Communication in the bush is different from the city and there are options and safety factors worth considering before going off the beaten track.

Mobile Phones: Mobile phones are great to call friends and family when you are away if keeping to the major highways. Whilst they work well along most arterial roads (CDMA has a larger coverage), they only cover about 12% of the country.

CB Radio: There are three types of CB. For travellers, the best choice is UHF CB, which can be useful in up to 80% of Australia.
UHF CB may cover an area around your vehicle from as little as 1 square km for a simple hand held radio, to up to 2,500 square kilometers if well set up. It is ideal for travellers in normal health. It can assist in keeping you safer on the open road, help buy the lowest price fuel, best food, repairers and accommodation, plus it is quite entertaining.

There are hundreds of thousands of regular users of UHF, Parks country police, search, search aircraft, road gangs, tourist coaches, caravans, 4WD vehicles and trucks. Rural properties have sets fitted to tractors, motor - bikes, utes and planes, plus 'base station' with greatly extended contact range.

Around 600 automatic 'repeater stations' cover about 9 million square kilometres of Australia. Your CB radio, if well set up, could cover over 20,000 square kilometres.

This a huge performance from an inexpensive product. The key is it must be the right type and well set up. Antenna to vehicle planning is critical for optimum performance. 'Over 90% of installations we see can be dramatically improved and often could have cost the owner less' says communication expert Phil Pullem from Electric Bug.

Hand held low powered sets are no substitute for a properly set up system and are not to be relied upon for safety reasons but are useful as an 'add on'.

HF Radio: Modern HF is the long range, two way radio that covers the Royal Flying Doctor and radio telephone services, plus the user friendly VKS-737 Travellers Radio Network. It offers quick access to all emergency networks, your position logging, weather and road condition broadcasts, plus contacts to and from your home or workplace.
All radio contacts from friends are 'free to air' and can reliably cover the whole of Australia. HF is popular and the best safety radio. It is exciting and easy to own and much cheaper with greater entertainment than the satellite phone.

Satellite Phone: This is the best option for travelling business people who require secure phone calls. Satellite phones do not work indoors though, nor in a vehicle without costly options and lack the variety of low and no cost services offered by radio to recreational travellers.

As a safety item, they are costly long term, however using regularly as a mobile phone, may offset ongoing costs. In emergencies or problem sorting, battery life can be a serious concern, often not solved by 12 volt battery leads. Satellite phones work well, but knowledge of the system helps users greatly. There are 4 types of sat-phone with quite different cost structures, operation and results. It is best to chat to professionals to assess your needs before buying one.

Emergency Beacons: A satellite EPIRB, (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) is a small device designed to locate seafarers in distress when activated. They seam a simple solution for travellers on land but have drawbacks. EPIRBS place you in an area of about 1,300 square km with no voice communication. Searchers use vehicles on land and may take days to find you. not advised for fast response but a great last resort item.

Global Positioning & Navigation Systems (GPS): Thousands now use GPS, knowing exactly the right turn off road, or track, an outback site or fishing spot. You simply follow the 'arrow' to any destination and know the distance left to go. Find your way back, store places and routes for next time, or plan from a chart or map. It used to be easy to get lost. Now it's easy not to!

Article Courtesy: Electric Bug www.electricbug.com.au Community Development Trust, Transport SA and the SA Pastoral Trust.

Important - A Few Rules

When using UHF Radio, it is important to know that station owners, police, emergency services and others use it too. Remember towers work on line of sight, so your reception should improve by moving to higher ground.

Please follow correct UHF Radio etiquette

Channel 1 through to 8 are repeater or duplex stations used to communicate over great distances. Avoid these channels for general use. Your voice could make it unusable for others. When a repeater station is tripped, a series of tones may be heard.

Channels 31 through to 38 are also repeater or duplex stations and trip the repeaters, but you will not hear any tones. These channels are not to be used.

Channel 5 is left unused (by law) for holding emergency conversations.

Channel 10 is used extensively by 4WD operators and is officially recommended for use in parks.

Channel 11 is a calling channel used to contact a user who may be listening. After contact you move to another channel.

Channel 18 is used by caravanners and campers.

Channel 40 is used by truck drivers and other highway users.

Channels 9, 12 to 17, 19 to 21, 24 to 30 and 39 are for general use.

In an emergency, electronically scanning all channels is far more effective way of locating other UHF users in remote regions.

Finally remember that what you say can be heard by others, so keep it short, succinct and polite.