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Im looking at the retevis rb48p with the mics. 6 pack.

Why not use a small solar power station to power your radio? Add a small solar panel to the mix and you'd have unlimited power as long as you could get some sun light.

Handhelds below the 100 MHz frequency are not really worth trying to use. They are bulky because of their antenna requirements and loaded antennas (which are the short ones) don't work well because they don't have the bandwidth to cover the entire band.

Just wait until you try to find one antenna that works on that mount, that covers 2m, 70cm, and GMRS. You'll be quite happy with anything <2.0:1. And yes, it'll work fine.

I'm actually leaning toward 6M over 10M because of antenna size.

If I were you (and I'm not) I would just put aside the idea of getting a 10 meter handheld and improve my 2M 70cm transmission and reception by focusing on better antennas and mounting. You WILL disappointed with the 10M handheld.

I have kicked around the idea of picking up a mobile multi-band radio and plugging it in to one of my solar power stations. Add an antenna and I'd have a good, portable HF/VHF/UHF radio.

I don't know about that. The $16 UV-K61's I've bought have been excellent Tri-Band radios. Price doesn't always reflect quality. Many times you're paying extra for the name.

In 1970 my mom thought One Toke Over The Line by Brewer & Shipley was a church song (we didn't go to church). While I didn't partake back then, and still don't, I had to explain it to her. I really thought she was joking. She was not.

I think I will have to program my unit then (still learning how to use it) as the only 467 mhz channels that are pre-programmed are 8-14 which the unit will not transmit on. Will do some more research and report back ! Thanks!

You’re not part of the Gang I was referring to… And, shouldn’t you be making Oklahoma hypocriticals?

You can still check the SWR on repeater channels even without actually connecting to a repeater. And you don't need to worry about tones when testing SWR. Just say your "call sign testing" just in case.

The bigger (i.e., taller) antenna is likely to help. More power is less likely to make much difference. I'd definitely invest in the antenna first.

Ran some channels SWR, is as follows. Was not able to connect to 467 repeater yet, so I will have to figure out how to do that. Channels: 1 - 1.54 2 - 1.55 3 - 1.55 15 - 1.73 16 - 1.73 17 - 1.73 22- 1.73 23 - 1.6

Go back and read what I said. I didn't suggest doing it. I said it's not likely to cause someone else problems so I'm not going to get worked up about it.

Error

I didn't say I'm going to do it. I have said many times that I think it's important to be considerate. I said I don't consider it my job to enforce things that don't affect me. My point was that someone using 5 watts in the middle of a 12,000 acre ranch in Montana isn't going to interfere with someone else.

I would definitely go with a radio that has an IP rating for dust and water. Everything is going to get wet or dusty even with enclosed cabs.

Anything under 2.0 is okay. Definitely check the SWR on the repeater channels (467 MHz) as they will have a different SWR compared to the 462 simplex channels. As others have mentioned, there will be a curve to the SWR. Generally 467 will be higher or lower than 462 depending on if the antenna is short or long. The best I did was when tuning a Tram 1174 for GMRS. I got the SWR down to 1.4 on 467 and 1.2 on 462. Yes I could have kept trying for the perfect SWR but it wasn't worth the time and effort. My two Comet 2x4SR antennas are at 1.7-1.8 on 467 and 1.4-1.5 on 462. Again that is good especially considering the SWR is at 1.8 or less on the other bands that the 2x4SR works on. While a Surecom will work to tune antennas, you will have to check multiple times across the frequency/channel range to find where the SWR is high or low. This is where a NanoVNA or antenna analyzer comes in handy. They will do a sweep and show the high and low spots.

In both our SXS on the farm we use them idland mobile. Simple, cheap and just works. They are covered in mud dust and other stuff all the time, I hose off vehicle once month and dont worry. Run 1/4 wave on a pipe mount bracket on both.

That's a nice neat installation! I like it when people post stuff like this. Good material to reference for ideas.

Ah, click bait!

I must be missing something.. I run 300w WB-C4FM on FRS 10 all the time, so when my wife is in the kitchen and I'm in the garage, she can hear my signal okay. Are we not supposed to do that?

You also wrote: I don't need to be told about the law with the FCC please It appears that you do need to be told about the law with the FCC or you just want to disregard any rule and be above them.

Amateur radio is all about playing with radios to see what you enjoy. The RT-880 might be a gas, but honestly, don’t expect much froman inexpensive handheld that does HF, even without a $100 limit. The only HF band you could barely do with a handheld with an attached antenna would be 10 meters and even then you’ll be limited. The simple laws of physics require a certain antenna length based on frequency in order to be effective. A quarter wave ten meter antenna is going to be two and a half meters long. Now there are some all band all mode portable radios with built in batteries that I would love to have. One is the Icom IC-705 and another is the Yaesu FTx-1. There’s also the Lab599 TX500, but it doesn’t do 2m or 70cm. All three of these are self contained hi end portable radios. All three require an external antenna of some kind. All three go over your budget by more than $1000. The battery for the TX500 is $400 all by itself. As long as I’m dreaming there are a lot of other QRP radios to play with such as Elecraft. And although I haven’t seen it available in the USA yet, there’s a handheld version of the Lab599 radio. There are good deals on older mobile and radios that show up at ham fests. I picked up an Icom IC-706MKIIG for a low price last year. That’s a mostly full power mobile radio that does HF, VHF, and 70 cm. I’ll put it in a go box with a battery and carry a separate antenna of some kind, maybe an EFHW or my BB7V vertical and tripod. Anyway, don’t get discouraged by the high price of HF radios. Deals come along. A guy in my area said he’d like to sell his FT-991 (not the 991A but the older model) for $300 just the other day. I don’t know what the difference is between the 991 and 991A, but that’s probably not a bad deal.