This cheap investment is a must for any serious street racer, cruise attendee or pit crew at the local track. If you’re planning a long cruise and you expect to be alone in your car a radio can cure your boredom by providing light entertainment. They save you money by preventing mobile calls and even speeding tickets. While on large cruises they keep you together so you never have to be lost in an unfamiliar area again. During track days they can assist you with warnings and instant feedback on your driving. You can also use them as a quick warning system while making runs around your local stomping ground. Whichever way you look at it a UHF radio is a useful piece of equipment that I feel is a necessity for any car enthusiast. Just please use them safely and treat them with the same respect you would a mobile phone while driving.
At the inexpensive end of the market you can purchase a solid pair of hand-held units for around $50. Uniden is the most common brand you will find and they are great value. I’ve used one of their units myself for close to 10 years. I would recommend their compact model (pictured) which they call an Ultra Pocket Size. It fits perfectly well in your glove box while taking up minimum room and for the obsessive, less weight. Most hand-helds run on AA or AAA batteries and their range is up to 3km which in reality translates to somewhere between two to three traffic lights. Sufficient for those annoying moments on a cruise when you get stuck at a red light and your group of cars takes off on you in an area you are not familiar with. This happens to me all the time and I’m beginning to suspect foul play…
For the serious amongst you who need a lot more range you can invest in a proper CB radio mounted in or under your glove box. Decent ones cost $200 and up and you do need to purchase an antenna separately but they are not very expensive. With the CB radios the antenna plays an important role in the range you will receive but if you are anything like me you will cringe at the prospect of drilling a hole in your body to mount it. No need to despair as there are options available for glass mounted sticker type antennas. The radio runs off the car battery but as you can imagine it is a bit of work to get it installed properly and out of sight. Uniden does a compact model which is a good buy at around $300 (save up to $80 on eBay) and a glass mounted antenna will cost you around $50.
Whichever type you choose you do need to remember that line of sight is important so if you find yourself stuck in the CBD surrounded by buildings your hand-held might not work very well while the CB will do just fine. At your local track though the hand-held will be more than enough since you are in an open space with little interference. As with all things consider how it will be used for the majority of the time and buy accordingly.