8:49 The channels 22 and 23 are used for telemetry data, like water pumps switching on / off on farms, the reason why channels 61 62 63 are not allocated is because the channels 22 and 23 are still 25 KHz bandwidth and channels 61 62 and 63 lap over channels 22 and 23 .
Less UHF repeaters now than there was 2 decades ago, initially the cost factor of the UHF radios was prohibitive which kept a great deal of *unruly operators* on the 27Mhz band allocation, times have changed and UHF prices have plummeted, you are now more likely to have a *coherent conversation* on the 27Mhz band. Scramblers were factory installed on the Uniden UH100 radios and was a decent feature 👍
It is indeed well used and ubiquitous. UHF CB is pretty much standard fitment on four wheel drives and work utes and trucks. Repeater abuse happens but it is overstated and is rare outside of cities. It really is an excellent radio service that is made more usable by its ubiquity and repeater-enabled range. By the way, the C-tick compliance mark was replaced with the RCM compliance mark a number of years ago.
Love how you've covered my backyard mate! Such good info. Uhf is still pretty big around and CB/ 27 meg is good out in the country. The channel 7 repeater in Brisbane, Queensland (where I am) ...can have some real intelligent people on it hahaha. "Western suburbs" in that voice clip...sounds like its from a Melbourne, Victoria repeater. Cheers Lewis!
Mighty Car Mods (Famous Australian car channel on RU-vid) recently did a Suzuki Jimny build, they fitted a CB and did a hilarious little bit when they switched it on for the first time, had me in stitches 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I've operated a Ch1 UHF CB repeater in the Port Lincoln area for around 25 years. It's had it's share of "interesting" radio traffic over the years. The biggest issue these days are people using channel 31 (the input channel) not knowing they are activating a repeater some distance away. The other problem seems to be that some people just select channel 1 simplex to have a chat on their newly acquired UHF CB handheld radios.
Similar problem in Canberra. Our repeater was offline for some years over which traffic control and construction commercial users adopted the input channel for simplex use.
Hi guys, the frequency spacing between input and output on the repeaters is very narrow. I am used to 5MHz here in the US. How do you find duplexers with low insertion loss? With that narrow freq difference the loss would be quite high. Also are repeaters also limited to 5W TPO? Tnx
@@johne1793 This does present an issue for repeater owners. There are locally available duplexers that are available specifically for UHF CB repeaters, but they are quite expensive. I use two vertically separated antennas with more modest filtering. Repeaters can have up to 21 Watt EIRP so you can up the transmitter power a bit depending on the antenna used.
@@michaelcarey Thanks Michael. You confirmed what i would have thought most folks would do i.e., use split antenna. As u say much easier and less stringent filtering requirements. Also thanks for EIRP info.
@@michaelcarey It's 41W EIRP per the LCD. The 21W evolved as the defacto limit because of a combination of factors around available equipment, coverage, freq assignment and coordination etc.
I remember when selcall first came out on UHF CB. It was played with like a toy until one day someone strung a recording together with dozens of tones and played them over a repeater. Imagine everyone trying to reply at the same time.
The GME TX4000 radios (one of the first with selcall) had a "design flaw" in that they would respond to a received selcall with group tones in the last four digits. I had a Sigtec selcall keypad that could send a 1GGGG sequence. This would make ALL TX4000 radios on the channel start to beep... even without knowing their exact selcall address. Ahh the mischievous me had lots of fun with that!
The recording at the beginning must be from around ‘79 to the early 80s. Sounds like MEL001 which was at Broadmeadows in those days. It’s now on the Mornington Peninsula. It used to possible to trigger a number of selcalls by whistling a glissando! I don’t hear much these days although I have a radio on although I’m 50km West of Melbourne. I can hear Ch7 and Ch 5 and unfortunately a group of truck drivers are using 5/35 based near Geelong on a regular basis despite the CREST emergency monitor regularly broadcasting a warning and request to change channel. Broady boys was an infamous gang in Broadmeadows in the mid 70s, they were involved in some nasty rumbles with the Thomastown Sharps before the Sharps were arrested and jailed. Not sure if the Broady Boys got arrested.
Transmission on all channels, when it expanded to 80 channels, became NBFM (narrowband FM) with 12.5khz channel spacing and 2.5khz modulation, down from WBFM (Wideband FM) 5khz. Australia still also operates a 27mhz CB, also class licensed, with 40 channels in am and USB/LSB, but most people use UHF CB.
