GME AE4702

Great Antenna, not so good cable or service – I recently purchased a GME AE4702B UHF CB Antenna. It came complete with a spring and cable to mount it on the bull bar of my 4WD. All good...so far. I mounted the antenna, leaving plenty of slack cable for antenna movement whilst driving or accidental antenna bending. I tested it by talking to a friend over the CB in our driveway. All good...so far.

We get on the open road and as the gap between cars in the convoy widens I hear more and more static and less talk. Once we're in the Simpson Desert, I can't even hear anyone over the next sand dune! I first suspected the new CB Radio I installed, but quickly dismissed this as all was good close up. One evening we took the antenna apart again only to discover the cable had not been crimped to the antenna socket and was just loosely inserted into the crimp sleeve! I tried to fix it by refitting and crimping the cable, but it still did not work. I had to buy a whole new cable plus connector from a CB Radio shop in Longreach and rewire the car in the car park! Thankfully this new cable did work properly and I was able to communicate more than 100m.

Here's the kicker: I returned the broken cable plus receipt of the new cable to the original place of purchase who said they'd contact the GME rep and get a refund for the cable. After waiting 2 months for a callback I went back to the shop to ask what was going on. GME refused to refund the cost of the new cable, only willing to provide a new cable to replace the broken one. WTF? I was not happy and let the shop owner know in no uncertain terms. They agreed it was not a good outcome and actually refunded me the cost of the cable out of their own pockets. Well done, but I was still very unhappy with GME.

The short of the story is, just because a product comes brand new, packaged in plastic, off the shelf, does not mean it is fault free. TEST it thoroughly, and in the case of CB Radio equipment, over a large distance, before heading off into the desert, so you can get it sorted by the dealer before there's trouble.

Sadly, I cannot recommend GME for their service as I was very disappointed with the time delay and their response.