Hi Dick. Tried to send this to you personally, but your e-mail rejected me.

Actually, I believe that you would be money ahead, if you went with separate
VHF and UHF commercial gear like Motorola. A good majority of the gear can
be tuned up or down to ham frequencies. As readily available and as cheap as
this stuff is on the newsgroups, even Ebay, (yes even cheap on Ebay...sounds
like an oxymoron LOL), it would be the best route to go. Commercial gear can
be dropped from a 10 story building and still function as before. Leaving
them on for
extended periods of time is no real strain on their ability. A lot of comm.
gear is used around here for repeater stations and they run continuously for
years without much upkeep. Look around, i've seen a lot of the comm equip
for sale that offer free programming to your frequencies. When it arrives,
its just plug and play !! You will just need to label each channel (dynamo
label perhaps) to identify what it is.

If you go this route, you will need monoband VHF and UHF antennas
respectively. The power supply (or supplies) will have to be 25 amp or
greater to power the rigs.

Just my .02 worth !!

73

Chris
N8COP