27mhz

roxinmyhead

New Member
Use it all the time, all the idiots are gone now so its nice and empty!! Great for convoy work, and unlike uhf doesnt lose signal when youre down beside a cliff. I run a GME GX300 which is both 27meg am and 27meg marine and switchable between the 2 modes, great little radio.
cheers all
Toby
 

Gunna

Well-Known Member
I run a uniden UHF which I find to be quite good in the open, but thinking of installing 27mhz ssb as another option when thinks turn pear shaped. It's nice to see that they are still in use.
 

x [Heels] x

New Member
AM radio, what's that? Hahaha. Nah, don't use it... But in saying it is not full of dickheads, you'd most likely be right as i don't know anyone that uses it, lol...
 

rabs

New Member
AM radio

There is no dickheads on AM because they all moved to channel 6 UHF, well here anyway. I still have my AM/SSB for alternate contact as SSB has a very good range

cheers

Rabs
 

Gunna

Well-Known Member
There is no dickheads on AM because they all moved to channel 6 UHF, well here anyway. I still have my AM/SSB for alternate contact as SSB has a very good range

cheers

Rabs

See where you are coming from Rabs, finally installed am/ssb set in 4bee and base station at home don't believe how quiet it is ( no D@#ckheads) have had conversations as far away as Mt Isa QLD (I'm in VIC) so it's good to know that if things turn pear shaped there is another mode of communication that still works after all these years of being in the wilderness
 

millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Just fitted one the other week. An old Supa Puma. Seems to work well. My mate who has just headed up the Canning Stock Route on Monday talked me into fitting one so that we could possibly contact each other - but his wife told me today that his antenna mount broke! So now he just has the UHF to communicate with the other vehicle.

Ive got the little GME UHF set also. I put out a few calls from the Big Desert on the SSB ( lower band ) one night but no one got back to me. I think its a bit of luck if the skip is working the night you need it! But better than not having one I suppose.
 

millsmob

New Member
Radio Communications

With all the talk about radio communications why not consider obtaining you amateur licence. The new (easier to obtain) foundation licence allows you to get on HF and talk the world apart from many other bands / frequencies you can choose from. It is a facinating hobby and these days the costs have decreased a lot, and are within reach of most people. With 4wds owners spending several thousands on modifications of their 4wds. An all singing and dancing muti band muti mode HF-UHF radio is not a great deal more (twice) than a top line UHF CB. There are all types or repeaters throughout Oz HF to UHF

As I am an advanced (Amateur) operator I play amateur television and can send slow scan TV pictures and talk around the world on HF whilst out 4wding and always have emergency communications onboard.

And generally there are no idiots or poor language for the family to listen to.

have a look at The Wireless Insitute of Australia

or contact me for more info / help

Regards Jamie
 

millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Looks interesting Jamie. Something thats been on 'the list of things to do' for many years, and one day might actually take the step and do some training - like the Foundation course.

I thought that the skip was just a night thing on the 27MHz. Is that right? The WIA site had a table of frequencies and their ranges and I think it implied that you could get the skip at any time of the day ? ( This in relation to calling for help from a remote location. )
 

millsmob

New Member
Radio Communications 2

Its a bit more involved but skip is an easy way to describe. As there is ground waves and relfected signals of the ionisphere (skip).Basicly the Flying Doctor Radio Service has certain HF channels in the differect bands again usable at different times of the day.

For example the Amateur bands (80meters) 3.5Mhz morning / night, (40 Meters) 7Mhz daytime, (20 Meters) 14.250Mhz afternoon. Just 2 Mhz of so up from HF CB (11meters) >> (10 Meters) 29.600Mhz FM (like uhf CB "FM" but HF great in summer with repeaters throughout Oz and repeaters accessable Overseas. We at times have a ball here driving aroung sydney on 10-30 watts talking via Adelaids 10M FM repeater to other hams in Queensland and WA. Sometimes Amercian repeaters are even accessable. Again 52Mhz (6 Meters) just like ABC TV Frequency here in NSW great summer band with repeaters.

