Is it possible for the average person in Taiwan to acquire a radio (like taxis have)?
If not, what kind of licenses, fees, etc are required to operate it.
I talk about the typical 4xx Mhz car radio/transponder that could handle a circle of 3km.
The short answer is “no” - the long one “not you”. 
No, seriously - it may sound facetous, but it simply means that there are ways for people who deal with radio on a professional level and (to a certain extent) amateur radio operators - for “average people” the answer is “no”.
(Unanswered question: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=95480 )
For amateur radio, you need an amateur radio licence of your own country and then use this information (for example):
qsl.net/oh2mcn/bv.htm
For other radio services, see ncc.gov.tw/english/news.aspx … tent_sn=44
What might be interest to you, however, is “licence-free radio” (Bluetooth, for example, is a system where the users don’t need a licence to make use of a part of the radio spectrum). The NCC should be able to tell you all about"licence-free radio", too.
On Bade road there is at the corner to Xinsheng and Bade road a basement with many booth.
One of them is selling Walky-Talkys with a range of up to 3KM if I understood them correctly.
Maybe they have longer ranges too.
When you come down the stairway, it will be in the first aisle to your left on B1 or B2.
In this context it’s worth mentioning that foreign buyers should reliably ascertain that any walkie-talkies they want to buy operate in the “licence free” part of the radio spectrum - if the devices are not designed for licence free operation and a foreigner gets caught using one of them, the ultimate consequences may appear harsh. Maybe one of the lawyers on board here can show the OP how to find the relevant laws…
I have to 2 CB radios at home (walky talkies) I bought them in Australia for an outback trip, they are very small, have 12 channels (i think) and a range of up to 3km. I haven’t tried them yet in Taiwan but I do believe that Taxi radios are on a different frequency than CB
That’s right. The OP mentions 4xx MHz but this has nothing to do with CB or amateur radio (which is something different altogether) - if taxi radios were to operate in the licence free part of the spectrum then it would be dead easy to get some.
[edited]
Maybe this is a dumb question, but I have a Cobra 29LX CB I brought back from the US. It transmits at 27MHz according to the instructions (not the norm for Taiwan) I discovered this after trying to buy an antenna for it locally. Looks like everything here is 144MHz. Is it legal and or possible to use this CB in my Jeep, provided I find a matching antenna?
Yes, this is CB (as used in North America and Europe).
That is the 2m (ham) band - most of what is going on there has nothing to do with ham radio and is illegal according to the written laws, but…
Since Taiwan manufactures and exports a lot of ham radio equipment, it stands to reason that some of that finds domestic users, as well (legal or not, mostly the latter - there aren’t many active hams in Taiwan).
Not legal according to what i’ve been told (even ham radio, which is legal under certain circumstances, suffers from so many restrictions that most foreign hams coming to Taiwan don’t bother), but i’m not an expert or lawyer (just a radio operator), and, anyway, as regards “possible”, all you need is someone to talk to and - more importantly - not to cause anybody to complain about you and your activitiy - and you’ll likely get away with playing with CB in Taiwan… And you might perhaps enjoy the thrill of living in danger (not sure what wuold happen if they busted you - take your toys? fine you? jail you? deport you? - better ask in the legal section of this forum)…
Being conspicuous (Jeep with long antenna) might get some cops interested - but then, maybe, not…
Lots of words to just to tell you that you are on your own… 
Hmm so as far as you know my CB is illegal? Wouldn’t be the first questionable modification to find out way onto my Jeep… I only plan to use it on occasion to coordinate directions with my buddies on the highway anyway. And the compatibility issue? Do you know if my 27MHz Cobra will cause interference with other local 144MHz radios? Thanks for the response. 
27mhz would have no effect on 144mhz vhf or uhf radios, however is anyone else assigned to the 27mhz CB channels in Taiwan? That would be your biggest issue. However, there was one situation where a guys CB was jamming a VHF channel and he got a $7000 USD fine from the FCC, but it appears he was using an amplifier and before they fined him he was told to desist which he refused to do arrl.org/news/fcc-upholds-70 … b-operator
I brought my VHF radio to Taiwan a few years ago to see if there were any fellow operators in Taiwan but a scan of the channels showed me there was none (as far as I could tell), however I could listen in to taxi drivers bantering to one another (fun)
As far as getting caught, it is not too easy for someone to track down an illegal user. In Canada, we had one guy that would swear and jam repeater channels but he was mobile and next to impossible to track down. A fixed base station is easier to track obviously.
