australia:radio_campers
Table of Contents
radio for campers
see also:
- I don't sell any of these nor do I receive any remuneration if you buy them, and I have not personally reviewed all of them, they are listed here to give you perspective
Introduction
- there are a variety of radio devices available depending upon needs:
- receive-only type devices:
- software defined radio (SDR) receivers using laptop and a USB radio dongle with special software and an antenna
- receive and transmit (transceiver) radios
- UHF CB 2-way radios (no license needed)
- higher power rated transceivers which need Ham radio licenses to use
- transceivers - software defined radio (SDR) - may be illegal
- for those going off-grid or for when the internet / mobile phone system goes down such as extreme weather events (strong winds, floods or bushfires knocking out the local electricity grid) it is nice to have other options such as a radio receiver or other remote communication for campers and hikers which does not rely upon local infrastructures
- radio may be the ONLY way of communicating to the outside world in a disaster
- the following are ILLEGAL in Australia and can result in fines up to $425,000 or 2 years imprisonment1)
- 2-way radios which are not compliant with Australian regulations (eg. most online Chinese models such as Baofeng)
- use of 2-way radio on frequencies other than CB radio channels without a license
- mobile phone boosters (but cellular mobile repeaters are permitted)
- mobile phone jammers
- GPS jammers
- WiFi jammers
- drone jammers
- non-approved radio transmitters - its impossible to work out from the legislation if the very low power SDR transceivers outlined here are legal to possess in Australia or not but seems the universities use them for teaching so I presume they are as long as you don't transmit illegally but I'm not confident at all about their legality for possession - see https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2021L00661/latest/text
- unless you have a Ham radio licence, you are NOT allowed to transmit on frequencies other than 2-way CB radio
- avoid having radio transmitters such as 2-way radios within 2m of receivers as they will overload them
- to minimise noise, move away from or turn off electronic devices that produce EMF noise including LED lights, power sources, etc
- HF (SW) is particularly sensitive to noise and ideally needs a long antenna outdoors to match the HF wavelength, although for signals bouncing off the ionosphere, antenna orientation is less critical as the polarisation is dispersed due to the bouncing
- if using an outdoor antenna BEWARE of lightning strikes!
2-way CB UHF radio in Australia
- see CB 2-way radio
Radio frequency bands
- see radio basics for more details
Weather forecasts on radio
- in the US, there is a dedicated NOAA weather band 162.400-162.550 MHz - not all radios can receive this
- in Australia, NOAA is not of any use, so you can use the BOM weather:
- radio fax of weather updates
- these are sent on frequencies in the range 2000-21000kHz
- for marine use in Australia:
- if going more than 25 miles off shore, you will need HF transceiver radio as well as an ACMA approved 25W marine VHF transceiver radio plus satellite phone
- most coastal radio stations provide regular local weather forecasts on VHF radio, with instructions and broadcast times announced regularly on Channel 16 or 67.
- VHF Channel 16 frequency is 156.8 MHz. It is the international calling and distress frequency for marine VHF radio communications, channel 67 is 156.375 and is the supplementary channel for channel 16.
General Mobile Radio Services (GMRS)
- similar to CB radio but different bands
- in the USA, GMRS is allotted 30 frequency channels in the vicinity of 462 MHz and 467 MHz. They are divided into 16 main channels and 14 interstitial channels
- requires GMRS licence but usually no exam is needed (unlike HAM radio licences)
- in Australia, UHF CB radio fulfils this use
Software Defined Radio (SDR) receivers
- only for nerd campers!
- these are great for learning radio and for detecting and analyzing non-audio data in particular that is being transmitted by radio waves
- these include aircraft or ship transponders containing call signs and GPS location data, remote control devices, weather fax services, etc
Portable SW radio receivers
- see radio receivers
Sending text messages on LoRa mesh radio networks such as "meshtastic" or "reticulum"
VOIP Push to Talk "2-way radios" over cellular networks (PoC)
- these act like 2-way radios BUT they use cellular networks to send messages - NOT radio
- hence not very useful for remote campers without cellular network coverage
Slow internet via digital HF radio
- low bandwidth digital HF radio modems can be used to send and receive emails, GPS, graphical weather bulletins and emergency communications globally
- this is not going to be used by a hiker as there is too much gear and nerdy computer configuration involved but may be useful for remote set ups
- Winlink is a free provider
- you need to set up a Winlink HF Gateway which involves an amateur radio HF transceiver (could be software defined radio SDR), digital rig control interface, USB sound card, Windows based computer, and specialized Winlink control and modem software
- in addition, as a Winlink Sysops you must be approved by the Winlink System Administrator before being allowed to connect to the Winlink network. This means you MUST have a Winlink account, be an active user of radio email, and be willing to setup dedicated hardware with backup power for the task.
australia/radio_campers.txt · Last modified: 2025/08/06 00:50 by gary1