uniden uhf

[striga22]

hi guys i have recently brought a new uniden ufh and i cant get any distance the best i can get is about 10 meters i was wondering if any one eelse has this problem and i have used the squltch

[Linz]

not sure weather you mean ufh or uhf we just put some uhf's in our trucks you have to make sure the aerials are well earthed and that you dont run cables/aerials close to battery feeds etc any large current carrying wires really good luck

[T_Diesel]

Your ariel isn't earthed properly.

[midi73]

first problem is you bought a uniden lol. then the next problem is arial earth, or just shiet arial.

[striga22]

it was the same with 2 other uhf a slim uniden and a gme i have 2 brand new aerials a gme and a uniden, i was told the aerial does not need to be earthed? my aerial cables do run past my dual battery

[fester2au]

Is your co-ax correctly insulated and screwed into the plug. I have had a Uniden for a few years and it works fine. When I first swapped it from one car to another I had a similar issue and turned out a few of the inner core wires had slipped when I screwed the plug back on so they were shorted out. Didn't cause any damage and the radio appeared to work fine in every other respect except for range.

[crispy]

I'd put my money on the connector being shorted, check it with a mulimeter

[james0]

probly shorted at the pl259 plug at the back of your unit, remove the mast off the antenna, (some can read as a short) then test with a multi meter, just about all antenna's are ground independant these days, other wise you would require a ground plane to work,

[striga22]

thanks guys i'll check it out cheers

[Jaffa]

Here some instructions for you striga

[crozza]

If its a uniden...take it back..

They usually blow the mofsets inside. Its caused from jump starting youre car or shorting the unit during install...
Mine did the same thing..useless beyond 20 ft.
Recieves ok but wont transmit. Took it to uniden and the guy told me that this is a common problem with unidens.

Never bought another one again..nor did many others i know who owned them.

Good luck

[Jaffa]

What do you mean "shorting the unit" crozza? I have never seen or heard of anyone blowing the finals on any brand except for shorting the aerial connection or just old age.

The only problem that Unidens have (imo) is that they are generally a little down on output power (4.2-4.5Watts) compared to full 5Watts for GME or Icom.

[crozza]

My unit was 12mnths old..
When i took it to Uniden that is exactlly what the man said about them blowing up..I imagine its a surge of some sort that pops them.
He told me to fix it was a waste of time.
Im an engineer, electric /electronic / electromechanical... and have been for 25 yrs..when people tell me stuff about this and that and what causes this and that I know if there full of shit or not..
He wasnt full of shit, but he basically didnt want to fix it so i simply thought stuff em..could of fixed it myself but really needed a wiring diagram to check the internals...
Sold the unit for scrap on ebay..

Cheers

[Jaffa]

I dont want to start an argument over something so simple as this, but I find it hard to believe that someone from uniden basicly rubbished their own product.

I have accidentally connected UHF's to 24V and it does not blow the finals it blows the power supply. I could understand (sort of) the finals blowing if you were transmitting while jump starting and you got a large voltage spike.

You don't need a wiring diagram to replace the finals in a UHF, you need a $30 part and 15 minutes with a soldering iron and a screwdriver. Is is however, better to get a radio technician to do it so they can check/adjust the tuning too.

(all just my opinion)

[midi73]

What do you mean "shorting the unit" crozza? I have never seen or heard of anyone blowing the finals on any brand except for shorting the aerial connection or just old age.

The only problem that Unidens have (imo) is that they are generally a little down on output power (4.2-4.5Watts) compared to full 5Watts for GME or Icom.

I have driven trucks for years interstate and now work in the mining. I continually find uniden has poor transmit and recieve sound quality. Where I work now some of the machines have gme, and our tight arse company put uniden in the rest. They are absolutly shit. 90 percent of the trucks on the road use gme, and they stick with that for a reason.
I can nearly always tell when someone is trying to transmit on a uniden, because of the poor sound quality, plus they are really boomy.
I will NEVER buy a uniden incar uniden.
Having said that, to be fair, I have a hundred dollar 5watt uniden hand held and it has been a great little unit.
Sorry, bit off subject.
On subject, I have found once with my arial I could not get range because I only had my bullbar sitting on (at time of testing) and not bolted on, therefore not getting a good earth. as soon as earth was fixed problem solved. Does sound like this problem is a little more though.

[Jaffa]

What I wrote about the Unidens only problem is being down on power wasn't quite right, they are also less sensitive tan a GME or Icom (poorer reception) and the mics are pretty crap, the connections between radio and curly cord always break.

Midi, if you recon the GME shits on the Uniden you should check out a Icom unit, same difference again, Icom's are the ducks nuts.

[GeneralFubashi]

maybe its not that your aerial doesnt need to be earthed, its that it doesnt need a ground plane (as the ground plane is included as the base of the aerial). The actual aerial needs to still be bolted to something that is earthed properly. It is fairly difficult to get the aerial plug correct too if you havnt done it before. The plait sheath needs a proper connection to the plug without shorting against the inner wire. And a multimeter might not tell you much depending on the construction of the aerial (unless it has a pl259 plug directly screwing into its base).

I think just about everyone has heard the difference between uniden and GME/icom etc radios, but they should all get more than 10m with any good aerial. I have a nice kenwood now after many years of sawtrons and philips and am still amazed by the differences in on-air transmissions.

[striga22]

thanks for the diagram jaffa and thanks for the input boys

[midi73]

What I wrote about the Unidens only problem is being down on power wasn't quite right, they are also less sensitive tan a GME or Icom (poorer reception) and the mics are pretty crap, the connections between radio and curly cord always break.

Midi, if you recon the GME shits on the Uniden you should check out a Icom unit, same difference again, Icom's are the ducks nuts.

Sorry, I tried an Icom and I thought it was shiet, ALTHOUGH, it may have been the arial. Also it was an automatic squelch, which I hate. So I guess i am saying I did not find it better. Having said that, getting the equivalent radio would prob produce much better results, but they are nearly twice the price. But when all is said and done, they are both good radios

[striga22]

IT WORKS!!!!! thanks for your help guys i just had to follow the instruction that jaffa put up cheers