Need dual band portable and mobile

[SLFD127]

Hey guys,
Im in the market for a dual band portable and a dual band mobile. Need to be vhf/uhf radios. One fire dept in one county operates solely on vhf frequencies, and the other in another county runs on both vhf and uhf. Need to be rugged, user friendly, easily programmed, hold quite a few channels, and if at all possible, on the cheaper side of things. What do you guys suggest?
Thanks

 

[rapidcharger]

What is your budget for each radio?

 

[SLFD127]

Not quite sure, under a grand i suppose

 

[teufler]

kenwood d710, for a mobile. Forgetting the regulations of transmit wide banding, the radio receives and can transmit. Yaesu vx8 fort a portable. Again radio can be opened. If your needs are for just minitoring while no transmit, a good scanner will fill the bill, and be far cheaper. Both the radios are in the $500 dollar range. ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood, Alinco make good radios but the two noted are very tough. The Kenwood has the big screen, nice when you are mobile or operating at night in the car. The Vx-8 is water "proof" though I would say water resistant. Important if operating in all kinds of weather comditions. I have operated a Yaseu vx-7 and Kenwood d700 for 15 years and and had no problems. Neither has even been in to a repair shop. The Yaseu has only had batteries replaced..On the other side, the Baefong radios are commercial service certified and they cover the ham bands. There are models that cost $250-$280, dual band, but I'm not sure how durable in field use. They havn't been around in the US very long. I have a UV-3 that is almost 3 years old, and it has held up as good as my Yaesu VW-3 and Vx-7 units.

 

[SLFD127]

Are these radios part 90 certified?

 

[kayn1n32008]

kenwood d710, for a mobile. Forgetting the regulations of transmit wide banding, the radio receives and can transmit. Yaesu vx8 fort a portable. Again radio can be opened. If your needs are for just minitoring while no transmit, a good scanner will fill the bill, and be far cheaper. Both the radios are in the $500 dollar range. ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood, Alinco make good radios but the two noted are very tough. The Kenwood has the big screen, nice when you are mobile or operating at night in the car. The Vx-8 is water "proof" though I would say water resistant. Important if operating in all kinds of weather comditions. I have operated a Yaseu vx-7 and Kenwood d700 for 15 years and and had no problems. Neither has even been in to a repair shop. The Yaseu has only had batteries replaced..On the other side, the Baefong radios are commercial service certified and they cover the ham bands. There are models that cost $250-$280, dual band, but I'm not sure how durable in field use. They havn't been around in the US very long. I have a UV-3 that is almost 3 years old, and it has held up as good as my Yaesu VW-3 and Vx-7 units.

Come on dude. He guy is using it for LMR. Ham gear is NOT appropriate.

Alinco now makes a dualband part 90 mobile. Portable is going to be a problem on your budget though. There are not much out there for LMR dual band portables. APX but that is way over 1k$



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[rapidcharger]

The radios mentioned in reply #4 are ham radios and not part 90 certified however there are a couple ham-ish radios that are part 90 certified. One is mentioned above in #6. The other is the Powerwerx db-750.
These are Chinese radios. They cost around $350 a piece. Those are mobiles.

There are a few dual band chinese portables that have part 90 certification. They are very inexpensive (<$100)

If you're not comfortable using inexpensive chinese radios for your use(valid concerns) you might look into a crossband solution. There is a way to crossband repeat using familiar LMR hardware. That will take a little bit of work though with frequency coordination, licensing and setup.

Then there is always using two separate radios. It might seem inconvenient to do that but would you believe that you can obtain two rugged public safety grade radios within your budget (for both) that actually weigh less combined than the Motorola dual band portables.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Vertex VX-5000/6000 series can be "dual-banded" with the proper gear. Don't know what they cost on the used market though. The Kenwood TK-790 and TK-890 can also be setup in the dual radio single head configuration. Kenwood has made quite a few narrow band capable radios that can do that. Moto also has some options.

