Need help choosing a mobile rig!

I, too, have the 2730. Only for a few months, mind you, but I like it so far. Have one in my truck and one in wife's Tahoe. "Manual of arms" isn't that bad, and the little gimmicks are usable. Icom provides a pretty good software program, and the cable can be DIY'd pretty cheap. My only issue is I came from an old Yaesu rig, and am getting used to another philosophy of the interface. Ha!

I have no first hand experience with CCRs, other than the veritable and infamous UV-5R, but I personally won't try one anyway. Not a big fan of the human-machine interfaces.

With the price limit you have, getting DMR from the "big four" - Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Alinco - may not be possible. Look around your locale, you may find enough digital hotspots to make it worthwhile. I have no personal interest in it, yet, so it wasn't a deciding factor.

If there's an upside to the hobby, it can get as deep as you're willing to go. A UHF/VHF rig is good for a casual user, but it is common to delve deeper from there. Having studied for your Tech, you should have a pretty good grasp of the fundamentals - repeater operation, split operation, simplex, duplex, modes, etc. - so the real effort is finding a radio with the right options for you.

 

for VHF/UHF, I prefer Yaesu, Kenwood, or Icom, . . in that order.

I've heard too many problems with the amazon Chinese rigs.

I'll also suggest, spending less on VHF/UHF and more on HF

 

To operate on a Fusion repeater, all you need to do is make sure the radio is in Digital. Most Yaesu's have a AMS mode which means it detects if it is Digital or Analog.

In short: you hit a button on the front panel and you talk as normal. You do not need to worry about Reflectors, or rooms or hotspots or anything like that.

Texas is great for Fusion because it seems like everyone in TX uses Fusion.

Good luck.

 

Thank you Ki5AAI

 

W5GX, thank you for your in depth response, much appreciated. Yeah, can't decide. Have more Fusion repeaters in my area than others, so, probably Yaesu. Finding out quite quickly this is NOT a poor mans hobby! Stay in touch please, and thank you again for the contact!

 

Thank you WS9K. Lack of experience has me unwilling to pursue HF at this point, but I feel it may be not far off! Thank you again for the response!