Batboard

Here is my problem:

My Agency runs its operation on a UHF Radio System, the area fire departments that we currently run with are all on VHF Radio systems, so currently all of our vehicals have 2 radios installed.

Well now the area Fire Departments are all switching over to an 800Mhz Radio system, but we will still need to talk on all 3 systems since we service several different agencies. For the ambulances and other company vehicals, this isn't a big deal. However for my POV that I do use for work, this would be a problem. I don't have the room in my Jeep for 3 different radios, nor would I want to have 3 radios installed.

Are there any decent radios that could work on all 3 systems, that would be simple to use, and easy to program? For me personnel, as a supervisor, would mainly be transmitting on our UHF system.

Any thoughts or ideas please would really help.

No, there are no tri-band V/U/800 commercial radios available to do what you desire.

Alternatives are small control heads on remote-mounted radios, such as three A4 or A5 Spectra's, or various remoteable Kenwood and Icom VHF/UHF commercial radios.

Kenwood and Vertex both make halfway-decent dual-radio configurations, with Kenwood being the better of the two.

You would run your VHF and UHF radios off the same control head, and have a seperate control head for your 800 radio.

I'd suggest looking at Kenwood 730/830 or 790/890 configurations.

You could also run a dual tray Orion setup, but that may get pricey in a hurry.

I'd second the Kenwood idea. We have a few at work, and I've seen a few with a local FD on the rigs....they seem to work out rather well.

Okay, thanks guys! I wasn't aware that you could share a control head! thats going to help out alot, and I don't mind having 2 control heads showing, its better than 3 i guess.

So that lead me to my next question, anyone know where I could get my hands on a set up like that, for a decent price? or at least point me into the right direction?

Thanks again everyone for your help!

The x30 setups can be had for in the ballpark of $500. That's all-up, all-in. The x90 series is the replacement for the x30. I've seen a lot of 690s (lowband) on ebay lately, but not as many 790s (VHF) or 890s (UHF).

If you go with a x30 setup, the most difficult part to find will be the KRK-4DB. That's the dual-band conversion kit.

If 12.5 is a necessity for you, make sure you look for radio drawers with the G suffix.