Trucking in Canada and VHF radios

Up in PG, daweson, ft nelson etc its all VHF. Pretty sure most people chat on lad2 but im not entirely sure.

 

Lad1 is the truck or open channel, 2 and 3 used when blabbing and you do not want to hog lad1.
Arrow north for the guys that been around a long time and do not want to listen to all the usual stuff.
Alaska hwy mile zero to 1202 is on Lad1

 

I'm sitting in Alaska and having just run up the Alaska Highway I am interested in a VHF radio. The only chatter I hearn on the CB was with the other driver that was running with me.

Could some the Canadian or Alaskan drivers educate me on the VHF radio, what brand, price, etc. Would a quality hand held do the job for the infrequent traveler? Any information would be useful, even that, that I don't know to ask.

 

A decent VHF can be had for about $350 U.S., get a few channels programmed that you want, LAD1, 2, 3 etc. I have a lot of channels programmed in but they are for private companies and off road operations that we do. I also have radio telephone for remote areas where there is still no Cel service.
Radios with huge capabilities are not necessary for highway use. The oil patch has a cazillion channels but they are useless for any one else.
Driving the Alaska highway you should have a VHF on Lad1, especially during winter operations. It can save you a whole lot of trouble.
CB is unheard of in the Canadian north and is of no help whatsoever outside of some one you might be running with.

 

Can you be more specific, as make and model? I have found marine vhf, is this the radio? How many wats? How many channels? Programable or not? What colour?

 

We used to use Midland radios, they were the hot ones of the day but now you can buy a much better radio for a lot less money. The old ones run on crystals but they have gone the way of the Dinosaurs. The little Tadd radios were cheap, dependable and programable, the Canadian Government are frowning on the programable ones with scanners because you can tap into the DOT etc.
I used a marine VHF in one of my trucks and issolated it from grounding to the truck and used a marine erial that was also not grounded to the truck. That baby would reach at least twice as far as the radios in the trucks around me.
How many channels depends on the radio but like I said for the highway you do not need hundreds, you would not use more than ten, fifteen if you have some company stuff etc. Not sure of the wattage, most come in all shades of black, LOL. Our trucks come with the VHF built in and I forget what brand is even in there.
Get on the net look around, walk into a communications store and they will walk you through it and even install one if you need. There should be lots of sources, if you are driving the Alaska highway there are stores in Whitehorse, Fort Nelson, Fort Saint John and Dawson Creek, I am sure there are radio communication outlets in Alaska for sure. The last ones we bought came out of the southern states some where and they were only about $350 and our local installer programmed everything from soup to nuts in them. The new trucks come with a CB in them which our local guy here tears out and installs the big radio before they go any where. I am no techie but these things are pretty simple, the aerial must be matched to the radio for decent reception.

 

Icom seems to be the way to go. The ic-5061 is pretty decent. It cost me about $350 plus another $100 for the antenna, and another $60 to program some 98 channels on it.

 

I am confused by the terminology, specifications and options. There are no VHF radio dealers close to where I live, that I am aware of. Some outdoor stores that have a limited supply of hand helds. I would assume police supply stores may have some of these radios.

There are Marine VHF, Land VHF, hand held and mounted versions of each. I gather that a fequency range of 136-174 MHz is what is needed. It seems some marine radios may be excluded. What kind of range will a hand held have (for infrequent use?)

Then there are specifications: Wide/narrow channel spacing, detachable face (I've figured this one out and it's purpose,) DSC, CTCSS, DTCS, P25, Trunking, Digital and the list goes on.

tuktoyaktuk suggested the IC-5061, which looks like a good choice. I would be interested in an explanation of how you use it for a telephone. I didn't have telephone or my company's satellite communications (Driver Tech) for more than a 1,000 miles.

Anyone else want to give your VHF radio make and model and the feature you must have on your radios.

Thanks to all.

 

Not sure about the bank reference, but here nobody runs CB's they all use VHF. Once you get down onto the Trans-Canada then you get the east-west guys on the CB. VHF, or Bush radios as they call them here are a superior radio when traveling in the bush for logging, mining or aggregate.

Lots use channel 8 in Manitoba.

 

We use VHF on ALL roads. CB's are junk from the past.

Kenwood makes a good radio.

If your from Alaska, ask Lynden drivers what they use and where they get them up there. You can buy them in Whitehorse also and at many places in Edmonton of you come down this way.