User equipment designs are similar to commercial land mobile two-way radio, except the maximum legal output power is 5 Watts.
This includes overseas personal radio service devices because they do not share the same band plan, power output and channels as UHF CB.
Approved radios are identified by the Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM) label, usually found on the rear panel of the equipment.
UHF CB radios can be set to be completely silent until they receive a series of tones matching a pre-programmed sequence.
It is common practice to install signs at worksites, roadworks, regional highways, national parks, heavy vehicle checking stations, and on the rear of camper vans and caravans to advertise a UHF channel for communications.
For example, during the widening of the M1 Pacific Motorway between Sydney and Newcastle, contractors installed "UHF 29" signs at the entry point of each worksite.
ACMA originally intended to make older 40 channel UHF radios on the 25 kHz spacing illegal to use from June 2017.
[11] Subsequently, the MCMC revoked 477 MHz personal radio service as a class assignment on 1 January 2022.
The New Zealand Government's Ministry of Commerce introduced the UHF PRS in 1996 to allow for freely available short-range wireless communications outside the 26 MHz CB band.
The UHF (but not VHF) band was selected due to its ability to withstand atmospheric and groundwave interference unlike the existing 26 MHz allocation.