Thread: UHF VHF Radio 50Watt

Originally Posted by nice1guv

Naivety showing here, but why is the unit illegal?

Are you only allowed up to a certain power?

They're not illegal - using them without an operator license or on unlicensed frequencies is.

CB is limited to 5w, and the radio itself must be approved for use with CB - Amateur sets aren't, and aren't likely to be as part of the requirement is CB radios can't be made to operate out of those limited frequencies.

Oh, and this unit doesn't go high enough in the UHF range to do CB frequencies anyway.

Jeff (VK6VTP)

Originally Posted by Sleepy

Hi alexturner,
Why not sit for the new amateur license , it’s pretty easy and you can use it legally (although still only 5W on CB Bands.)

The reason why we hams get a little defensive is that with a unit like you mention you can very easily cause interference which we get blamed for.
"It must be that guy down the road with all those antennas".

And offcourse power is not linear, so 50 watts does not mean you get 10 times further. And if you did you can’t hear the other guy because he's only got 5 watts.

My advice is get the biggest gain antenna you can afford/fit and a 5watt radio will operate beautifully.

Also check out The Wireless Institute of Australia

Ham radio is fun but we get a little defensive of those abusing our hard fought privilege.




Paul

VK3GPS

I'm studying to get my Ham license at the moment - It's certainly on my list of things to do :P