What is an Export Radio?
We are often asked to explain the difference between a CB Radio and an Export Radio. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion on the subject, but there really shouldn't be. The simple version is "Export Radios are Big radios", but technically there is a little more to it. An export radio by definition is a radio that is intended to be exported. We sell thousands of radios all over the world, but we do sell radios in the United States and Canada as well. These radios are actually "International Band" radios. Meaning they are not the 10 meter amateur radio as they are labeled for domestic sales by other companies. For radio manufacturers to make business more profitable, and to make it possible for you the consumer to have a better product, make the same radio in different configurations. You may get the same radio in the USA as someone in Europe, but you may have different bands of channels activated in the radio. Technically the radio can, and will, function quite effectively on all the bands; it is the nature of their design. Either it is a 3, 6, 8, or 12 Band radio usually. Each band consisting of 40 channels.
But everyone uses them, is it legal?
In America , and Canada, many retailers sell the Galaxy, Ranger, Connex, and President radios in their 10 meter configuration. It is required by FCC regulations that you have a license to transmit on these frequencies. Although you can legally receive on these channels with any portable scanner, so we assume it would also be legal to receive these amateur radio channels with a radio. We have not as of yet figured out the ambiguous terminology used in the FCC regulations, nor has any one of our lawyers found any case-law to support the issue. Reception appears to be legal no matter how you do it. Radios in their 10 meter configuration are often a lot cheaper than their "International Band" (export version) counter parts. Copper Electronics, Thomas Distributing, and many other online retailers sell 10 meter amateur radios. These radios they sell can not be used on the CB channels, they must be converted back to their original export version condition to work on all the bands again. Some are made intentionally so they can not be converted to full-band use. Some of these companies try to sell you a How-to instructional video tape so you can do the tricks yourself. Realistically, it can be done on some radios by an amateur, some radios are easy. Some require many hours of work by a skilled technician. We sell over 200 different radios, they all require different conversion techniques. Many good radios have been destroyed by amateur conversions. To make matters even more complicated, each manufacturer will constantly their designs, so your how-to book may actually be well out of date even if it's brand new.
So how can I buy a radio already converted, and is it legal?
It's easy to buy a radio already converted, all you have to do is buy an export radio from an export radio company. We sell the radios to customers all over the world. Most of our customers use their radios quite legally from Panama, to New Zealand, and all over the planet. Most of the planet does not regulate the airwaves, but the United States and Canada do just that. Although we do operate in Europe, we do our primary shipping out of the United States. As an international export company we are under a different section of the US regulations than some of the other companies selling similar equipment on the Internet. We can sell you an international band unit that has channel coverage from 24 to 32 MHz. That includes Citizens Band (11 meter), the Amateur Bands (10 and 12 meter), and then some. To legally operate the unit in the United States, or Canada, you must have an amateur radio license and follow the regulations for the use of such equipment. Each country has it's own communications laws, we do not pretend to know them all. We have shipped radios into almost every country on Earth. We have no intentions of pursuing the ever changing legal systems of the world. We will sell you the best equipment money can buy, but it is your job to make sure you use it legally. We will not return e-mail concerning legal issues. It is no more likely that we may know if the Iraqi government allows the use of such equipment, any more so than it is likely that we may know what President Clinton's tie color will be tomorrow.
So why buy an Export Radio?
An Export Radio is designed to be sold globally. They are in a much more competitive market than a Cobra CB radio is. To be competitive in the world's communications markets the manufacturers are forced to turn out a higher quality product, with more features, and usually a better warranty than a domestic CB Radio manufacturer. For the same money you would spend on a Cobra 148 Night Watch Sound Tracker, you can buy a Connex 3300. The Connex will talk circles around the Cobra, and will live another ten years after the Cobra falls apart. No domestic CB will have Echo/Reverb, it is against FCC regulations to alter your voice on the citizen band. Almost all the export radios come with a factory installed echo/reverb. The receive circuit in an export radio is on average 10 times the incoming signal processor a CB unit is. And since an export radio has no governing body to determine how many watts it should do, they do significantly more than the CB limit of 4 watts. Some do as much as 300 watts, or more. Basically you get a lot more for your money in an export radio, and have all the feature preinstalled that you would have had to add extra to a Cobra 29LTD later. If you are serious about quality radio equipment, then there is no other choice.
So the question should be "why not buy an export radio"?
So why do you still sell CB Radios, instead of all export radios?
We often wonder that ourselves, but we really do not have a good answer. Basically as long as people request the radios we will have to sell them. It's hard to convince some people that a Cobra radio isn't the radio it used to be. Cobra was actually manufactured by Uniden at one point, then they were good radios. Now we do not really have anything nice to say about a Cobra radio. If you have to buy a regular domestic CB (and we don't know why you would), try to buy a Uniden. Maxon, Realistic, and most Midlands are "economy" units (cheap). Or, there are some new Galaxy and Texas Ranger radios that only have 40 Channels, but are actually cleverly disguised export radios. All the power is there, just no extra channels. Please do not ask us what we can do for them, and do not send them to us for repair. We need to charge a disposal fee for all Maxon and Realistic radio sent to our company for upgrades. We do not service them, we throw them away. With all due respect to the manufacturers, these units are made cheap so they can be sold cheap. You can't expect a quality transceiver for $49.99.
