gman1971

Understood, but those issues could happen in any radio as well, inadvertently change the volume/channels that is... (2.10 and newer firmware has channel knob lock BTW) as for the shutdowns, I've never had any radio in my entire fleet shutdown on its own unless it was due to running out of battery. Also, there is an option to disable power-off, so the only way to shutdown the radio is by removing the battery. 
Again, I think both radios are good choices, but for me the weight/size was a deal breaker.
G.

Going with the DB404 and a 50' piece of 1/2" LDF will give you much better results. LMR will give you about 1.5db of loss. LDF is about .75db of loss. If your using adapters there is some loss, not enough to really argue one way or another but LMR and adapter will be a bit more than predictd loss. 
My thought is spend the funds the first time to do it right vs something that will not meet expectations, then spending more money after. Sometimes waiting a bit longer to accomplish the goal makes the experience better in the long run. 

@WRKC935
I understand that adapters are not ideal, right?, but when you are trying to get something together then that qualifies as "testing" in my book. Also, the OP wasn't being forced to buy that particular cavity I posted a link to. But then again, having anything PL-259 terminated cable is a total waste in my book, even if it is the right connector to that cavity as you state. I wouldn't buy a PL-259 cable, I'll just change the SO-239 of the radio, as I've already done for many radios, to an N female, again, just to not have to buy anything with a POS SO-239 cable. Personally I would've swapped these two SO-239 on that cavity to N connectors, and not have to use adapters, but the OP might not feel like doing that, hence the adapter.
The reason for the adapters was so the OP could start by buying N-to-N cables from the get go... and then just ditch the SO-239 adapters when moving to a better N terminated cavity, or replacing the SO-239 in the cavity, etc, but I guess you didn't read into that.
Also, since you are into what not to do, here is what I would advise the OP NOT to do: don't use RG142 as a jumper cable. Wny? b/c its a solid steel copper inner and it WILL develop micro cracks after bending it a few times, or bending it too much and the unbending it, and cause a crap ton of PIM when using duplex (two radios), while you might've not experienced it, well, I have and it sucks. Solution: if you can splurge it, get RG400 patch cables instead, with either silver N connectors or trimetal, and since RG400 has a stranded inner core, it can take the bending all day long. Oh, yeah, be aware, the RG400 has a hair more loss, but don't buy into the BS that a 0.03 dB extra loss will affect your range much. It wont affect your range the slightest bit, actually. I currently have ~2.3dB Insertion Loss in my feedline setup and my range to portable is over 20 miles... 
Heck, one can get fancy and recommend using 1 5/8" Heliax, Quantars and Telewave folded dipole arrays on 1400 foot towers here too, but the OP just wants to get something going, and there is a middle ground between the Quantar/Telewave and the KMR POS cables that fall apart just from sitting outside two days under the Sun... A simple cavity, any cavity really, will always help any radio front end and intermodulation from getting into the TX as well. If you don't have the cables, then an adapter is fine to get you going.
LMR400 with chrome plated connectors will works on a pinch, to get you going, and so long people are aware that they'll most likely be buying twice, its fine. In addition, from my experience using LMR400, the dreaded PIM on genuine LMR400 cable usually takes a while to develop, so it should be fine just to get started. Also, so you know, I'be been running LMR600 with silver plated N connectors on two of the longest runs on the premises here for a few years now without a problem. No PIM detected. The takeaway here is that LMR cable works just fine for simplex stuff.
Now, my only strong recommendation would be to at least start with all N connectors on all cables, if possible.
@OffRoaderX
You must be living either in really flat terrain, and/or on top of a hill/mountain, b/c to get those kind of numbers, reliably, here in WI for a UHF repeater (keyword UHF, not VHF), you'll need at least double that height in the tower due to the roughness of the terrain. 
G.

One thing to be aware with higher gain, is that your reduce the vertical beam cone, imagine a flashlight with adjustable focus: flood and throw.... so you get more throw, but then the cone of light gets narrower. So if there are a lot of elevation changes, it might be more detrimental than just running a lower gain antenna with a wider "cone of light"
G

"Not expensive" and "long range" in radio usually don't belong on the same sentence. If you want long range out of UHF, be prepared to sped time and money.
As for antenna, the Laird FG-4603 would be my next choice if you don't want a folded dipole array, which I would strongly recommend. There is a Harvest 2-bay dipole available on eBay that might be a good compromise.
Manage expectations: 20 miles from base to a portable, reliably, and out of UHF GMRS will require a decent location, a tall tower/mast and very good antenna (which doesn't develop high SWR after 3 months of being installed), a good feedline (probably look into heliax 1/2" at the very least if you really need a 100' run). And a very good radio/repeater with a receiver that will not get overwhelmed when mated to a good antenna placed that high. Most likely you'll need additional filtering if you use low end stuff.
G.

