Citizens Band 2 way Radio in India

[misra_rakeshin]

Hi guys,

CB radio is now available in India on 27 Mhz frequency. To use it, you don’t need to pay any license fee and/or monthly rental/service charges to the Govt. Just buy and use it. It has 5 watt power which could give you 1-10 kms communication range depending on the type of CB Radio you use. It’s basically a peer to peer communication which means if there are 2 CB Radio's anywhere across India within communication range, they can communicate with each other. Great tool, useful and fun, for adventure excursions!

Let me know guys, if you need more information.

Enjoy.

[thakur]

Hi Rakeshin,

Where can we source this CB radio? Any website regarding this?

Regards.

[misra_rakeshin]

pl. go through the website- www.meracb.com

Rgds,

[mundaire]

I've been exploring this for a few weeks now. There are multiple reasons for someone to have such communication tools, no need for me to get into those here.

Citizens band is a license free HF band with a limit of 5 watts of power on AM/ FM.

However, before buying be sure to buy an India specific radio as our channel frequencies are different from other places. International brands like President, CRT, Uniden, etc. are being retailed here. My advice would be, don't buy online (the prices on Indian websites are unreal), in stead contact the local dealers/ retailers and ask them for offline quotations - they are much more realistic!

So, ordering something from overseas may/ may not work here. There is of course a bit of a premium to pay, while comparing with the overseas prices for the same models.

That said, one can always order some of the other accessories from overseas and save some money. You can buy appropriate 27 MHZ antennas, SWR meters etc. All of which will work just fine here.

For shorter range comms (under a mile or so), there is also the option of buying/ using 446 MHZ UHF license free PMR radios (with a 0.5 watt power limit).

Once again, the frequencies which are legal in India are not the same as for overseas. So either you buy India specific radios or buy something which can be reprogrammed using your computer, to comply with the Indian standard allowable frequencies/ channels.

Citizens band being a longer range option, has multiple uses, including but not limited to, convoy driving in areas where other comms may not be available.

PMR 446, due to its limited range, can be useful for comms in a factory/ farm/ other short range environment. Usually they are substantially cheaper as well.