial unit, but only because the price was unbeatable!

We also have a Uniden and 2 other cheaper GME units and they are all working great.

You won't notice the performance difference of a $200 Uniden vs a $700 commercial unit in normal use.

[joel0407]

Thing is the commercial Icom is cheaper than the joey bloggs unit. And it can be programed to 45w rather than the standard 5w.

I know the legal limit is 5w but I doubt you would get charged if you only only used that full strength in an emergency situation.

Also if you use over the 5w just to have enough power to communicate with a mate in the bush, it's not likely there is going to be anyone else around to complain about how much power your transmitting with in the bush where your just there with your mates any way. On top of that there are 80 channels to play with.

I would not recommend 45w on the hwy though. It could be easy to upset people there and also more likely to get picked up for it.

As far as I am aware, you can program different power levels for different channels with the Icom. I know I never use repeater channels. You could just program the repeater channels to be 45w for emergencies and alll the rest at 5w.

45w radio will kick butt over your 5w store bought radio.

Happy Days

[Tombie]

No point shouting if you can't hear the reply!

[weeds]

No point shouting if you can't hear the reply!

but somebody might hear your distress call where you include your location......and might be in a position to help;);)

we have a 20W base station but we all only carry 5Wers i think, i can recall a few times the guys at the other end worked out the message even though they couldn't reply

[weeds]

sorry.....we have around 30 Tait TP8100's onsite, these are handheld units.......they are 16ch units with our own freqs programmed into them

[RangieBit]

No point shouting if you can't hear the reply!

And that is one of the noticeable but less obvious differences between the consumer and commercial units in some cases.

If the unit is capable of shouting it is often capable of hearing a whispered reply. Have a look at the sensitivity (and selectivity) stats between the two types and you might notice some differences in the numbers.

Of course in the real everyday world, for perhaps convoy work, you'll never notice. In an emergency situation it might just make a difference. Enough to justify one versus the t'other? Not for me to decide.

Them's my observations.

Cheers,
Iain

[DoctorJ]

I don't have the expertise or know how to dictate whether one particular unit is better than the other however the choice was pretty simple for me to decide which one was going into my vehicle and that is I wanted an Australian company built here in Australia so i went for GME

Cheers
Julian

[lokka]

And that is one of the noticeable but less obvious differences between the consumer and commercial units in some cases.

If the unit is capable of shouting it is often capable of hearing a whispered reply. Have a look at the sensitivity (and selectivity) stats between the two types and you might notice some differences in the numbers.

Of course in the real everyday world, for perhaps convoy work, you'll never notice. In an emergency situation it might just make a difference. Enough to justify one versus the t'other? Not for me to decide.

Them's my observations.

Cheers,
Iain

This is the truth i have been in the radio scene for many years and with UHF the comercial units far outperform the store brought jobies in both transmit and receive
I have had phillips FM900's and PRM80's and on receive alone they would outperform any of the gme or uniden stuff that mates had and we all use to run the same type of antenna as for transmit i could be heard crystal clear in the car to a mate on a hill with a base radio running a 9db stick and a uniden his advantage was hight and were he could hear me on both UHF and 27MHZ i could only get him on the 27MHZ we had many experiments with running the FM 900 in car and the PRM80 at base on hill with both running 25W out we could talk some verry long ranges even more so if i parked up on a nice hill like MT Berrico near Glouster NSW i could talk back to my mate in newcastle like i was in his street distance in a straight line with very little obstruction was about 100K

With all the playing around years ago with UHF and 27mhz stuff i found that bang for buck ICOM wins hands down in both the UHF and HF/VHF department I had a 400 pro and it was set at 3 power levels 5,15 and 25 watts was a good unit its still running today and is about 10 years old i upgraded a few years back with ICOM F221's was before the 80chan UHF was approved tho i programed the freqs in anyways tho never used them and hardly have now for that matter .
I like the 221 because of the extra channels which i use for receive only and having the ability of 45watts output and sell call and scrambled transmit between my 2 radios .

Tho all in all there probably is no best UHF but there is lots of choice and as the old saying goes you get what you pay for and as for advice on what to buy you can take in what has been posted here by others and my self and make your own decision as its you that you have to please and forum based advice can be taken in as food for thought and everybody has their own opinion im just stating facts that i had tested and found what worked best for my needs

Best of luck and 73's :D