Not to worry on the repeaters. I've kinda grown used to them being quiet and move any chatter to the club repeater that has somewhat better coverage. This way, I can leave a radio on at night and hear if any of my night shifters need something.
I actually prefer 440, but I have a Motorola MSF with a PROM for station control. I have (had?) some interference from a neighbor's plasma TV power supply and it ended up on my input. So, that cut range, but any time I want to make a change, like change frequency, I'd need to find someone who either had an Epson or Motorola R1800 suitcase programmer that still worked. Once they deadline these things, that's it. I almost replaced that with a Mototrbo repeater, but... nope (I use enough electricity). So, I bought a 2 meter repeater more to tinker with, and we've moved much of our stuff there. That's why I'm using the TM-281As, because they're very cost effective, and they're the closest in operating characteristics to a commercial radio.
Found the same on simplex. Sometimes we can out talk the repeater that way. I have 3 dB Maxrad antennas drilled for the car roofs, so our range is really decent. If we take two cars on vacation (between 6 people), we generally have continuous communication anywhere.
Did you get the programming software? It's pretty easy to use.
Glad to hear you made your decision. I think you made the right choice.