'Stralya Maaate! Stay classy ya bogans 🤣 We did have a good number of repeaters but it's dwindled over the years. For only 5w up in 477Mhz one can get some surprising range with decent gear.
Great video. Just channel 30 you forgot to mention. It's for uhf cb emergency, weather and warning broadcasts. Particularly used by the RFS (rural fire service) to deliver bushfire warnings, local hazard alerts etc. to the community.
Yep it's well used here. Simplex 99.9% of the time as repeaters are very rare to find. Car to car / handheld to car and highway / convoy comms is what it does well. However, I would MUCH prefer to see 11m FM CB added to our existing 11m AM + SSB service. This works MUCH better in the bush than UHF CB and would give us MANY more radio options. (UK , USA and Chinese 11m radio's with FM could become legal here IF FM is added). Like the USA has done. (I use UHF CB and 11m CB often here in AU for many reasons. UHF is far more common now, but 11m is still better! And, 11m is seeing a big increase in use now also).
UHF cb works well abroad, so why do we end up with crappy 27MHz in the UK? Now there is a thought! Another good informative presentation, thanks Lewis.🙂👍
The same reason we here in the USA is also stuck with 27 Mhz. It was adopted in the 1960's when higher frequency equipment was very expensive to build. Even then CB radios back then we're expensive costing too much for the average to buy.
Repeaters in capital cities are often open to abuse, especially those that service the Sydney area. There is lots of bullying, harassment, threatening, etc and power struggles - those using commercial (25 to 40 W TX) radios, beam antennae and linear amplifiers of 100 to 300 watts (highly illegal) to have control of the repeater by over riding other operators with their strong signal. Occasionally there is good conversation on the repeaters including the a night of Trivial Pursuit every now and then.
Great video and as an Australian, very accurate on all the detail. Illegal radios of 25 or even 50 watts are in use, not sure where you buy one from though
Strewth cobber that was bonza fair dinkum mate ! Seriously that was great well researched etc. Where did you get those samples of audio at the start? Some really nice looking radios they have. Shame so many flamin galah's on the band though
Great video. As am amateur & regular highway driver & UHF user between Melb & Bris Just needed to update a couple of things. Firstly chnl 29 is from the end of the Hume Highway on the out skirts of Syd NSW all the way up the pacific ( now the M1) to Bris. QLD Secondly ActivecUHF repeaters in Aust are now few & far between. Third, The ACMA has NEVER pursued or even ever attempted to prosecute anyway they just don't care. Fourth in the CBD's of Melb, Syd & Bris no serious user or transport/ truck driver even bothers to turn the UHF on because its just full of d!ck Heads & W@nkers. In the 3 CBD's of Aust the general rule of thumb is don't turn the UHF on until you are 50 km's clear of the CBD's & on approach of the CBD'S @ the 50km marker turn it off. Most ( 99%) of large farms in Aust have their own UHF CB Chnl that is always shown at the front gate. It is common courtsey not to talk ( idealy chit chat ) on Chnl 40m professional drivers will always road go up or down 1 chnl. Chnl 5/35 is not (Professionally) monitored as an emergency chnl. Whilst Chnl 18 is "Meant" to be the caravaners & Rv's channel Ive never heard them on there nor have I ever managed to contact them.
I just found out that baofeng radios are "highly illegal" but I know more than a handful of people with one or two. I'm assuming the cops don't care unless you are being a massive knob head right?
I'm still getting my head around this so take it with the appropriate amount of salt. I did want to make mention of one thing here though, because I have been pulling out my old CB radio that I might end up using for some bush walks in a few national parks. Strictly speaking you may be right n that Channel 5/35 isn't always monitored directly via emergency services. However there is another voluntary network known as CREST who operate in many locations and try and provide as much monitoring as possible for the emergency CB channels. They're not an emergency services provider themselves, but the point of them is to relay broadcasts on this channel to emergency services. This of course doesn't guarantee that a broadcast on this channel will be relayed to emergency services, but they do try and provide as much coverage as possible so it's still worth trying to contact CREST on these channels to relay your emergency to the appropriate service. Of course you should know ahead of time how to properly enable duplex and simplex mode on your radio so that if there's a repeater you can utilise it to maximise your chances of getting someone.
