Just a follow up on this, if anyone was interested (and for the
archives in case anyone else is looking for this!). I found a radio
that is a 2m mobile and has receive capabilities in UHF and even up
into 800mhz. The Yaesu FT-3000. I found a used one that I will be
buying!

(Dave Platt) wrote in message ...
"A 144 mhz tr/rc single-band rig will probably be designed with
electronics which are optimized for this single task, for both cost
and performance reasons. Adding a wideband receive capability to
this sort of rig would change the technical requirements, and would
probably either increase the cost or decrease the 144 MHz
performance. There may not be enough of a market for this sort of
somewhat-specialized rig, and thus you may find that no
manufacturer has found it cost-effective to market such a product.

A dual-band amateur rig, which has to go up to 440 anyhow, would
need less modification of its design to be stretched to 500 MHz,
and doing might not increase its cost or decrease its performance
appreciably.

Hence, you're much more likely to find 500 MHz receive capability
in a dualband rig, than in a 2-meter monobander."

There's no question that one *can* design a 2-meter rig with wideband
receive. There's no question that this is what you, personally, want.
There seems to be a big question as to whether enough people want that
combination, for you to be able to find an actual, off-the-shelf
commercial rig of this type on the market today.