There are too many bands / frequencies to list here.

So in an emergency you would select the most optimum Amateur band or frequency to use. It is not approved to use an amateur radio on the RFDS service but it is possible, I do not advise you to do this.

However in such an emergency I would want to talk to anyone on any frequency to summon help.

Currently we are at the worst HF conditions as we at the bottom of the 11 year sunspot cycle so even HF CB may be suffering this may explain no body answered you. In the comming years you will be able to work another HF user with a piece of wet string as an antenna it does get real fun with very little power talking huge distances. Things arn't real good at the moment for HF.

I believe the foundation course is some study plus a 2 day week end.

Why not give it a go

Regards Jamie
VK2JLM is my call sign
have a look a The Official VK2JLM Website
 
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millsy

4x4 Earth Contributer
Fascinating. You know how to wet the appetite! Look forward to picking up more bits of knowledge and start piecing it together in an informal way at the moment. Am still busy with a lot of overdue house maintenance jobs that need doing.

My mate has taken a HF RFDS capable radio with him, up the Canning, but from what I read in the magazines with about a 1000 cars a year going through, no doubt most of them over the cooler months, he would not have to wait long before another car comes past! Are you saying that he would need a ham radio qualification before he could 'legally' call up the RFDS for help? Am not sure what you meant when you said "it is not approved . . . " Not approved for any Tom, Dick or Harry, or not even approved by someone like youself with ham radio qualifications?
 

Sasquatch

New Member
AM for me, (cant afford UHF) but is good in the hills. And on a good night i HAVE pickup a
USA CB radio show. that was cool.

Cheers :)
 

Quozie

4x4 Earth Contributer
UHF aren't nearly as expensive as they used to be, but even hand helds ae good value on a run. The old 27mhz AM USB used to be very popular. I still have a couple of units including the rare 18CH. These were exceptional because they had 2 channels that weren't on the 40CH frequency. I have managed to hit the Mt Kanangan Repeater from Hervey Bay in the past (UHF) and chat with people in Ipswich, as mentioned earlier, skip has a lot to do with range, and it's usually on nights like tonight that it works best. I often chatted with UK, USA, Indonesia when I lived in Toowoomba due to having a homebase with the old Swamper Antenna. Most common used these days is UHF, but hey, none of them is 100% reliable in an emergency, nothing will beat the old sat phone still at this stage.
 

Offrdn60

Member
I have still got an AM Radio, i never here any 1 on it.
Does any 1 want to sell a AM or UHF (Working order) doesn't have to flash
PM me
Thanks
Nick
 

Gunna

Well-Known Member
I have still got an AM Radio, i never here any 1 on it.
Does any 1 want to sell a AM or UHF (Working order) doesn't have to flash
PM me
Thanks
Nick

I installed an am/ssb set about a month ago, and have found that channel 35 LSB is monitored by a lot of users there is constant chatter and the skip seems to be as good as it ever was
 

grit

Member
A couple of years back a group of friends asked if I wanted in on a group buy for a Uniden which covers both 27MHz and UHF. They are still running them. If anyone wants more info (model number, etc.) I will contact them and get it.
 

Tukkeri

Banned
A couple of years back a group of friends asked if I wanted in on a group buy for a Uniden which covers both 27MHz and UHF. They are still running them. If anyone wants more info (model number, etc.) I will contact them and get it.

I have one of those Unidens, great little radio. You can be using one channel on say UHF, preset a channel on 27meg and it scans the 27 meg channel every few seconds and if anyone calls it switches over. Sounds confusing but in real life it's not.

The only drawback was that you had to have two aerials, but, GME (I think) brought out an aerial which is used for both radios, which I managed to get.

Mines a Uniden model UH-090. I don't know if you can still get them.
 
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