CB radio. Are they a ‘must have’?

Kabee · Newbie

CB radio. Are they a ‘must have’?

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

NEVER rely on CB (UHF) radio for any safety, security or emergency use.
Useful, for communicating with others on the road in relatively close proximity, but not a "must have".
The first purchase for safety and security in an emergency is a PLB (see other threads about this). The second is a sat phone.
Cheers,
Peter

Tony Bev · Guru

Agree with Peter n Margaret, above

A CB (UHF) radio, has a limited range, and is not much use in an emergency, if there is no one within its range to hear you

But...

It is very handy to communicate with any trucks behind you, as you can assist them, to pass you safely

Whenarewethere · Guru

If you haven't got it spend the money on TPMS, repair kit & compressor, second spare wheel, jumper leads, tow rope. Spare water if you get stuck.

We don't have a radio.

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PeterD · Guru

On the major roads, CB radio is nice to have but they are not a necessity. CB radios are not much use in emergencies unless another user is close by on the same channel. Don't rely upon them for emergencies.

Kabee · Newbie

Thanks everybody for your input. Ive already got a PLB as I am a bush walker, but a couple of people mentioned CB radios, but they arent nomads & were trying to be helpful with suggestions.

Mike Harding · Guru

I suggest you buy one with a cigar lighter plug and a magnetic roof mount for the antenna. Buy the cheapest one you can find with a channel scan facility (all of them nowadays I suspect).

UHF CB is useful in the country for talking with trucks and listening to reports of road conditions, in flat country they have a range around 10 to 20km. Unfortunately in the cities UHF CB is populated by total idiots and best switched off.

PeterD · Guru

Kate, those friends obviously get value from their CBs, it's a value judgement that only you can make. However, it is hard for you to make without trying them. These days we only carry a small portable with a TX output of 1 W to use when we are at club events. If you think you may like one then just get a low cost 1 or 2 W model and try it out on a few trips. If you consider you would like a permanently mounted model, then lash out and install one. The hand held unit will still be of value as you can use it to talk to the driver when one of you are out of the vehicle.

Dicko1 · Senior Member

You say you are heading up the centre. I,ll take that as Adelaide to Darwin with maybe a few side excursions. You wont need a second tyre or satphone. However a TPMS is a great bit of safety equipment. Car in good condition with a complete service for peace of mind is also a good idea. Be a member of the relevant auto club could also be a big money saver in the event of a breakdown. Correct tyre pressue and check the vehicle each morning before setting off and you should have no problems at all. Of course if you are heading remote then satphone, plb and different safety gear would be advisable. Cheers.

Tony LEE · Guru

RE:

Whenarewethere · Guru

RE: CB radio. Are they a ‘must have’?

Bicyclecamper · Guru

Save yourself some money and get a 2 watt hand held uhf, for the truckies channel, it will tell you of accidents and wide loads, and other useful stuff. Then look at a Spot Gen 3 PLB, useful as you can send messages, and can set it off in a bad emergency.

Rob Driver · Guru

Yes, they are a valuable asset.

What the naysayers forget to mention is that there is a network of repeater channels that when contacted can transmit and receive messages over quite some distances.
These repeater stations are common through many rural and some outback areas and those monitoring these repeaters generally have very good knowledge of their area.

A vehicle mounted UHF radio with a reasonable aerial is invaluable in many road situations as well.
Wide loads, roadworks, sudden emergencies and potentially dangerous situations, as well as communication with trucks, police and even other caravan users and motorists are all good reasons to have one.

If travelling in remote areas where there is no cell phone service a Sat Phone and a PLB are sensible items to carry.

Regards

Rob

Rob Driver · Guru

For those who may want to know more than what they hear at happy hour, here is a site detailing the repeater channel network in Australia.

tropinet.com/uhf-repeaters/

Hers is a link on how it all works.

http://www.freecampingaustralia.com.au/blog/uhf-channel-guide.html

Note they state ch 40 for trucks but the channel is 29 on parts of the Pacific Highway due to close proximity of vehicles being on ch 40 on more inland roads.

Regards

Rob

-- Edited by bentaxlebabe on Wednesday 31st of March 2021 02:18:04 PM

bomurra · Veteran Member

Hello Kate,

I have a UHF primarily to show consideration to long haul truckies.

As we principally tow at 90 to 100 KPH and most trucks like to sit on 100+ KPH, we are often over taken by trucks.