I think a lot of the changes in Part 90 radio is being driven by First Net. We aren't seeing big wholesale system replacements/upgrades from a lot of agencies with the advent of push-to-talk on FN devices. PTT and multicast were always the biggest advantages to radio but most of the comms was still one-to-one. The alert broadcast is being replaced with a text type message sent to a data terminal device either in a vehicle or handheld terminal/communicator. PTT radio is falling into a secondary use rather than being the prime communications device it has been for almost 100 years.

Radio as a service is a thing now, and the firmware SUM scam is just another way to keep milking the cow... and for that seems that older radios might increase in resale value, due to being considered "unlocked" as most users don't have to deal with incompatible radios, or potentially bricked radios down the road, etc. Multiple CPS files/profiles is an absolute PITA... 
Also, its not like good radios from 20-30 years ago (like the HT1250, etc) are obsolete anyways. Sure, those don't do digital, but  then again some users abhor digital modes... and those radios are known to work reliably without dialing home and none of the "milk the cow SUM/RAAS racket..."
G.

Ah perfecto, perfecto, aqui tambien se habla Español... un saludo.
G.

That might be a good illustration of free space “path loss”, due to the capture area of the antenna at 900 being less that at 460. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-space_path_loss

The Motorola 900 MHz digital FHSS radios are great for in-building coverage. They work pretty well outdoors in the open also. 1 watt is a little misleading when comparing them to "full power" UHF 4 or 5 watt portables.  Transmit power is only useful if it overcomes the noise floor that you're trying to transmit over.
Where those 1 watt 900 MHz FHSS radios shine, is that they have an effective receive signal level that's down in the -125 dBm range. Your typical UHF portable is lucky if it's beginning to receive anything at -119 dBm (and even if it does, then it's probably quite scratchy). So the 900 MHz radio comes in at better than a 6 dB winner in the receive category. Search that up on the dBm to Watts conversion scale, and you'll see that your UHF portable would need to transmit a decent signal at 4 watts or more just to begin achieve comparable performance - while the 900 MHz radio is hopping frequencies to avoid interference, plus pushing out a digital signal that's intelligible even at the very threshold of receive.
Forget comparing horsepower numbers. In the radio world, you need to compare receivers. That's where the magic is happening. Watts are for salespeople and marketing types.

@WRKC935
I understand that adapters are not ideal, right?, but when you are trying to get something together then that qualifies as "testing" in my book. Also, the OP wasn't being forced to buy that particular cavity I posted a link to. But then again, having anything PL-259 terminated cable is a total waste in my book, even if it is the right connector to that cavity as you state. I wouldn't buy a PL-259 cable, I'll just change the SO-239 of the radio, as I've already done for many radios, to an N female, again, just to not have to buy anything with a POS SO-239 cable. Personally I would've swapped these two SO-239 on that cavity to N connectors, and not have to use adapters, but the OP might not feel like doing that, hence the adapter.
The reason for the adapters was so the OP could start by buying N-to-N cables from the get go... and then just ditch the SO-239 adapters when moving to a better N terminated cavity, or replacing the SO-239 in the cavity, etc, but I guess you didn't read into that.
Also, since you are into what not to do, here is what I would advise the OP NOT to do: don't use RG142 as a jumper cable. Wny? b/c its a solid steel copper inner and it WILL develop micro cracks after bending it a few times, or bending it too much and the unbending it, and cause a crap ton of PIM when using duplex (two radios), while you might've not experienced it, well, I have and it sucks. Solution: if you can splurge it, get RG400 patch cables instead, with either silver N connectors or trimetal, and since RG400 has a stranded inner core, it can take the bending all day long. Oh, yeah, be aware, the RG400 has a hair more loss, but don't buy into the BS that a 0.03 dB extra loss will affect your range much. It wont affect your range the slightest bit, actually. I currently have ~2.3dB Insertion Loss in my feedline setup and my range to portable is over 20 miles... 
Heck, one can get fancy and recommend using 1 5/8" Heliax, Quantars and Telewave folded dipole arrays on 1400 foot towers here too, but the OP just wants to get something going, and there is a middle ground between the Quantar/Telewave and the KMR POS cables that fall apart just from sitting outside two days under the Sun... A simple cavity, any cavity really, will always help any radio front end and intermodulation from getting into the TX as well. If you don't have the cables, then an adapter is fine to get you going.
LMR400 with chrome plated connectors will works on a pinch, to get you going, and so long people are aware that they'll most likely be buying twice, its fine. In addition, from my experience using LMR400, the dreaded PIM on genuine LMR400 cable usually takes a while to develop, so it should be fine just to get started. Also, so you know, I'be been running LMR600 with silver plated N connectors on two of the longest runs on the premises here for a few years now without a problem. No PIM detected. The takeaway here is that LMR cable works just fine for simplex stuff.
Now, my only strong recommendation would be to at least start with all N connectors on all cables, if possible.
@OffRoaderX
You must be living either in really flat terrain, and/or on top of a hill/mountain, b/c to get those kind of numbers, reliably, here in WI for a UHF repeater (keyword UHF, not VHF), you'll need at least double that height in the tower due to the roughness of the terrain. 
G.

