I seem to recall a change (some years back) to ACA's UHF CBRS reg's, that permitted (eg, agricultural indutries) the use of [CBRS] to remotely control farm processes (eg, switch- ing On or Off as pump), ie, by sending con- trol signals by radio.
What are the specifics of the -permitted- data control signals? (Eg, were digital modes ever authorized? Or maybe just analog tone- sequence?)
I think there were limits om how often a control signal could be sent... If so, details?
Yes. Data is permitted (I think voice is prohibited?) on channels 23 and 24 (or is it 22 and 23? :).
I imagine there would be but providing you're not sending an almost constant string I wouldn't worry too much about it - I doubt the ACA do!
If you can find anything on the ACA's website you're doing very, very, very well.
Essentially if you use standard commercial UHF CBs and something like DTMF as the tone system you won't go far wrong. You may need to pay attention to your antennas to get good range - consider a Yagi, at least at the Rx end.
I just found it in a CBRS Class License document at the ACA's web site.
Of course, their site search tool didn't help...
OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK... keeping sloppy web programmers comfortable in ACT or NSW, I bet, but NOT GETTING THE JOB DONE.
The Site Map got me to the right document (after a few false hits...); here's an excerpt or three:
First, from "Radiocommunications (Citizen Band Radio Stations) Class Licence 2002" - cbrs.rtf or .pdf - we have:
"5 Class Licence Subject to sections 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, a person may only operate a CB station that:
(a) directly transmits speech to, or audio tones to initiate communication with, another CB station:
(i) on a carrier frequency mentioned in item 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 in Schedule 1; and
(ii) subject to a restriction mentioned in the item; or
(b) through a CB repeater station, transmits speech to, or audio tones to initiate communication with, another CB station:
(i) on a carrier frequency mentioned in item 5 in Schedule 1; and
(ii) subject to a restriction mentioned in the item; or
(c) transmits data to communicate with another CB station:
(i) on a carrier frequency mentioned in item 6 in Schedule 1; and
(ii) subject to a restriction mentioned in the item."
-and-
[Sec Ch Freq,MHz]"6 22
23 476.950
476.975 A transmitter employed in a CB station:
(a) must operate with a transmitter power not exceeding 5 watts; and
(b) must not exceed an EIRP of 8.3 watts; and
(c) must operate with an occupied bandwidth not exceeding 16 kHz; and
(d) must not exceed a carrier frequency error of ±3 kHz; and
(e) must not exceed an adjacent channel power of -22 dBm; and
(f) must not exceed a conducted spurious emission of -30 dBm; and
(g) must operate on a duty cycle of not more than 3 seconds in any period of 60 minutes; and
(h) must be fitted with a device that shuts the transmitter down after 3 minutes of continuous operation.
A receiver employed in a CB station must operate with a conducted spurious emission not exceeding -57 dBm.
Note The use of single frequency store and forward repeaters is permitted.
From elsewhere, we have:
"5.10 Call tone facility
If a call tone facility is provided on the equipment, it must not last (sic) longer than 3 seconds in any 60 second period."
- From: "Radiocommunications (UHF CB Radio Equipment) Standard 2004"
"Uses not permitted
Other types of data operation, such as Packet Radio, are not permitted on CB bands.
[So, if you're disability precludes you from speaking, then Citizens Band Radio is not for you - at least in Australia; get an Amateur Radio License... ;-) ]
Voice communications is not permitted on UHF CB channels 22 and 23.
[Tell that to a local gov't department...]
Telemetry and telecommand is not permitted on any channel other than UHF CB channels 22 & 23"
The above is from a web page with title:
"Class Licensing Citizen Band Radio Stations"
[Remember when "CBRS" meant: "Citizen Band Radio SERVICE"?
Well, it still is - at least in the country, where people still help each other, mostly.
It's just gov't that wants us to "compete" with each other, eg, buying ourselves poor or looking after ONLY ourselves]
OK, so we know we can use UHF CB Ch 22 & 23 for up to 3 seconds out of every 60 seconds for remote control applications (cf post 3)
So, who's making AFFORDABLE gear that can be EASILY interfaced with a PIC-based board?
Maybe someone has a cheap but reliable sys- tem that combines a (eg, used FM-92) radio & a PIC controller board, with isolated inputs & relay-controlled outputs that can be pro- grammed by a cluey user or their consultant?
Are there any used gear on the market or coming soon (eg, after some soon-to-hit-the- market new ver of an existing model arrives)?
A possible solution using 477MHz UHF CB was described in Silicon Chip Feb 2005 p. 72 - 78. According to Stan Swan ACA rules specify external antennas can be connected to UHF CB radios.
The class license document contais errors and is too hard to understand.
The information paper is much more informative and useful:
formatting link
You can only transmit telemetry/telecommand on UHF channels 22 and 23 and voice is prohibited on those channels. You are limited to a 3 sec duty cycle, which means you can only transmit for 3 sec in any 60 sec window. Data transmission is allowed but packet radio is not - which in my opinion means you can use a radio modem provided it is non-routable (ie. it is used for direct point to point communications only).
On UHF channels 22 and 23, you are limited to 5W antenna input power and an EIRP of 8.3 watts so a lower gain yagi would be fine on the tx end also. The increased EIRP does not apply to other channels.
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