UHF, HF, RFDS, HAM

[thekingoffoxes]

Been on a few trips over the years, and noticed that theres alot of UHF vs AM radios going on. Personaly I've found HF to be a clear winner for long trips of 4x4ign, went up to Walhalla a few months ago, with UHF and AM, found that the UHF was not to good on the highway due to my mate having a not so good unit, so we swapped over to the HF and were suprised by the quality, when we got up into the hills the UHF was dead and we could only comunicate over the HF, so i'll be sure to have both AM and UHF in my truck from now on, (UHF incase of a need to talk to who ever else is out there)

[craz3d]

AM is great for long distance, with LSB etc. UHF is a must for emergencies and general road use though.. I do need to upgrade my units from handhelds and get actual antennas as you say though

[-Scott-]

Can we agree on a few terms?

HF is often used for the Codan / Barrett style of (higher powered) radio which is also often referred to as "RFDS" radio.

Reading the original post, and looking at the title of the thread and the poll, I suspect HF has been used to describe the old 27MHz (original) citizen band radio (available as both AM & LSB/USB).

For the purposes of this thread, can we use 27MHz / 27Meg for the old skool CB, and HF for the RFDS style radio (which still requires a license)?

[Patroler]

UHF for car to car, HF for emergency and long range (barrett 550) my HF radio also has 27MHz programmed (LSB AM USB) which could be useful for car to car if someone else has a 27MHz set and UHF is crowded.
You also have the option of linking the HF to the phone system to call and recieve phone calls - i don't have this, its an extra 100 a year on top of vks 100/year

[thekingoffoxes]

yeah, i should have made it more clear, i was going to refrence it as 10 meters, but not many people know that (AM/SSB)/27meg/HF/CB are all the same thing. I have been meaning to get my amature licence for a while now, and not being involved with RFDS i wasnt sure as to what else it was called.

[PBBIZ2]

Uhf for normal group comms, 27mhz am/usb/lsb, mostly redundant from earlier days, HF with VKS737/Radtel phone connect for remote area contact plus Thuraya Satellite/GSM phone, and Next G phone - yep, a bit anal about having contact in an emergency.

[mike_nofx]

I voted HAM.

By far the best tasting radio yet

[-Scott-]

not many people know that (AM/SSB)/27meg/HF/CB are all the same thing.

Because they're not.

CB stands for "Citizen's Band", which initially referred to the 27MHz bandwidth allocated for AM & SSB use, and later came to include the 477MHz bandwidth allocated to (FM) UHF use. These radios are limited (I believe) to 5 Watts transmission power.

What is commonly referred to as "HF" radios (in Australia, mainly Codan and Barrett) typically transmit AM or SSB (LSB only?) over the 3MHz to 30MHz range, which just happens to include the original 27MHz CB channels. These HF radios are programmed to operate only on the frequencies for which the owner is licensed (and the citizen's band frequencies). Other than the CB frequencies, these radios typically transmit 25W, and some can transmit significantly more.

Amateur (or "HAM" radios) require a license, after which operators have much more freedom with which to experiment, and can use much more power.

Yep. Another busy Saturday night for me!

[RN]

not many people know that (AM/SSB)/27meg/HF/CB are all the same thing.

Because they're not.

CB stands for "Citizen's Band", which initially referred to the 27MHz bandwidth allocated for AM & SSB use, and later came to include the 477MHz bandwidth allocated to (FM) UHF use. These radios are limited (I believe) to 5 Watts transmission power.

What is commonly referred to as "HF" radios (in Australia, mainly Codan and Barrett) typically transmit AM or SSB (LSB only?) over the 3MHz to 30MHz range, which just happens to include the original 27MHz CB channels. These HF radios are programmed to operate only on the frequencies for which the owner is licensed (and the citizen's band frequencies). Other than the CB frequencies, these radios typically transmit 25W, and some can transmit significantly more.

Amateur (or "HAM" radios) require a license, after which operators have much more freedom with which to experiment, and can use much more power.

Yep. Another busy Saturday night for me!

I have a Cobra 146 Gtl 27 meg am radio. Since mounting it in the garage and placing the standard arial on the roof I am tuning into conversations from as far a New Zealand and Queensland. The signal comes in quite stong depending on the skip.

Although not as clear as the UHF, there are less dickheads on this system.

I can't transmit very far but I can listen in.