Best hand held UHF for on the road, and I searched posts!

Lancelot Link · Senior Member

Best hand held UHF for on the road, and I searched posts!

patrol03 · Senior Member

There are some great units about.Suggest you look for one with a 5W capacity for good coverage.In relation to hard mounted types they can be quite expensive in comparison for a quality one that is. There are some excellent remote hard wired ones on the market now.The unit is hidden up under the dash out of sight and all the controls are on the microphone.I have my mike mount velcro'd to the dash.No room to mount a conventional unit in the Y62.Keep looking as there is something out there to suit every need.

PeterD · Guru

There is no one best CB radio for your use. Any radio with a power output of ¼ W or above is suitable for general convoy and road work. If you wish to use it when hiking you may desire a unit up to 5 W. I suggest you do a bit of tyre kicking, go around the shops and see what they offer and use that as a guide.

Phil C · Guru

Gday Lancelot and welcome to our forum

As has been said there are many brands that claim to be best. We settled for UNIDEN 80ch UHF hand held and it works.

As long as you can talk to truckies and other travelers for safety etc. You will be well set up.

I was getting sick of antennas and more little boxes in the ute.

Cheers

macka17 · Guru

I've always bought ICOM. or ICOM/KENWOOD for fixed.

The quality is a level up on others. Pricing too.

BUT. If you sit the three brands side by side. GME. Uniden and ICOM.
We have in yacht and fishing clubs. And use at differing ranges.
(Boats travelling in opposite directions)

As the ranges expand.
The Further apart. The more the quality becomes evident.

UNIDEN stutters first with range and clarity. Then GME.
BUT UNIDEN Transmit signal ranges further than GME.
and the ICOM goes for much longer. with much clearer "clarity".
Discernably so..
They really ARE, worth the extra.

Standard Horizon are up there too. I use one for my VHF in boat.

Hand Held.

ICOM Better right through the range. Especially in clarity.
and the alternatives in VHF are not even in same ball game.
You pay more, Yes. But you get more too.

You wanted the BEST.....ICOM and KENWOOD.

But sit down first when pricing Kenwood.
My HF 0-30 meg floored me 30 odd yrs ago
and it still wired up in back room.

banjo · Senior Member

One of the better quality brands was/is definitely the Icom IC 40 or it's current model, built to military specs and is bulletproof (almost).

An adapter can be bought to connect an external aerial for greater range, but they are a full 5 Watt output and very sensitive.

I have two Icoms one fixed in the truck and the portable handheld.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Best hand held UHF for on the road,

The best performance will be had by using a 5W hand held with an external antennae and power.

It will then perform as well as the best installed unit, but has the added advantage of still being portable. Car kits are available for hand helds, but just the external antennae will get the performance..

GME is an Australian company. Their products are as good as any. Why go past them.

Cheers,

Peter

macka17 · Guru

Yes Pete.
They ok as a run of the mill PLEASURE units. Their Epirbs are good too.
For leisure.
But not used for commercial. as are their radio's.

He asked for the best.
for usage, and just "the best".
there are quite a few mfg's make much better..

Icom and Std Horizon. are mid range.
Several steps above the aforesaid GME/Uniden.

While staying in the "sensible" working class price ranges.

Kenwood upwards are top of line. but start around the $2k upwards

The CODAN on my last offshore yacht cost me around $3.500. 20+ yrs ago.

It's when you come to use them. at further ranges and in hills.
That you realise the extra IS worth it.
For clarity alone....

My old ICOM M32 H/H 5w. at Man and wife. (24km+ off the harbour).
behind the Keppels.
Talks to harbour on 3, clear as sitting beside me.
Other H/Helds in boats around me don't even get a signal or just static
I connect out at the ferns too,

moamajohn · Guru

Icom is the way to go .I have had mine 7yrs now they cost @ $600 then, but are military standard. Cheers

Mutley · Senior Member

PeterD wrote:
There is no one best CB radio for your use. Any radio with a power output of ¼ W or above is suitable for general convoy and road work. If you wish to use it when hiking you may desire a unit up to 5 W. I suggest you do a bit of tyre kicking, go around the shops and see what they offer and use that as a guide.