My brother just bought 2 Uniden UH45 series transceivers for our nieces for Christmas, I'm interested to see how much use they get out of them, they do have a kids zone mode which I think utilised CTCSS to make it work.
really intresting lewis.. i speak via phone to my cuz in oz thats mobile phone btw.. she isnt licenced and asks me about ham radio.. shes said in the past ohh c.b my naighbour works repeaters? ive bern like ohh doubt it he will be a radio ham.. p.s her next door naighbor is 5km away... youve explaind a lot in that vid mate... opend my eyes.. i wonder if we had the same system in the uk how many would bother going into the m or 2e call signs ?? not any i think.
It’s very similar to the United States gmrs. But we require a license to operating on the 8 input frequencies and on the 22 simplex channels if using more than 2 watts. Otherwise it is classed as FRS radio.
When I first heard you talking about UHFCB radio I thought well that can’t have much range but then I thought he’s gonna say repeaters and you did say repeaters.
Simplex UHF operation can achieve quite decent distances depending on location and antenna system employed, my home brew 11 element yagi-uda could easily reach 100km mounted at 30ft, flatter terrain makes a huge difference 👍
The laws on uhf in Australia are pretty slack but there have been cases where people have actually been fined and or lost their right to use it, it’s common sense, be polite if your gonna have a chat go up or down a few channels, if you wanna keep your convoy on one channel go to a empty channel
462 and 467 MHz usage in 🇦🇺 Australia are for commercial radio use. In 🇷🇺 Russia, UK, and EU, we also use PMR446, but FRS/GMRS 462/467 MHz are for Police use, Fire brigades in the UK, etc..
ISDB-T DTV countries like Japan, Philippines and parts of South America in 6 MHz bandwidth, 473 to 479 MHz, might not interfere with Digital TV broadcasts on single frequency
476MHZ is about right, 934MHZ was a joke being far to high to be of much use unless at a elevated height. 27MHZ is useable, but less than ideal when lots use it for cb in urban areas, not to mention the clowns who often abuse it to to everyone else's detriment. The Italian 43MHZ FM voice, vhf low band, was a good choice offering range, and modest audio, and still is. Thanks Lewis, keep em coming. 🙂👍
I found UHF CB to be made uesless in the city (suburbs) due to the idiots with no lives searching the channels for someone to harass or they sit on the local repeater on the ready to pounce on somebody who gets on. But out of the built up areas out bush, they are a lot more useful. The 27mhz am/ssb CB band also used in Australia and once the dominant band is good because not many people are on it anymore, so much more likely to be left in peace operating there.
Kinda wish the US had a VHF allocation for something like general use CB. We have CB radio here that anyone can use, but it's way down in the 11 meter band (≈27MHz) and very low power. Basically only good for line of sight and very limited range... Also, to the best of my knowledge, CB repeaters are not a thing here.
Here in Wellington NZ users are a lot more civilised and you hardly ever hear foul language and abuse. In saying that I know of incidents in other places around the country where repeaters have been switched off due to abuse. So it seems that Kiwis are a lot more civilised than our Aussie cousins 😜
back in my days of living on CB (before it went to 80 channels) 21 and 22 at least in South Australia, were used for voice by several brain dead idiots (we tracked a few of them down) 18, 19, 25, were used by different groups of friends or clans, and unknowns were abused as overpowered, as most people used base radios doing 30+watts usually Motorola, Kenwood, Simoco, Tait, icom & Alinco channel 5 always copped misuse usually by kids and their toy handhelds our local repeater ADL03 died multiple times, from either vandals or lack of care from the owner. Then there was the unofficial channel 00 and 41 that was used by certain people as well to keep away from normal users lately though, only channel i ever hear us is 40
Whoops!!! At 12:00 the woman is shown holding up a handheld, trouble is laddie, that an iridium handheld Satphone, also widely used in Australia, but it's not a CB!!!!
The Australian UHF CB (476-477) usage in the US are allocated to Police frequencies notably NYPD, etc. FRS/GMRS (462/467 MHz) usage in Australia are also used for business/Commercial radio operations. UHF CB can be used legally in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vanuatu and some Pacific Islands countries. BTW, my dad have Aussie UHF CB bought in Saudi Arabia and can be used here in the Philippines (FRS/GMRS, PMR446 and UHF CB). Sold on various buy and sell in the Philippines via Carousell.
and now youtube is making things down right near impsossibe to watch with the ads now being count downed in 3.2.1 when i first joined youtube in 2009 , youtube was a hoot , then google went and bought it , and now its a pile of shavvving cream. so, is this going to be on every video now , if so i am out. i really wanted to see this vid but with the gimick that youtube is playing no more .
