Batboard

I am looking for a good VHF radio mainly to monitor Public Safety but also transmit in the ham bands. I have looked at numerous Motorola radio however most are out of my price range for the amount of ch's I would like which is around 120 have seen the Relm's advertised are these going to be as good as the motorola for my intended uses for them?? Was looking at the 3600 model. Like the HT 1000 just not enough ch's any insights or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

fireant

Are you looking at new or used equipment? Sounds like a 160CH full keypad/display MT 2000 A7 would be perfect for your use... Could probably be had on the used market for under $250, and will cover both commercial and amateur frequencies. It is the exact same form-factor as the HT 1000, and is in the same family (JEDI).

The B/K series portables also have a high channel capacity as well, and are quite rugged.

I've owned 5 in both UHF, VHF and 800 Mhz(LTR), and all have given excellent service.

The LPU, LPH, EPH Etc... models are also FPP, which almost no Circle-M radio has the ability to.

Not to mention, B/K also sells its RSS far cheaper than that of Circle-M PLUS, they have live AMERICANS answering your tech questions as well!

The programming cables are also cheaper and do both the portables as well as mobiles (EMV/EMH).

For the best $$ value, look into the B/K line.

We have 5 of the relm 3600's at work. We gave them to the guys to try out as pagers instead of giving them minitor 4' or 5's. These seem to have good rx but tx is weak with the stock antenna. The battery life on them isn't much to speak of either. The guys usually will not even carry them on the call, because of the weak tx.