I think so, the Harvest brand folded dipole goes for 70 bucks on eBay. The 2 bay dipole goes for 140 bucks on eBay. I think folded dipoles are great b/c they have super wide bandwidth and they are very resilient to noise.
single dipole link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133810193897?epid=1941709490&hash=item1f27b585e9:g:Y5EAAOSwLCdgUyaI
2-bay link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133927735178?epid=1941709490&hash=item1f2eb70f8a:g:yowAAOSwIytgUyhQ

Was waiting to see this comparison at some point. Thank you for posting. That bigger display also means less likely for my employer to purchase these for "fire" personnel. The biggest deal breaker though is the Motorola Trbo Ion series accessories that the R7 uses. 

Side by side of the two radios. XPR7550e and R7. In this pic its noticeable bigger too... yet another Con in my book...

 
G.

Yep, for UHF, for hilly terrain like yours (and mine) antenna height is usually the best way to roll, even 5 feet can make a difference...  Also, good equipment in the base side will go a long way too.
If there are commercial antenna towers nearby, then I would suggest getting at least 1 cavity as well. That will go a LOOOONG way with intermod (not only on RX, but also on TX too) and any potential desense.
G.
EDIT: I would also use RadioMobile, their algorithm usually lowballs the estimated coverage. I would take the average of the two. 40 miles on UHF with only 25' seems like an exception, not the rule. Also, if you plan on using this for personal equipment, for simplex, I would take @gortex2 estimation more like what you'll see, rather than that coverage map. In the end, nothing can replace you going with an RSSI meter logging the different strength signals at different points in the map, then comparing them with a site analysis estimated RSSI strength.
 

Thanks gman. I’ll look into that NanoVNA.

High loss cable would act more like a dummy load, eating the radio power and the reflected power as well, so it looks like you have a better antenna than it is.
You also need to measure impedance, not just SWR, and check the cable patch alone, to see the loss and the impedance of just the bare cable. Connectors could also be problematic. A bad connector can ruin the entire setup as well.
G.