Ahhhh. So I would only be able to communicate with other 27MHz guys? I’m not sure what frequency my buddies are on in there Trucks. But i dont think it’s 27MHz. Wish I knew this befor I blew 120 bucks on this CB.
Right…
Sounds like you’d better ask your buddies about that instead of us.
Saw someone posted this on facebook. It’s written by a German amateur radio enthusiast living in Taiwan, on his thoughts about the quirkiness of amateur radio exam in Taiwan.
It’s actually written in both Chinese and English (I kind of expected there to be a Deutsch and Nihongo version…)
English
dl7und.net/eng/Articles/Amateur- … -in-Taiwan
Chinese
dl7und.net/chi/node_99/node_133/node_127
They are not the same, the English version seems to be more technical.
Mostly I wanted to share this frustrating observation in the Chinese version (which is absent from the English version):
[quote]“我們這裡不一樣。”在台居住的外國人常聽到這一句。它很方便。我不用解釋，不用考慮為什麼某一件事是這個樣子，我只要說“就這樣”。台灣業餘無線電家應該已經知道我這裡要提到的“不一樣”是什麼。台灣的公務員對業餘無線電好像沒有很多經驗，所以他們很簡單地把它當另一種業務無線電。
不相信？請問，你的執照上有沒有呼號？有你的名字、地址、照片，但是沒有呼號。那，請拿出電台執照。“電台名稱”好像是一個類別，不是真的名稱或呼號。那你是什麼？一個“所屬者”而已，類似一個公司負責人。翻過來一下！後面寫什麼？“無線電機”的資料，而那個資料才包含呼號！所以呼號是屬於機子的，就像一位OM用汽車行照的例子跟我解釋。是嗎？如果我賣我的車，它行照跟車牌會跟著它走。如果我賣我的收發機，下一個人好像不會用跟我一樣的呼號… 矛盾？對。有沒有人在乎？沒有。因為“台灣就是這樣。“要不要更多矛盾？[/quote]
my crappy translation:
[quote]“It’s different here,” is a common phrase foreigners living in Taiwan hear all the time because it is very convenient. There’s no need to explain or think about why something is how it is. All one needs to say is “that’s the way it is.” Taiwanese amateur radio enthusiasts probably figured out by now what “difference” I’m talking about. But the public officials seems utterly inexperienced when it comes to public radio, therefore they simply treat it as another type of commercial radio.
Don’t believe me? Let’s see, does your amateur radio license have a call sign on it? Sure it has your name, address, photo, but no call sign. Then let’s get your radio station license out. “Name of the radio station” seems like a category, not a real name or call sign. So apparently you are just an “owner” in all of this. Kind of like the owner of a company. Now, let’s turn to the back of that radio station license. The information for the “wireless radio transceiver” is written on the back, and that info includes the call sign. So the call sign is tied to the wireless radio. Some OM explained it to me using the “vehicle registration” analogy, really? So if I sell my car, the registration goes with the car. If I sell my transceiver, my call sign goes with the transceiver? Would the next person now be using the same call sign as I am? Confused? Yeah, that’s the point, and no one cares. No one. Because “that’s how it is in Taiwan.” Do you want to be even more confused?[/quote]
There are many passages in the English version which are fun to read as well:
From reading that guys blog it looks like they make it really difficult for foreigners to set up.
I guess if that guy really didn’t care he could set up and just use the Japan call sign. There are a lot of illegal ham operators in Canada, and Industry Canada doesnt seem especially interested unless your signal is so poor quality that you are heard on all the neighborhood toasters.
I use to play 2m/70cm before when I was a lot younger but I got bored and the last time I tuned in to the 2m band in Toronto, all the repeaters were silent. It seems to be pretty much dead now, due to cell phones and internet.