I would like to stick to less that 200 dollars.
Plenty of new basic conventional radios from reputable manufacturers sell for around that price point, Kenwood TK-3312 is a good choice, well under $200 used, around $250-300 new.
. So, question is, what radio with transmit and recieve power in a hilly terrain could I look to purchase on ebay?
for public safety use, I
STRONGLY advise against buying a duty radio on Ebay, or from any unknown source.
Look,. I get you're a reservist and don't have thousands of dollars for your gear. But you wouldn't buy some POS HiPoint 380 for a duty gun from some "guy off the street", and you should not buy a tool that will be your
LIFELINE from someone you don't know nor know the history of.
It's really best to find a local dealer, yes, you will pay more. You will also get what you pay for, and get a paper trail which may be important should, hopefully never, something happen down the road.
Your safety and the safety of your brother/sister officer depend on you to have the right tools to do your job. If you insist on buying a used portable, buy it from someone you know and get it
fully checked out by a qualified technician before putting it into duty service. You would do this with your sidearm, you should do it with your comm gear and anything else that is critical it function to save your life!
Our system is uhf, and on repeaters in a fairly large county. Frequency is in the 450 to 470 range.
You should contact whoever at your county dispatch handles radio communications and confirm the following: not just what type of system they are using currently, but if they have any plans to upgrade or migrate to something else, like your statewide VIPER network in the near future. They may also be able to direct you to a reputable local dealer, or even have a spare portable they aren't using in a radio cache they can loan you.
Not knowing much about the radioes, I hope that is enough info.
All the more reason to get with whoever in your agency manages comms and have them assist you. While this forum is a great resource for radio hobbyists, your first stop should be your agencies' communications unit and get with the point of contact for who manages the radio system.