We communicate with the driver as soon as I notice them in my mirrors and notify them that I am prepared to "back off when they are ready", to make overtaking easier for them.

I then wait for them to call up and organise the overtake. Once I see that the truck has pulled out completely into the overtaking lane, I back off the throttle to let the truck slip by quicker.

This works a treat, and in 40 years and 3.5 laps of Aust and countless hundreds of trips within WA, we have never, ever had a problem with a long distance trucker. Almost all, will call back on the UHF and thank you for your consideration, sometimes even have a chat.

There are several organisations now trying to improve relations between truckies and vanners.

We have joined up with "Truck Friendly" which requires the fitting of a UHF and also the notification on the rear of your van of the channel you wish to be contacted on, and any call sign or name to use is a good idea. They also have a rather large sticker you can affix to the rear of your van advertising the fact that you are "truck friendly".

From my point of view a UHF is highly desirable to be a courteous citizen, and as others have mentioned by monitoring the truck channel, you also have prior warning of approaching Wide Loads, Traffic Hold ups, Road Works, Police Activity, Radar Speed Checks, etc.

Is you are going for a hand held unit, not hard wired, I recommend a 5 Watt unit as this will give you extra range.

I always think of myself as lucky when I see a truck on the road, firstly I am on holiday and the truck driver is working, so why hold him up, and, he could well be delivering the groceries, or fuel etc. to the towns we are going to visit. Without trucks, we would not be able to visit all of the wonderful places we go to.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Bob

Rob Driver · Guru

bomurra wrote:
Hello Kate,
I have a UHF primarily to show consideration to long haul truckies.
As we principally tow at 90 to 100 KPH and most trucks like to sit on 100+ KPH, we are often over taken by trucks.
We communicate with the driver as soon as I notice them in my mirrors and notify them that I am prepared to "back off when they are ready", to make overtaking easier for them.
I then wait for them to call up and organise the overtake. Once I see that the truck has pulled out completely into the overtaking lane, I back off the throttle to let the truck slip by quicker.
This works a treat, and in 40 years and 3.5 laps of Aust and countless hundreds of trips within WA, we have never, ever had a problem with a long distance trucker. Almost all, will call back on the UHF and thank you for your consideration, sometimes even have a chat.
There are several organisations now trying to improve relations between truckies and vanners.
We have joined up with "Truck Friendly" which requires the fitting of a UHF and also the notification on the rear of your van of the channel you wish to be contacted on, and any call sign or name to use is a good idea. They also have a rather large sticker you can affix to the rear of your van advertising the fact that you are "truck friendly".
From my point of view a UHF is highly desirable to be a courteous citizen, and as others have mentioned by monitoring the truck channel, you also have prior warning of approaching Wide Loads, Traffic Hold ups, Road Works, Police Activity, Radar Speed Checks, etc.
Is you are going for a hand held unit, not hard wired, I recommend a 5 Watt unit as this will give you extra range.
I always think of myself as lucky when I see a truck on the road, firstly I am on holiday and the truck driver is working, so why hold him up, and, he could well be delivering the groceries, or fuel etc. to the towns we are going to visit. Without trucks, we would not be able to visit all of the wonderful places we go to.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Bob

To the OP

Kate,

Some very good basic information in this post.

The flicking of blinkers and speeding up and backing off of you in your RV or Van is not helpful and dangerous.

Fortunately most truck drivers work this out and will assess the situation based mainly on safety and the capability of their truck to be able to pass safely.

A UHF is a big help on the highway when travelling with trucks, but, let the truckie decide when he is overtaking you.

Let him talk to you and if you are travelling at 90 then only back off when the truck is out beside you. All this other flicking of blinkers is happy hour nonsense and not how it works in the real world. If you don't have the confidence to communicate with the truckie on the radio then just maintain your selected speed and let the professional driver sort it out.

You will get the hang of it with miles and experience..

Safe travels..

Regards

Rob

Clarky 1 · Senior Member

Kaybee,

They are a must if you are travelling around trucks, they are not that expensive in the scheme of things.

Enjoy your travels.

