OT: Again sry last one! Dual Band Amatuer Radio

[Motoman]

I'm looking for a Dual Band Amatuer Radio portable with the feature of an amatuer radio like field programming, yet with the look and design and robustness of a top end Motorola Commercial/Public Saftey radio. Does anyone know of one? THanks.

[kato56]

Here is MY opinion on your question....
While not as rugged as a motorola ht, currently, I would suggest you look into a Yaesu FT-60 vhf/uhf radio for the following reasons:
5 Watts on both bands
Wide band receive 108 - 137 MHz (Air Band), (Cellular Blocked) 137 - 520 MHz (AM/FM), 700 - 999.990 MHz (FM) (902/927 Ham segment blocked too), TX 144-148 MHz, 430-450 MHz
1000 8-character alpha numeric memory channels programmable by keypad or PC
10 banks for "favorite" memory channels
NOAA weather alert
Wide/narrow TX deviation
Rugged Die-cast, Water-resistant Case Construction
400 mw audio output
DTMF auto dialer w/10 memory slots
CTCSS and DCS also split CTCSS/DCS
One of the best things about this radio is that I have not any intermod which is very common for wideband radios of this type.
It is a well built amateur radio for amateur use.
I've owned other Yaesu HT's (VX-1, VX-5, VX-7) and was dissappointed by their performance, especially in the intermod dept., they suffered bad intermod in metro areas even with the stock antennas. Yaesu just came out with a VX-6, I don't have any info for that one...
(I am not employed by Yaesu, or do I receive any endorsements from them).

Again, just my opinion......

[firetech792]

I've owned the FT-60r for about a month and have no complaints. When compared to my HT1000 and Astro Saber, the receive sensitivity is real close. Sometimes there is no noticable difference. Plus its small size is a plus. And the mod to open up the bands is easy.
One tip though. Buy a seperate dual band antenna cut for the commercial bands. The stock antenna that comes with this radio isn't worth a shxx.
I purchased the stubby antenna model MH-255 and it works great.