Moto and Harris are just about the only dual band public safety handheld manufacturers...they aren't cheap. Your best option would probably be a single band VHF ht and some kind of narrow band GM300s, SM120s or similar in a cross band configuration.

 

[krokus]

The Kenwood x90 series might be the better option for the mobile side, as you can dual-head these radios, to have the radio at the pump panel.

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[Project25_MASTR]

The Kenwood x90 series might be the better option for the mobile side, as you can dual-head these radios, to have the radio at the pump panel.

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5000/6000 series from vertex. I believe Moto even made kits for the radios that can use the systems 9000 heads.

 

[krokus]

5000/6000 series from vertex. I believe Moto even made kits for the radios that can use the systems 9000 heads.

Are they dual-band and dual-head?

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[Project25_MASTR]

Are they dual-band and dual-head?

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I've never seen the Kenwoods configured for dual-band, dual-head. Last I checked it only says how to set them up for dual head, single radio or single head, dual radio.

The Vertex stuff has the same equivalent accessories to mimic this setup.

In traditional commercial setup it is two remote mount radios tied into a single head. In Kenwood's case they use a remote cable running from each radio to the head. In Vertex's case its a remote cable running from one radio to the next, and then a single cable running to the head.

 

[kayn1n32008]

I've never seen the Kenwoods configured for dual-band, dual-head. Last I checked it only says how to set them up for dual head, single radio or single head, dual radio.

Look on ebay. There are lots of TK-x90 series for sale there that are dual band configured.


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[Project25_MASTR]

I was doing a little research last night, the vx-6000 and tk-x90 are the same radio with slightly different connectors and firmware.

 

[rapidcharger]

The OP's budget is under $1,000 per radio.
Two of those plus the control head will exceed that.

 

[kayn1n32008]

The OP's budget is under $1,000 per radio.
Two of those plus the control head will exceed that.

The TK-X90 will come in well under that on the used market


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[rapidcharger]

The TK-X90 will come in well under that on the used market

I knew someone was going to say that.

Are you suggesting a fire department buys their radios used and on
eBaY?

Because you wrote"

Look on ebay. There are lots of TK-x90 series for sale there that are dual band configured.

 

[kayn1n32008]

I knew someone was going to say that.



Are you suggesting a fire department buys their radios used and on

eBaY?



Because you wrote"

Seriously, the dude said he had a budget of less than $1K... Where else is he going to get a solid part 90 rig capable of dual band operation. Wouxon/anytone/otherchinesecrap is not going to be any worse than a x90 dualband setup bought off ebay IF you shop the seller not the item.

About the only thing I refuse to buy off ebay are batteries, and antennas. I have been burned once on ebay, but have had decent luck when I shop the seller not the item. And yes I will pass on the $50 HT1000 from a lousy feedback sellar and buy the $125 one from a good seller with 99.9% feedback any day.


Yea buy it off ebay, and have it gone through with a fine toothed comb by a good Kenwood shop.

Let me guess, you would have him by some garbage, barely part 90 Wouxon mobile?


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[Project25_MASTR]

My TK-690, surplus from TxDOT. My VX-5500s and 6500, surplus from TxDOT. They all work fine. The low band radio has even been converted to operate above 50 MHz...they work fine. I'm actually probably going to swap my Anytone mobile in my jeep for a VX-5500 remote mount with a M1225.

 

[rapidcharger]

Let me guess, you would have him by some garbage, barely part 90 Wouxon mobile?

No, actually I wouldn't.
I would suggest that they buy new radios with a warranty from a reputable dealer. Those Kenwoods are very big radios. I can mount two smaller PS grade monobanders with separate control heads in even less space and as long as money wasn't a problem, that's what I would recommend. Now if money was that big of a problem, I'd seek out one of the surplus radio dealers that can supply all the radios that are needed, bench tested and possibly with some warranty.