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I have a 1999 Mazda bravo turbo diesel extra cab tay back and my Cb radio has died so I am in the market for a new one. I am not very familiar with CB radio's and scanner etc.
But these are the units I am tossing up between:
-Uniden UBCT8 Desktop Scanner $385
-GME Electrophone TX3200 Compact UHF/CB $299
-Uniden UH089 Compact UHF/CB $269
- Uniden UHO155Y Remote Head UHF CB radio with Police Scanner $375
Can anyone tell me whether these radios are good and if I can get them cheaper anywhere else??
Any help would be appreciated also tell me which one people would buy for reliabilty/price and effectiveness.
the tx3200 is a good unit, but if you want to scan for ses or rural fire get one that can, and you can still listen to police in north qld (north of gympie) as only se qld has gone to digital, and not all stations in se qld are digital, some dispatchers are still on analogue.
icom are the best radio on the market but you will pay for it.
Hi FrankB , I use the ICOM ic400pro cant fault it but the price tag is a bit rich...but remember the what you pay is what you get.... Its got a rx bank of 88 channels for analog ,VIC police have still analog but up nth as mentioned its digital in most areas..
The basic -GME Electrophone TX3200 Compact UHF/CB $299 is a ripper all around my mate ronoors had one and heaps of the 4x4 boys I've seen got them, crystal clear with ext speaker small to hide it anywhere....
Get a decent UHF CB Antenna Base and mount lots of different types check out the previous post Prestige Communications good to buy from although way out west.........
have you considered buy both a uhf and a cheap scanner. That way you can use your uhf and have police as well. Thats the way we do it. Just run a nice external aerial for the scanner and the recieve is almost as good as a UHF. The scanner can be moved from car to car to house etc
had no problems with my icom.... only thing i'd suggest - get a unit with a BLOODY SQUELCH dial on it!!!!!
for some reason more and more units are coming without squelch now - it's all "automagic"...
maybe it's me clinging to AM but surely a squelch knob is a pretty basic feature?!?!?
re previous post on the poo lice going digital - some small pockets have gone digital but i believe the rollout of digital has stalled due to higher cost and reception issues.... in seq i still pickup more than enough - that being said, it all gets a bit boring after the first week
Very slow MQ buildup -> http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=49198
im runnin an icom 400pro through a linear at home and i can houstly say they are a great radio for home use BUT! they are not a good radio for mobile use the reason being for that is that the microphones are made crap! the 2 most common probs are 1, the plastic that the mic is housed in is absolutly crap and only take a small knock to crack and bust it apart and 2, the internal part of the pto switch wares out esaily and is very hard to replace! in saying that the actual radio itself is bloody brilliant! if its a 5 watt radio your happy with without a doubt get yourself a unidem uh088 for toughness and clarity and if its 25watts your after get an icom 400pro and get someone to change the mic housing and internals for you as mine has been done and youl be laughing! the going price for a programed 400pro is not much more than say a new 5 wat radio anyway in some cases even cheaper! anyway enough ranting from me! good luck dude!
[color=lime][b]Im not a gyno but ill take a look at it for you![/b][/color]
got a KYD 5w uhf off e-bay for $80 odd bucks new with warranty- add another 30 odd for the 12 volt power outlet and you're away.
Have since found out that these are the same as a motorola which retails for 700 odd here in OZ.
No troubles yet......
If you're willing to spend a few more $$$, consider an Icom IC-706 MkIIG.
I've seen 'em advertised as low as $800.
They'll do 27Megs, VKS 737, UHF, Police, Ambulance, etc., etc. TX and RX 100watta on HF, 50watts VHF and 20watts UHF. And you can remote mount the head unit.
Get a ham license and you've got a sh!tload of other freqs you can use as well.
I've been thinking about getting a hand held 5W uhf, quite exy, but useful cos you can use it out of the car if you need to and it doesn't say 'steal me' the same way a big antenna mounted on the bullbar does.
mabsydney wrote:I've been thinking about getting a hand held 5W uhf, quite exy, but useful cos you can use it out of the car if you need to and it doesn't say 'steal me' the same way a big antenna mounted on the bullbar does.
That said range would be more limited.
Any thoughts on this?
generally all uniden and gme incar radios have a 5 watt output anyway, If you buy a handheld which has a screw in aerial , You should be able to attach a bullbar aerial to it then you will have the same power output anyway.
Type in UHF on ebay - Kyd is sold out of Hong Kong.
Model nos match motorola say no more. But price a 338 through motorola and you'll see the difference. Having said that, the internals could well be different?
No worries so far with them, and cheap for a programmable 5w unit.
from the reviews ive seen on the kyd i wouldntld bother yes they are a cheap motorola copy but thats all they are a CHEAP copy, thier build quality is crap software is woful and half the features dont work and you get better autio quality with 2 tin cans and a winch cable. Save ur $$ and buy a decent radio like a gme or a icom
Anything ICOM or GME is great.. Icom is just that bit more $$$ :(
Had the 3400 - Fantastic. Remote head rocks. only got rid of to get a 3800 -25watt.
The 3800 - See above - remote head, 100 extra channels, 25w, nothing but GME quality
Just got a TX3200 with a dashpod I bought. So will find out how good it is soon... but if its anything like the others, it will be teh shit.
3400 upwards you can program the cops in but wont be useful for much longer anywhere in aussie with the bacon changing to Digi. .. the 3800 has 100 extra channels.
familybus wrote:BUT! they are not a good radio for mobile use the reason being for that is that the microphones are made crap! the 2 most common probs are 1, the plastic that the mic is housed in is absolutly crap and only take a small knock to crack and bust it apart and 2, the internal part of the pto switch wares out esaily and is very hard to replace!
