UHF Radio

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Stick with a GME mate. They cost a bit more than a Uniden but are far superior. also don't get tight on an arieal. It pays to get it fitted profesionally so the connections are right.
Tips for calling truckies around.
Call them up when you see them approaching and say "copy behind the rusty engines caravan."
"YEAH MATE"
"let me know when you want to come around and i will back off"
"THANKS MATE I WILL HAVE A GO NOW"
Don't back off until he is out in the other lane cause that stuffs up the trucks momentum. When he is out there touch the brakes gently let him go and as soon as the trailers past your bonnet either flash your high beam or say
"youve got him mate" easy. Most blokes will appreciate that even if it takes a few k's to get them around. Once they know they are not going to be stuck there all day most drivers are happy.

Another one is when you come onto an overtaking lane flick your left hand indicator a couple of times and let them go. Makes everyones day alot easier when there is some communication and manners shown. Some truck drivers could learn from this too.

GME stand up to everything in my spreader trucks. Worth the extra $$.

I was looking at a GME but before handing over the dollars I wanted to check if it was the right way to go
Thanks Paul404 as to just what to say to the truck driver I had not thought of that and when you say

My two bob's worth is GME can't be beaten in a truck especially if any vibration involved, but if you have a "modern ute with good" suspension I'd go Uniden, I've sold heaps to the Grey Brigade over the years when I was in the business and never had any complaints, remember your UHF will only be as good as the antenna and where it is mounted. (wrong antenna location can make it directional)
cheers Gary

G'day All , my son is on his second ICOM UHF CB and he swears by them. He had to get a second remote unit CB as his old integrated CB would not fit anywhere in his new FG Falcon ute. He bought both his CB units from " Prestige Communications " a West Aussie Mail order mob who he found very competitive for price. No connection Implied. He said that ICOM CB's are made in Japan. Prestige Communications are on the internet, sorry don't know how to do the link thingy.
Harleigh.

Never dealt with Prestige Communications, but I've heard they were pretty good to deal with. They've been in business in the same place since 1994 (just up the road from me).
They publish reviews from their clients on their website .. which isn't a really good source of info, as you can be sure, they wouldn't publish any derogatory ones!
An independent source of reviews would be much better .. but they're few and far between, when businesses are involved, due to business owners wanting to sue over bad reviews.

Website - www.prestigecom.net.au/

Reviews - www.prestigecom.net.au/index.php?main_page=reviews

Product Review is a fairly good website to find genuine reviews .. but on products, not businesses. They have 5 pages of UHF radios listed, but no reviews yet on any ICOM products.

www.productreview.com.au/c/communications.html

I bought a couple of Unidens off Dick Smith about 12-13 years ago, and they have always performed quite well.

Looks pretty reasonably priced Harliegh. We bought one of a mob at Archerfield Aerodrome, Aircraft Radio and GPS I think it is called, and some of thier prices were similar. We have bought them off another mob over at Rocklea which has a shop in Townsville as well, but it wasn't particularly cheap, a fair old que to get served as well, so maybe they are doing something right. We have got Unidens and GME, and both brands in six vehicles and they all work well.

ICOM used to make the best marine radios worldwide so no need for reviews.
Always clearer reception and seemed to have more power, yet branded as having the same output as all the rest.
If you haven't heard of ICOM, go with Uniden or GME etc.

www.icom-australia.com/products/uhf/uhfcb_ic-400pro.html

We are planning to drive my little XP Ute from Melbourne to Darwin later this year stopping to look at anything and everything on the way. We then intend to put it on the Ghan to come home
We have 2 handheld digitech units we use in whatever vehicle we are taking to Echuca. Once we get to the flat country the seem to have a range of around 5km. Would they be suitable to talk to the truckies or should I upgrade? The ute cruises at 90 - 95 km/h so I expect to be overtaken a fair bit but also to overtake some caravans but given we are taking the XP we won't be straying up any 4wd tracks