Stewart · Senior Member

I find a small handheld works fine for communicating with Trucks, caravans don't seem to respond very much

even those with channels on the back of their caravans. Cheers Stewart

Clarky 1 · Senior Member

Stewart wrote:
I find a small handheld works fine for communicating with Trucks, caravans don't seem to respond very much
even those with channels on the back of their caravans. Cheers Stewart

You are correct, many caravans have the channel 18 or 40 emblazoned on the back of their van but never have the radio turned on or worse than that, decide to carry out a social conversation with anther van or two in convoy on channel 40.

This is not acceptable on ch 40 as it is designated for highway information.

Ch 18 is for what communication in convoy with caravans and RVs is for and if travelling together then this is the way to go.

Stewart, your hand held is a great set up with obvious easy access for being able to use it fairly quickly if necessary.

The handhelds kept in mothers handbags are useless for anything but bragging at 4.00 drinks.

Travel safely mate..

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi Kate,
I agree with bentaxlebabe! They are an essential tool when travelling on roads where you may encounter BIG wide loads (in mining areas).
Friends sold their caravan after problems encountering these loads, saying they had no warning of having to get off the road. I had given them my first small hand-helds to use as a monitor but they said there's too much foul language!! Mostly the "language" is heard around big cities, not in the bush. With a UHF radio if the load requires an escort, there is adequate warning of what is coming. They might say "4 wide or more", so you look for a safe spot.
The book "Outback Cop" has the channels listed of stations around Birdsville listed. You would only use them in an emergency.

You can also hear if there are going to be delays on a road eg accidents, road works, hazards, radar traps "flash for cash" for the "lead foots".

Whether you have an installed set or a hand-held with rechargeable batteries is up to you. There has been some safety concern about the higher powered (5w) hand-helds transmitting close to the brain. PeterD might have from his past experience be able to shed some truths on that. Fixed aerials come in a range of gains - 3dB are for shorter (distance) but have a broad pattern - used in towns, heavy bush; 6dB are generally more universal, greater distance but less spread; 9dB are for specific use only where longer distance in more open country is required.

KFT · Guru

G'day

I would not be without my installed UHF. I scan the common channels one needs on the road and find it a handy aid to keep my situational awareness up to date.

You will most definitely need something if you intend travelling on any of the "development roads" where signage will tell you to monitor ch 40 and to call at the signed call points which are usually on the approach to one lane bridges. Road trains have priority on these roads and you risk being in a nasty accident if you can not hear about an approaching road train.

Just thoughts from my own experience and these days there is not a lot of chatter on the UHF even in the bigger towns.

Cheers
Frank

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I too wouldn't leave home without my installed UHF. I have had the same one for 11 years now and fitted to 3 different vehicles. I scan 5, 9, 18, 20, 22, 27, 29, 35 and 40.

I leave on in large Cities but down a little and even have on when not towing the aluminium teepee around.

I don't listen to the 'crap' and turn down if it starts. KFC above likes to listen though as he has learnt words he never thought existed.

I miss the good old days of SSB CB radio though.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.....and keep that UHF turned on.

Greg 1 · Guru

RE:

PeterD · Guru

RE: CB radio. Are they a ‘must have’?

Dougwe · Chief one feather

In a previous life while semi retired I used to drive coaches and we used that channel so listen in still. It's not used as much these days for some reason.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

#10 is used by convention by 4WDers and is also the most common channel for National Parks to use.
Cheers,
Peter

PeterD · Guru

Dougwe, the reason I asked is that CH 22 & 23 are not to be used for voice traffic. Their sole purpose is for remote control, it is used a lot by country folk for irrigation controllers and similar purposes.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

That's interesting as I didn't know that Peter, thankyou. Because I scan it, it often stops on 22 with people chatting away, not bus drivers either. Maybe when not in irrigation areas it doesn't matter? I haven't chatted on 22 for a long time so don't feel guilty. Maybe that's why I don't hear coach drivers these days?

It's like 5 and 35 being the emergency channels, there is so much traffic on there and mostly idiots.

Radar · Guru

PeterD wrote:
Dougwe, the reason I asked is that CH 22 & 23 are not to be used for voice traffic. Their sole purpose is for remote control, it is used a lot by country folk for irrigation controllers and similar purposes.

Hi Dougwe,

You would probably get more sence out of the irrigation controllers.

I am off to my corner now.

PeterD · Guru

I have noted that the type approved new 80 channel transceivers have CH 22 & 23 blanked out as well as the three new channels that straddle those two. If you have new equipment that can transmit on those channels then it probably is not approved equipment to use on the CB bands.