NEW CB Radio Choices Uniden UH7760NB or a GME 3540.

[commsman]

I started with a number of Uniden CB's many years ago now and back in those days they had one particular failure point. The microphone lead ws too short and too stiff and regularly cracked either the circuit board at the join of the radio or the connector came loose from the board. I had two of mine personally go on me and fixed a number of others also. I know Uniden have come to the remote mics now (which are very good for usability), but I personally changed my buying choice over to GME for AM CB's (the old 27 MHz), and Icom for UHF.

The GME's are Australian made. That's always a plus for both the Auusie economy and service and support.

The Icom's are Japanese made and are manufactured on the basis of a commercial radio so will always stand up to a lot more torture (generally good when it comes to a 4WD).

I note a comment on the audio on the Uniden and I agree the Uniden, and to a lesser degree the GME both suffer audio problems. Some of this can be fixed with an external speaker, but again the Icom audio generally outperforms that of both the Uniden and the GME.

As for antennas, there are a LOT of cheap nasty and horrible antennas on the market. By far the best antennas I have ever used are in the GME and the Laser brands of antennas.

The best antenna you can get is a hole in the roof because of the ground plane of the roof line. I did this on my first Patrol, but suffered the effects of passing under low lying branches on a number of occassions and ripping the antennas out of the roof. Whilst it isn't as good (performance wise) generally a ground independant antenna or a Mopole antenna mounted on a bull bar or a bonnet guard are an excellent choice of antenna and location for a four wheel drive. Firstly they perform well for most general situations, after all you're not trying to talk to the moon, generally it is just your mates who are normally somehwere in the near vicinity. Secondly the bonnet area is great because it is out in front of you and you can see what it might be about to hit and can generally screw the antenna off if it is going to get into trouble.

There are now a number of other cheap and nasty CB radios in the market, some of which haven't even been approved by the ACMA for use in Australia. I haven't used or experienced any of these so I can't comment on them, but I would be wary buying them especially when there is a proven record for the other brands and they really aren't all that expensive.