@WRKC935
I understand that adapters are not ideal, right?, but when you are trying to get something together then that qualifies as "testing" in my book. Also, the OP wasn't being forced to buy that particular cavity I posted a link to. But then again, having anything PL-259 terminated cable is a total waste in my book, even if it is the right connector to that cavity as you state. I wouldn't buy a PL-259 cable, I'll just change the SO-239 of the radio, as I've already done for many radios, to an N female, again, just to not have to buy anything with a POS SO-239 cable. Personally I would've swapped these two SO-239 on that cavity to N connectors, and not have to use adapters, but the OP might not feel like doing that, hence the adapter.
The reason for the adapters was so the OP could start by buying N-to-N cables from the get go... and then just ditch the SO-239 adapters when moving to a better N terminated cavity, or replacing the SO-239 in the cavity, etc, but I guess you didn't read into that.
Also, since you are into what not to do, here is what I would advise the OP NOT to do: don't use RG142 as a jumper cable. Wny? b/c its a solid steel copper inner and it WILL develop micro cracks after bending it a few times, or bending it too much and the unbending it, and cause a crap ton of PIM when using duplex (two radios), while you might've not experienced it, well, I have and it sucks. Solution: if you can splurge it, get RG400 patch cables instead, with either silver N connectors or trimetal, and since RG400 has a stranded inner core, it can take the bending all day long. Oh, yeah, be aware, the RG400 has a hair more loss, but don't buy into the BS that a 0.03 dB extra loss will affect your range much. It wont affect your range the slightest bit, actually. I currently have ~2.3dB Insertion Loss in my feedline setup and my range to portable is over 20 miles... 
Heck, one can get fancy and recommend using 1 5/8" Heliax, Quantars and Telewave folded dipole arrays on 1400 foot towers here too, but the OP just wants to get something going, and there is a middle ground between the Quantar/Telewave and the KMR POS cables that fall apart just from sitting outside two days under the Sun... A simple cavity, any cavity really, will always help any radio front end and intermodulation from getting into the TX as well. If you don't have the cables, then an adapter is fine to get you going.
LMR400 with chrome plated connectors will works on a pinch, to get you going, and so long people are aware that they'll most likely be buying twice, its fine. In addition, from my experience using LMR400, the dreaded PIM on genuine LMR400 cable usually takes a while to develop, so it should be fine just to get started. Also, so you know, I'be been running LMR600 with silver plated N connectors on two of the longest runs on the premises here for a few years now without a problem. No PIM detected. The takeaway here is that LMR cable works just fine for simplex stuff.
Now, my only strong recommendation would be to at least start with all N connectors on all cables, if possible.
@OffRoaderX
You must be living either in really flat terrain, and/or on top of a hill/mountain, b/c to get those kind of numbers, reliably, here in WI for a UHF repeater (keyword UHF, not VHF), you'll need at least double that height in the tower due to the roughness of the terrain. 
G.

@WRKC935
I understand that adapters are not ideal, right?, but when you are trying to get something together then that qualifies as "testing" in my book. Also, the OP wasn't being forced to buy that particular cavity I posted a link to. But then again, having anything PL-259 terminated cable is a total waste in my book, even if it is the right connector to that cavity as you state. I wouldn't buy a PL-259 cable, I'll just change the SO-239 of the radio, as I've already done for many radios, to an N female, again, just to not have to buy anything with a POS SO-239 cable. Personally I would've swapped these two SO-239 on that cavity to N connectors, and not have to use adapters, but the OP might not feel like doing that, hence the adapter.
The reason for the adapters was so the OP could start by buying N-to-N cables from the get go... and then just ditch the SO-239 adapters when moving to a better N terminated cavity, or replacing the SO-239 in the cavity, etc, but I guess you didn't read into that.
Also, since you are into what not to do, here is what I would advise the OP NOT to do: don't use RG142 as a jumper cable. Wny? b/c its a solid steel copper inner and it WILL develop micro cracks after bending it a few times, or bending it too much and the unbending it, and cause a crap ton of PIM when using duplex (two radios), while you might've not experienced it, well, I have and it sucks. Solution: if you can splurge it, get RG400 patch cables instead, with either silver N connectors or trimetal, and since RG400 has a stranded inner core, it can take the bending all day long. Oh, yeah, be aware, the RG400 has a hair more loss, but don't buy into the BS that a 0.03 dB extra loss will affect your range much. It wont affect your range the slightest bit, actually. I currently have ~2.3dB Insertion Loss in my feedline setup and my range to portable is over 20 miles... 
Heck, one can get fancy and recommend using 1 5/8" Heliax, Quantars and Telewave folded dipole arrays on 1400 foot towers here too, but the OP just wants to get something going, and there is a middle ground between the Quantar/Telewave and the KMR POS cables that fall apart just from sitting outside two days under the Sun... A simple cavity, any cavity really, will always help any radio front end and intermodulation from getting into the TX as well. If you don't have the cables, then an adapter is fine to get you going.
LMR400 with chrome plated connectors will works on a pinch, to get you going, and so long people are aware that they'll most likely be buying twice, its fine. In addition, from my experience using LMR400, the dreaded PIM on genuine LMR400 cable usually takes a while to develop, so it should be fine just to get started. Also, so you know, I'be been running LMR600 with silver plated N connectors on two of the longest runs on the premises here for a few years now without a problem. No PIM detected. The takeaway here is that LMR cable works just fine for simplex stuff.
Now, my only strong recommendation would be to at least start with all N connectors on all cables, if possible.
@OffRoaderX
You must be living either in really flat terrain, and/or on top of a hill/mountain, b/c to get those kind of numbers, reliably, here in WI for a UHF repeater (keyword UHF, not VHF), you'll need at least double that height in the tower due to the roughness of the terrain. 
G.