^^ this is a very good answer to your question ^^

Even the cheap ones sold in pairs for around $40 for 2 will do the job on the road.

Lancelot Link · Senior Member

Thanks all, appreciate it.

iana · Guru

I can tell you what not to buy, do not buy an Oricom UHF2190, we are on our second radio and as yet have not been able to use it. Will not tolerate vehicle charging.

landy · Guru

I recently bought a Uniden uh820s and it works very well it has duel transmiting power .5 watt or 2 watt to save power. A very clear speaker, and a three year warranty. I think it cost me $110 new on ebay.
Landy

macka17 · Guru

""Even the cheap ones sold in pairs for around $40 for 2 will do the job on the road.""

YES. Short range. Driving in convoy etc
But once you start asking them to do something is when you realise...
especially in speaker quality.

Tony Bev · Guru

I have an Oricom half watt hand held UHF (2 for about $40) I got them from Repco a couple of years ago.

I thought that they were 5 watt, and went on line to register them, for the warranty.
I got an email saying that they were actually half a watt

I emailed back saying not to worry about the warranty, as I would return them, explaining that I needed them to talk to any truckies who were overtaking me.
I was assured that I would be in range, before the truckies could read my call sign.

The only problem I have encountered is that because I removed the batteries between trips, I had to bend the connections back inwards to make contact with the batteries.
I now leave the batteries in, and just turn it off, between trips
I have no way of comparing them against other hand held ones

Hope that this info is helpful

Mutley · Senior Member

macka17 wrote:

""Even the cheap ones sold in pairs for around $40 for 2 will do the job on the road.""

YES. Short range. Driving in convoy etc
But once you start asking them to do something is when you realise...
especially in speaker quality.

I'm glad that you agree! I have them & can't fault them. Ours have been on the Birdsville/Strezlecki/Oddnadatta tracks, the Old Ghan Heritage Track, Eringa, Charlotte Waters, The Dowling Track, Palm Valley, Mereenie Loop, Chamber's Pillar, Cameron Corner, Warri gate road, Rainbow Valley, Gibb River Road, Old Jim, Jim Rd, Plenty Hwy, N'dala, Arltunga, Lambert's Centre, Dalhousie, Mt Dare, Hell's Gate, Lorella Springs, Beetoota, Holowilena, Andamooka.. you get the idea! They have never let us down ever. We even do some tar sometimes too! Adelaide to Darwin a few times, Barkley Hwy, Great Northern Hwy, Burketown to Adelaide via Cloncurry/Blackall/ Longreach/Tambo/Charleville/Broken Hill.......Never had any issues with the cheapie walkie talkies!

Mutley · Senior Member

Tony Bev wrote:
I have an Oricom half watt hand held UHF (2 for about $40) I got them from Repco a couple of years ago.

I thought that they were 5 watt, and went on line to register them, for the warranty.
I got an email saying that they were actually half a watt

I emailed back saying not to worry about the warranty, as I would return them, explaining that I needed them to talk to any truckies who were overtaking me.
I was assured that I would be in range, before the truckies could read my call sign.

The only problem I have encountered is that because I removed the batteries between trips, I had to bend the connections back inwards to make contact with the batteries.
I now leave the batteries in, and just turn it off, between trips
I have no way of comparing them against other hand held ones

Hope that this info is helpful

I use those as well Tony, great units. We also have a 2.5 W hand held, the biggest advantage with the 2.5 W one is the battery lasts longer.

jonathan · Member

Icom IC 40 for me too .. software upgradeable .. batteries still in excellent condition after 5 years ..

I too have a Codan .. but not familiar with a hand-held version ?

Bryan · Guru

I'm very happy with my 5w hand held GME