Nah that's crap. I've got a 400 pro in my jeep and in my missus' car and those microphone can crack a scull if you swing it about. I've got a GME 3400 in the jeep as well and i reckon the icom mic craps all over it, if you broke one i reckon it was bad luck. However, because the icom mic has noise cancelling it's audio is more muffled than the GME... but no as muffled as the unidens.
I've also got another 400 pro and a F221 (50w version of 400pro) for my homebase and they're great. So that's 3 (technically 4) icoms i own and obviously i reckon they're awesome.
As far as squelch goes, auto squelchs are ok. The GME only has 4 settings (open, loose, med, tight) but the Icom has 255 different level settings - the factory being 'level 120' but i run it about 50-60 as 120 is bit deaf.
Apart from the whole remote head thing, the Icom is VERY good value for money at $399 delivered.
familybus wrote:BUT! they are not a good radio for mobile use the reason being for that is that the microphones are made crap! the 2 most common probs are 1, the plastic that the mic is housed in is absolutly crap and only take a small knock to crack and bust it apart and 2, the internal part of the pto switch wares out esaily and is very hard to replace!
Nah that's crap. I've got a 400 pro in my jeep and in my missus' car and those microphone can crack a scull if you swing it about. I've got a GME 3400 in the jeep as well and i reckon the icom mic craps all over it, if you broke one i reckon it was bad luck. However, because the icom mic has noise cancelling it's audio is more muffled than the GME... but no as muffled as the unidens.
I've also got another 400 pro and a F221 (50w version of 400pro) for my homebase and they're great. So that's 3 (technically 4) icoms i own and obviously i reckon they're awesome.
As far as squelch goes, auto squelchs are ok. The GME only has 4 settings (open, loose, med, tight) but the Icom has 255 different level settings - the factory being 'level 120' but i run it about 50-60 as 120 is bit deaf.
Apart from the whole remote head thing, the Icom is VERY good value for money at $399 delivered.
no ITS NOT CRAP! the mics on the pro are shit and as i clearly said the radios are great you can ring any store thats dealt with selling pro,s and they will tell you the same! its a common problem known well amongst uhf users that there mics are crap! maybe youve been one of the lucky ones not to have given your mic a drop or whatever! but it is a common thing to be wheelin and drop your mic in a hurry or not hang it up properly and it fall off and break! as for the audio, there is a mod that can be done to fix the audio on them but you got 4 of them so you prob know that too!
[color=lime][b]Im not a gyno but ill take a look at it for you![/b][/color]
theres nothing that stops you installing one except that if you use it while the motors not goin youll drain heaps on yah battery, youll have to also keep yah radio cool cause at 50watts it will get hot and on some newer cars/trucks 50watts can cause havoc with electricals through RF leak! (e,g rf leak is if your coax runs across cabling in engine bay thats hooked to elctronic feul management or the like and you have shite coax it can cause your vehicle to stall whilst idoling) if that made sense? but in saying that with a good alternator, good quality coax and a fan installed above yah radio, you can definatly make it happin!
[color=lime][b]Im not a gyno but ill take a look at it for you![/b][/color]
bogged wrote:Anything ICOM or GME is great.. Icom is just that bit more $$$ :(
Had the 3400 - Fantastic. Remote head rocks. only got rid of to get a 3800 -25watt.
The 3800 - See above - remote head, 100 extra channels, 25w, nothing but GME quality
Just got a TX3200 with a dashpod I bought. So will find out how good it is soon... but if its anything like the others, it will be teh shit.
3400 upwards you can program the cops in but wont be useful for much longer anywhere in aussie with the bacon changing to Digi. .. the 3800 has 100 extra channels.
Had a Uniden once, but Im all better now.
I have a Uniden 105 which seems to receive well but I am not sure about its transmitting power. There a lot of factors I know that affect performance ie position of antenna and location but what are the failings of Uniden in general over the GME, Icom etc. Is it quality of build, warranty issues policy, or just inferior internal bits that make it an also ran. I also have an old Electrophone GB 509 base station which seems a quality unit but it is very old.
My first Uniden 105 was defective and I had it fixed under warranty. It became defective again so I returned it once more and it was exchanged for a new one. No problems so far.
Down my way they have some characters on channel 03 who I would guess own some fairly powerful untis as they squash my signal. However I have talked to a gent from Frankston who was at Bacchus Marsh and it was clear.
If I become more interested I may go for more power but 5 watts is Ok for now. Mine also has a basic GPS built into it.
RoadNazi wrote:what are the failings of Uniden in general over the GME, Icom etc. Is it quality of build, warranty issues policy, or just inferior internal bits that make it an also ran. I also have an old Electrophone GB 509 base station which seems a quality unit but it is very old.
My Uniden was just crap. I could sit surrounded by other cars that could hear a mate up the track, I couldnt hear crackle.. I took it out using same power and ariel with my 3400, and it worked.. so wasnt ariel or dodge power..
:(
Could you run 2x UHF's in a car at same time, or would they conflict
Thats a point..I will try hook up the old Electrophone..it is so old it doesn't even mention GME. It also has different antenna fittings than the modern radio so I will have to run a small gutter mount ariel that came with it.
Buy a simple radio that works..I got a icom 706 mkiig and its been in my truck 6 months and i still cant work out what all the buttons do!! Icom are a great brand, i use them for vhf and hf great. Just buy the basic models!
I have a 1999 Mazda bravo turbo diesel extra cab tay back and my Cb radio has died so I am in the market for a new one. I am not very familiar with CB radio's and scanner etc.
100watta on HF, 50watts VHF and 20watts UHF. And you can remote mount the head unit.
say no more. But price a 338 through motorola and you'll see the difference. Having said that, the internals could well be different?
