[jabba]

MacBear wrote:

This is where i put mine in the GV... mind you, if its a sierra i dont think they have door pockets, unless its a 1.3 JLX... but you could do a quick mount on the parcel shelf on the passenger side...

This could be a worry if you do a water crossing and miss-judge the depth :-/

Belated I know but - - UHF might be great around the cites and larger towns but out on the Nullabor I think a HF radio of some kind might be the go, Some friends did Birdsville last year and they came across a couple that only had a sat-phone. They couldn't get anything on the sat-phone but my friends managed to get help for them using HF from some guys in Victoria

FWIW - I regularly chat to people up and down the east coast on my commute home from work using HF, even NZ and Hawaii on a good day... but thats another story.

[Tonka4]

che_guitarra wrote:

This is the pretty nice setup. What model GME is this? Can I convert to a 12v socket setup?

(if this is your pic let me know, i'll remove if desired)

hey mate dont know if you have bought one yet but that is a GME tx 3200/3400 it comes with a quick release on the cradle to slide it out. you can hard wire the power lead and just unplug the power from the back with the antenna.

The GME range have changed but they have a couple of models
The old ones were
tx 3200 - 5watts 40CB channels
tx 3400 - 5 watts 40CB channels + 10 extra receive only programable
Ebay is your best bet for a cheap bargin

[MacDaddy]

jabba wrote:

MacBear wrote:

This is where i put mine in the GV... mind you, if its a sierra i dont think they have door pockets, unless its a 1.3 JLX... but you could do a quick mount on the parcel shelf on the passenger side...

This could be a worry if you do a water crossing and miss-judge the depth :-/

Belated I know but - - UHF might be great around the cites and larger towns but out on the Nullabor I think a HF radio of some kind might be the go, Some friends did Birdsville last year and they came across a couple that only had a sat-phone. They couldn't get anything on the sat-phone but my friends managed to get help for them using HF from some guys in Victoria

FWIW - I regularly chat to people up and down the east coast on my commute home from work using HF, even NZ and Hawaii on a good day... but thats another story.

Nope wont be doing any river crossings that deep, he he, but its very easy to unmount it and put up higher...
I am interested in what kind of HF you have and how much it was ?
I was looking at 27mhz, but 2nd hand units are very iffy, and new SSB units are $250+... so if HF are in that price range, then it would be better to get HF i think...

[jabba]

[MacDaddy]

[tombutt]

jabba is that what the big aireal you have on the car is for

saw you at the lights at the end of the highway the other day

[jabba]

tombutt wrote:

jabba is that what the big aireal you have on the car is for

saw you at the lights at the end of the highway the other day

G'day Tombutt

Yeah the little one is for 2m and 70cm (High VHF and UHF to put it simply). The other one is for HF and 6m (Low VHF).

Lights at the end of the highway? You mean Beams Road? Must have been in the AM if you saw me there.

[tombutt]

yeah mate beams road and the bruce highway yeah was propably 7am ish as was on the way from the workshop to site

[jabba]

tombutt wrote:

yeah mate beams road and the bruce highway yeah was propably 7am ish as was on the way from the workshop to site

That would have been me then school holidays I get there that late but I'm usually a bit earlier than that during peak times

[tombutt]

yeah so am i but bloody boss wanted to see me and my tradie and he is too lazy to get up earlier

[jabba]

At least you are local... assuming you live out this way...

[MacDaddy]

[jabba]

MacBear wrote:

You seem to know your stuff, are you a Radio Tech, or an Ham/Amateur Radio Operator/Enthusiast ?

Radio tech?

Naa, I draw pictures of buildings 'n stuff... but I am a Radio Amateur/ Ham.

[smiffkid]

GME TX3100. pretty awesome unit, we all have them in our cars at work and havent had a problem with them

[bakerboy]

Get one that's either 80ch's or can be reprogramed to 80ch's, it's changing from 40 to 80 the start of 2011

[smiffkid]

yea thats the tx3100.

[bakerboy]

Hate to break it to ya but it's no suitable for the new 80ch, it's still only at 25hz spacing

[MacDaddy]

My Oricom UHF050 has 60 extra programmable channels... but they are receive only... i wont be in any rush to upgrade to an 80 channel rig...