Not gonna get into manufacture bashing.  I will tell you that quantars and MTR repeaters will at full rated output will act as a control channel on a trunked system.  This means that they WILL transmit at full power for months at a time.  I have PMed more than one of them that the log showed they had been keyed up for more than a year.
I have never seen a Kenwood that would do that.  Not saying they will not, just saying I have not ever seen it first hand.
That being said, EVERYTHING pretty much has a place.  I personally would NOT put a Kenwood repeater up on a tall tower on a busy channel, but I would have no issue with putting one in for a small system for a large family to use on GMRS.  And I even see the applications of the two mobiles in a box.  I sold and serviced countless XPR 8300 and 8400 repeaters and a number of Kenwoods that were pretty much two mobiles in a box as well.  And in the right application they work well. 
But again, real world testing I have never seen the Kenwood that would hear like a Quantar,,, and the MTR3000 and 8400's will hear better than a Quantar from what i have seen in real world testing. 

Great series of Vertex radios, the VX-4200 series. When working for the oil industry, these were the "go-to" radio for a fleet of small (less than 72 foot vessels) that needed commercial radio comms on board. This was also based on the caveat that corporate had decided to end the installation of radios in smaller vessels, and vehicles to save money. The (corporate decision-makers) thought was that handheld radios could hit everything that was required in all roles, in that case, handheld Motorola PR1500 VHF radios. However, the West Coast required repeaters and radios with more output power than a handheld radio, so Vertex VX-4200's were used as a "cheap" option that could escape the corporate types scrutinizing the budget.
We did not use the scan function activating on hanging up the mic, and often tore the small wire off the mic mounts when the radios shipped with that version. Other came with a separate piece of wire to connect to the mic holder. The only issue we ever had was the metal cases would rust when left in "open house" style vessels, where the radio was exposed to the elements. 
Great write-up on this radio. It would be a great mobile to use for GMRS. For 14 years, I ran the older and slightly smaller VX-3200 VHF and another for UHF, stacked in my car for commercial and GMRS use.
My only warning about using the VX-3200/4200's is that some of them are not capable of narrow band operation (12.5 kHz) operation, as there was a problem with some of the filters during manufacture in Japan. High humidity meant that they would only work in wide band (not a problem for GMRS). For a while, Motorola would fix them, later ship replacement filters, and then stopped supporting them. These radios with faulty narrow band filters were the last of the VX-3200, and first run of VX-4200 radios (made before the narrow band mandate of January 2013), being supported by Motorola when they purchased Vertex. (There were also some issues with some Motorola and Icom radios that used the same filters). 

Alright, holy batman thread derailment with horses... 
The point is, don't use hacked anything in a commercial, or LEO tower/setting, as it might cause other problems that can (and will) quickly go over the money it was "cheaped out" by cutting corners.
G.

And the best part they manufacture themselves, no chip shortages or high gas prices to worry about. The waste products are naturally recyclable. When the bombs fly and the big EMP event they will still keep working too.

Bad analogy around me ! I live in the middle of Amish community. Its horse and buggies all day long around my house
 

Just remember the keyword "hacked".
The moment something is not built to the specifications that it was built for, be it for extended coverage, be it a different band, etc, then its no longer certified for anything. At that point its not a Motorola radio anymore, its "Happy Joe's Ham science experiment" radio. This was another reason why all the non Motorola stuff was dumped, one gets tired of having to hack, tune, fiddle with crap to just get it to work the way it should work.
In a nutshell: If someone plans to use a 70 year old piece of gear (any brand) radio that has been "hacked" for a Ham repeater, on a modern commercial tower then I am sorry, but they are doing something wrong; much the same way as me driving a horse on the highway... while horse is perfectly fine as transportation means, however, its really not the right choice for highway transportation.
G.