What’s UHF CB and how it is allocated

Before introduction of UHF CB, I would like to explain UHF PRS first. It is the abbreviation of Ultra High Frequency – Personal Radio Service, a short distance, unlicensed, two-way voice radio service for general purpose use. Personal radio service is meant to be used for direct, personal voice communications, which is UHF CB essentially.

UHF CB is a class-licensed citizen’s band radio service authorized by the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, and Malaysia in the UHF 477 MHz band. UHF CB provides 77 channels, including 32 channels (16 output, 16 input) allocated to repeater stations. It is similar in concept to the General Mobile Radio Service in the United States.

Equipment and Licensing

User equipment designs are similar to commercial land mobile two-way radio, except the maximum legal output power is 5 Watts. External antennas are permitted and commercially manufactured antennas have gains as high as 12dB. Handheld transceivers (handy talkies) are permitted and have transmit power from 500mW to 5 W (full legal power) and are relatively cheap compared to full-sized transceivers. Operation in the band is restricted to modes F3E and G3E (FM or PM of analogue voice telephony) except for channels 22 and 23, which are data modes only.

Class licensing means that users do not have to apply for a licence or pay a licence fee; however, they must comply with the regulations of the class licence.

Repeaters

Repeaters extend the range of transmission by receiving and automatically rebroadcasting a transmission using an antenna located in a high location, normally the top of a mountain, tall building or radio tower. Sometimes a transmission range of over 100 kilometres (60 miles) can be achieved through the use of a repeater. Repeaters are on channels 1–8 and 41–48 and the duplex button should be pressed to access the repeater.

Current UHF CB band plan (80 Channels)

General chat channels are used in simplex mode, repeater channels must be used in duplex mode. If you are not using a repeater it is recommended to choose a “general chat” channel.

New Zealand

New Zealand offers a similar PRS service. New Zealand’s Personal Radio Service (PRS) and 26 MHz Citizens Band radio are very similar to Australia’s UHF Citizens Band and 27 MHz Citizens Band services.

The New Zealand Government’s Ministry of Commerce introduced the UHF PRS in 1996 to allow for freely available short-range wireless communications outside the 26 MHz CB band. The UHF (but not VHF) band was selected due to its ability to withstand atmospheric and groundwave interference unlike the existing 26 MHz allocation.

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