[mighty_vites]

MacBear wrote:

27mhz CB's have not died, they are still being manufactured in the USA, and are still in use all over the world, only Australia decided to take up UHF in a big way, dont know why

CB is a thing of the past in AUS because the Australian police force bought alot of 2nd hand UHF/VHF equipment off the US back in the 80's as a cheap alternative, but with the lack of range they had to place relays around the more denser populated areas. thus it wasnt much of a saving after all.

[neofitou]

Nowdays you can buy a second hand satelite phone for around $200. and $35 a month for the plan.

Just thought I would throw that in there.. Im thinking of getting one before I do any big trips in the zook.

[shakes]

I'm in the market for an aerial spring base and Cable soon. Already have an old gme unit and a couple of hand me down aerials that do the job, forgot to grab the base off my old car when it went though.. Do the bases vary in quality in terms of signal strength? And same for the cable?? Or are they just relevant to clarity?

[MacDaddy]

shakes wrote:

I'm in the market for an aerial spring base and Cable soon. Already have an old gme unit and a couple of hand me down aerials that do the job, forgot to grab the base off my old car when it went though.. Do the bases vary in quality in terms of signal strength? And same for the cable?? Or are they just relevant to clarity?

The base you get, will depend on what kind of aerials you have, and where you plan on putting the aerial... yes the bases do vary in quality and signal strength will vary... if you gave us a better idea of how you plan to do the install, and what kind of terrain you will be using it in, and the types of 2nd hand aerials you have, we can give you more info...

[shakes]

I've got 2 aerials. Both are skinny whip types 8mm or so. One is 5ft long. The other is half that. Nfi brand or anything. They have what looks approx an m10 female screw fitting on the base.

Will be used in hilly Vic bush. Only really needs to transmit a couple Kay's Max.

[atari4x4]

GME floppy antenna... about 15mm in diameter, pretty sure that most GME bases will screw into it. Not sure if it's an industry standard tho?

[MacDaddy]

shakes wrote:

I've got 2 aerials. Both are skinny whip types 8mm or so. One is 5ft long. The other is half that. Nfi brand or anything. They have what looks approx an m10 female screw fitting on the base.

Will be used in hilly Vic bush. Only really needs to transmit a couple Kay's Max.

Any chance of some pics of these aerials ?

At a guess i would say the 5ft one will have a high dbi, which is fine for flat ground, so the shorter one will be better for hills, but if its 4.5dbi, which is mid range, and may still be to high in dbi to work well in hills, a 3dbi aerial would be perfect for hills, but have a short range, but that wouldnt be a problem for your needs... but where you place the aerial on your zook, will determine how well the signal radiates from the aerial... mounted on the front, like a bullbar, will see the strongest signal radiate out to the rear, and if mounted on the back, like the spare wheel carrier, the strongest signal will be to the front... the best spot to mount it is in the centre of the zook, but this is not practical for alot of people, but if you get a ground independent base, then that wont matter... and also, the height you mount the aerial at, will also play a part in how well the signal radiates out, higher is better, but again, its not practical for most people... so a balance/trade off, of all these factors will happen... so without knowing the dbi rating of these aerials, and what they are made of, i would say use the long one for h'way, and the short one for hills... and one last thing, if you are not 100% sure these aerials came off UHF CB's, then dont use them, you will damage your rig... hope this helps...

[atari4x4]

mac daddy, i think you've got the radiate parts back to front?

[MacDaddy]

atari4x4 wrote:

mac daddy, i think you've got the radiate parts back to front?

Thankyou for pointing that out, its been corrected...

[bakerboy]

Tbh I don't even bother with my 3db antenna in the "hills" around Perth and Harvey, the trees, particulary when wet, will affect the antennas performance for than the poor excuse of hilly terrain over here haha, 6db is where it's at

[MacDaddy]

bakerboy wrote:

Tbh I don't even bother with my 3db antenna in the "hills" around Perth and Harvey, the trees, particulary when wet, will affect the antennas performance for than the poor excuse of hilly terrain over here haha, 6db is where it's at

My 6.6dbi antenna was crap around the hills driving thru Mundaring, couldnt hear anything, until i got to the top of each hill, will definitely be putting my 3dbi antenna on next time, out that way, the 6.6dbi worked ok at the powerlines, but we were less then a few hundred metre's apart...

[dawsey]

just got a new gme tx3100 with 6db arerial delivered to the front door for under $300 ..will fit her in and let you know how it goes once its fitted....only really want car to car comms..Im happy with the price..