7 hours straight of Mr Sheen and the haemorrhoids hanging out of his backside the other day waffling about how many torroids and ferrites they all had in their setups. The same stuff over and over. Cant believe someone hasn't home invaded him.
They would be just as well making 446mhz in the uk a uhf cb band,,the amount of people using non spec high power kit is more or less unstoppable,,so just make it legal,,,even a 5 watts max and no business users...i think it would be popular even without repeaters..
also on EU/UK UHF 21, AU UHF CB CHANNEL 14 for PAL-B/G sound, and AU UHF CB channel 34 for PAL-I sound and US UHF 14 video. Likely to interfere with digital TV on 474 MHz on UHF 21, 479 MHz in Pan American digital TV channel 15.
If you're near a major city or town in Australia, do not turn one of these things on in the presence of women or children. If you are somewhat serious about communications consider applying for an amateur radio license. The foundation license is easy to obtain and the equipment that you'll be using is far more versatile. You'll also be pleasantly surprised by the absence of illiterate bozos with self esteem issues.
Really...an absence of illiterate bozos on Amateur bands? Would you like me to play some of the recordings i have of these superior operators on 40, 80 and 10m?
@@robmyers985 In Australia or elsewhere? I don't even think that I've heard a heated discussion on the bands here let alone anything that would constitute anti social behavior. UHF CB isn't too bad in the country here but you seriously don't want to turn it on in our cities. I'll gladly stand by my inference that it is full of illiterate bozos, that's all I've ever heard. If I'm in Melbourne I won't even turn CB on, it's that bad.
That’s the idea so comms can be maintained in these areas. I can only go off that. As for the fines, the Australian authorities state that as being the case...
193 Interference in relation to certain radiocommunications (1) Subject to section 196, a person must not, without the ACMA’s written permission, use a transmitter in a way that the person knows is likely to interfere substantially with radiocommunications carried on by or on behalf of: (a) an organisation specified in the regulations that is: (i) a fire‑fighting, civil defence or rescue organisation; or (ii) an organisation providing ambulance services; or (iii) any other organisation the sole or principal purpose of which is to secure the safety of persons during an emergency; or (b) the Royal Flying Doctor Service; or (c) the Australian Federal Police or the police force of a State or Territory. Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 5 years; or (b) otherwise-5,000 penalty units. 1 penalty unit = $ 165.22 so 5,000 x $ 165.22 = $ 826,100 AUD $ 826,100 AUD x 0.80 = $ 660,880 USD or just over half a million US dollars .
VK3HAU that's crazy but that's if you knowingly interfere with those users. Simply using a non standard repeater pair isn't the same thing. Does it carry the same penalty?
@@TheKingOfInappropriateComments section 197 would see you just get 1 years imprisonment if the interference is serious enough on cb, but you just likely to get your equipment confiscated. But if you where interfering with an emergency service system , then that would be section 193. Heres is the full list of penalties in the radio communications act. Part 4.2-Offences relating to radio emission 192 Interference likely to prejudice safe operation of vessels, aircraft or space objects Subject to section 196, a person must not use a transmitter in a way likely to interfere with radiocommunications if the person knows that such interference is likely to prejudice the safe operation of an vessel, aircraft or space object. Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 5 years; or (b) otherwise-5,000 penalty units. 193 Interference in relation to certain radiocommunications (1) Subject to section 196, a person must not, without the ACMA’s written permission, use a transmitter in a way that the person knows is likely to interfere substantially with radiocommunications carried on by or on behalf of: (a) an organisation specified in the regulations that is: (i) a fire‑fighting, civil defence or rescue organisation; or (ii) an organisation providing ambulance services; or (iii) any other organisation the sole or principal purpose of which is to secure the safety of persons during an emergency; or (b) the Royal Flying Doctor Service; or (c) the Australian Federal Police or the police force of a State or Territory. Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 5 years; or (b) otherwise-5,000 penalty units. (2) If the ACMA refuses to give permission to a person who applied for it, the ACMA must give the person a written notice of the refusal, together with a statement of its reasons. Note: Refusals to give permission are reviewable decisions under Part 5.6. 194 Interference likely to endanger safety or cause loss or damage Subject to section 196, a person must not do any act or thing that the person knows is likely to: (a) interfere substantially with radiocommunications; or (b) otherwise substantially disrupt or disturb radiocommunications; if the interference, disruption or disturbance is likely to endanger the safety of another person or to cause another person to suffer or incur substantial loss or damage. Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 5 years; or (b) otherwise-5,000 penalty units. 195 Transmission from foreign vessel, aircraft or space object (1) Subject to section 196 and subsection (2), a person must not, outside Australia and without the ACMA’s written permission, use a transmitter that is on board a foreign vessel, foreign aircraft or foreign space object: (a) for the purposes of transmitting to the general public in Australia radio programs or television programs; or (b) in a manner that the person knows is likely to interfere substantially with radiocommunications: (i) within Australia; or (ii) between a place in Australia and a place outside Australia. Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 2 years; or (b) otherwise-1,500 penalty units. (2) This section does not apply to use of a transmitter: (a) in accordance with an agreement, treaty or convention that: (i) is entered into between Australia and any other country or countries; and (ii) is specified in the regulations; or (b) under the direction of a person exercising powers under the law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory. (3) If the ACMA refuses to give permission to a person who applied for it, the ACMA must give the person a written notice of the refusal. Note: Refusals to give permission are reviewable decisions under Part 5.6. 196 Emergency transmissions etc. (1) A person does not contravene section 192, 193, 194 or 195 by doing anything that the person reasonably believes was necessary for the purpose of: (a) securing the safety of a vessel, aircraft or space object that was in danger; or (b) dealing with an emergency involving a serious threat to the environment; or (c) dealing with an emergency involving risk of death of, or injury to, persons; or (d) dealing with an emergency involving risk of substantial loss of, or substantial damage to, property. (2) In proceedings for an offence against section 192, 193, 194 or 195, the burden of proving any of the matters referred to in subsection (1) lies on the defendant. 197 Causing interference etc. (1) A person commits an offence if: (a) the person engages in conduct; and (b) the person is reckless as to whether the conduct will result in: (i) substantial interference with radiocommunications; or (ii) substantial disruption or disturbance of radiocommunications. Penalty: Imprisonment for 1 year. (2) In this section: engage in conduct means: (a) do an act; or (b) omit to perform an act. 198 Transmission of false information A person must not, in a transmission made by a transmitter operated by the person, make a statement, or convey information, with intention of inducing a false belief that: (a) the person or any other person is dying, has died, is being injured or has been injured; or (b) property is being, or has been, destroyed or damaged; or (c) there is a risk of the occurrence of an event referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); or (d) there has been, is or is to be a plan, proposal, attempt, conspiracy, threat to do, or omit to do, an act, being an act or omission that is likely to result in the occurrence of an event referred to in paragraph (a) or (b). Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 5 years; or (b) otherwise-5,000 penalty units. 199 Transmission likely to cause explosion (1) A person must not use a transmitter in a manner that the person knows is likely to cause an explosion. Penalty: (a) if the offender is an individual-imprisonment for 5 years; or (b) otherwise-5,000 penalty units. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the person has a reasonable excuse. Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code). 200 Imputed knowledge For the purposes of establishing a contravention of section 192, 193 or 194, paragraph 195(1)(b) or section 199, if, having regard to: (a) a person’s abilities, experience, qualifications and other attributes; and (b) all the circumstances surrounding the alleged contravention; the person ought reasonably to have known that using the transmitter in question, or doing the act or thing in question, was a contravention of that provision, the person is taken to have known that using the transmitter, or doing the act or thing, was such a contravention. 201 Operation of laws of States or Territories This Part is not intended to exclude or limit the concurrent operation of: (a) the law of a State or Territory; or (b) regulations, Ordinances or other instruments of a legislative character made under an Act other than this Act.
@@TheKingOfInappropriateComments but in most cases ACMA don't care what people do on the CB bands, as long as you don't cause interference on other services, e.g commercial and emergency services i.e. " paying customers "
anything with the oricom nam e on it is absolute garbage chinese crap.....icom gme undien are better radios,,,i dont use the shitty band i still use 27 mhz here
I grew up on 27 Megs and do enjoy the band but UHF is so much easier what with the smaller antennas and cheap highly available handhelds, I’ve managed to get many of my friends into the hobby for these reasons
