This is my first radio purchase so I have a few questions. I have a
friend that swears by the ICOM IC-w32a. I've looked at it and it does
seem like a pretty robust radio. Heck, it must be if ICOM put it back
into production after stopping once before.

But, I'm interested in knowing if there are others out there with the
same capabilities. I'm really interested in the fact that it can xmit
on 440MHz and received on 70 cm, at least I think it can, since I want
to use this for talking over satellites.

Any ideas about other radios I should look at would be most
appreciated.

Thanks.

-brad w.