First thing that you must know is that a repeater will only repeat what it hears, so if your signal is low in strength or poor quality to the repeater site, it will repeat exactly what it hears.

As most will know, UHF (Ultra High Frequency) will only work generally line of sight due to the frequency it uses. Here in Australia and NZ we are lucky to have a UHF CB Service in the middle of the Commercial Radio Band with 40 Channels in total and about 350 Repeaters around Australia. Channel 1 - 476.425 Mhz to Channel 8- 476.600 Mhz & Channel 31 - 477.175 Mhz to Channel 38 - 477.350 FM (Frequency Modulation) just like the commercial FM radio stations. The ACMA web site is also a very useful source of information - www.acma.gov.au

Repeaters work as Pairs ie: 1 to 31 , 2 to 32 , up to 8 to 38, the Lower Number is what you put your radio on and Press the DUP or REPT button on your radio. The Display on near all radio's will not change when you are in Repeater Mode. So if you are on channel 8 in repeater or duplex mode do not expect your radio display to look any different except for perhaps an indicator showing you are in duplex mode.

In most cases you will have a range of about 30Kms to 100Kms on the Repeater in your area. This range will depend on the location of the Repeater, the height it is above the ground and the clear view in all directions, if not you will find the range decreased in that direction.

Each repeater has its own target area and in some cases another repeater on another channel will over lap the area you are in, so if you travel around Australia you will find our links page very useful.

Repeaters use two channels to operate. Firstly, when you push your DUP, or REPT button on your radio it will do the changeover each time you push and release the PTT button on the side of your Microphone.

When you press the PTT Button, the radio internals will switch the Transmitter up 30 channels to the input channel, ie channel 8 on your radio will now transmit on channel 38 but the display will not change to 38, then when you release the button the radio's receiver will come back to channel 8. See information picture below.




 

UHF channel designation, some of which are established by Federal Communications acts.

 

USED FOR

CHANNEL/S

COMMENTS

Calling
Established by law

11

To call or locate another station. Parties then switch to a conversation channel

 

Conversations

9,
12 to 17,
19 to 21,
24 to 30,
39

 

Used for conversations between stations

 Highway Communications

40

Mainly used by Truck Drivers and other Highway users Australia wide.

Emergency Calling
Established by law

5

Can be used by anyone in an emergency situation ONLY

Repeaters
Established by law

1 to 8
31 to 38

In duplex mode, repeaters need two channels to work. Receives on 1 to 8. Transmits on 31 to 38 (automatically). When within range of a repeater, it will increase the communications distance. Operation in simplex mode on these channels is not permitted when within range of a repeater.

Data Transmissions
Established by law

22, 23

No voice transmissions allowed on these two channels

 

 

 

How to be a polite UHF Repeater user.

Being a good repeater user means you are aware that if in convoy and you are talking to your friend on channel 38 you may trigger a local repeater - but sadly that repeater cannot talk back to you to ask you to move to another channel.

Next time you are in convoy - think about those that need repeaters and use a lower channel from 10 to 20 maybe. 

Finally, if you are in convoy, there is no need to use a repeater. Use a private channel in the 10 to 20 range.

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