GME vs Uniden

Couldn't agree more. Had a Uniden for 7 years in my old truck and it worked fine, never an issue, have a GME in my current truck and it works fine as well, no issues. I'm in a 4WD Club where there is a mixture of both brands, I have yet to hear a complaint (past 7 years) about either.

Prices are pretty close between Uniden and GME, Icom are a bit dearer. With my current UHF I chose it based on price at the time (Prestige Comms in Perth had a radio and antenna plus free postage deal going).

I work for a transport company with around 50 trucks in the fleet.The vast majority have GME TX4400 or TX3200's fitted.There are also a few Icoms and a few Unidens (mostly older models).You can pick the Unidens by the hollow sounding audio and the amount of background noise transmitted.-Steve

Thats strange, because my Uniden transmits way further and heaps clearer then my mates GME. We both have the exact same GME aerial, and yet when travelling with another friend with GME we can hardly understand what my mate is saying, yet mine comes across clear as and he can always pick me up way before my other mate. All were installed by the same bloke, with the same aerials. Only difference is mine was $150 cheaper then theres. We use Icom handhelds at work and they are shocking, they arent as good as they are made out to be. Non stop failures. I would definitely buy Uniden again.

hey there Doug,

I remember you making similar comments in the past and I considered this most carefully when buying a UHF for my new vehicle.

I needed a detactable head unit and chose the GME TX3420 this time round, just to please you mate:-))
So you should contact GME and claim a reward for convincing me to buy one.

Bill.

Forget 'selcall'! Your new radio will come with CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System) and possibly DCS (Digitally Coded Squelch). Both are useful if you are travelling in convoy and don't want to be interrupted by everyone else around.

I work as part of the PE staff at a school on the Gold Coast and after a few incidents where instant communication was vital (but not available as we were outside) we decided to equip the 5 of us with 1W handhelds linked back to the main office. As the only person in the group with experience of UHF comms I was given the task of setting them up. I did this by choosing a channel away from 40 and then chose a DCS channel that was the same for each handheld (I had 104 choices). The only people who can hear us is ourselves and we don't hear anyone else because of DCS. The radios also had CTCSS but they were limited to about 20 channels and the slim possibility of someone being on our channel and also using the same CTCSS channel was higher but highly improbable.

This coded squelch system can work for one, or many channels - it's your choice and you can still scan for the other channels. If you make the channel you and your mates are using with DCS or CTCSS as your working channel it means that their communications will be preferred over all others.

The GME TX3220 has CTCSS as does the TX3420 and these are base models.

I use an older GME (the TX3400) which has a detachable head mount meaning I can put the base wherever I like. However, if given a choice today I would get this



The idea of putting the display and controls in the handpiece is a work of genius and surely so much safer.

BTW, our work handhelds are Uniden and I have to agree that sound quality could be much better.

Sorry,but if you are using CTCSS or DCS other people can still hear everything you say.They just can't talk to you without the correct code. The correct code opens the squelch so that the other station can be heard but doesn't give you extra "channels".-Steve

OK, I didn't realise that. I can check this out a work quite easily. The main plus for us, regardless, is that we don't have to worry about being interrupted or have to wait for others transmissions to end.

Holden4th

You will still have to wait for other transmissions to end - if someone is transmitting near by with a higher powered unit they will go "over the top" (i.e., block) your transmission. You also run the risk of unknowingly interrupting someone else or blocking a channel already in use because you cant hear them.

cheers

Ben

Have you thought about a dash pod from the department of interiors I had one fitted to my 100 series with the gme 4400( I used to drive interstaters and used them all the time) i programed all the regional police uhf channels in WA into it and can swear by it, the newer models allow you to program more channels if you like but most use the same frequencies as other states my dash pod also house's the swithces for the air lockers and compresor,GPS and im about to mount the hands free kit for the next G phone to it. I just didn't want to be drilling holes in the dash every were i wanted to put an accessory, wouldnt hurt to have a look