WRTT642

It's a great radio with many pre-programmed frequencies to play with/listen to and it has many fars.  Sometimes I just stare at mine and caress it softly.

If you don’t already, binge watch Notarubicon videos on YouTube. That will give you a background that will help you choose. One thing to keep in mind is that no matter what radio you get now you’ll get another. 

My only goal is to help spread the coverage of the linked nets. I want to make GMRS a huge hobby for people. Lots of dead spots in my areas still. Need more volunteer hobbyist. 

Sounds like a solar recharged RT97 w/ a simple N9TAX rollup antenna might work for you. Simple, small, portable, and little to no environment impact.

If you want a complete setup that can be carried in a large backpack:

A 30 watt solar panel can fit in a large backpack. A 30 watt panel and a 14 amp hour SLA battery seems to work well here in Alaska during the Spring/Summer/Fall Season but can't keep up during the cold winters with little sun. If you are not in an area that suffered from greatly reduced solar in the winter it would be a solid place to start.

Use some alum angle riveted to the back to mount the RT97 and a small solar controller directly to the back of the panel. You can attach the panel directly to a tree, place the SLA battery at the base, and hang the N9TAX in the tree itself.   I have posts in this forum about my setup and it might stir some ideas for you.

Is this some 100% Duty Cycle Commercial Grade Setup? Nope. But I get 20-30 miles out of mine to 5 watt handhelds and it works for us.
 

 

I didnt bother reading this whole thread, but allow me to share my (very recent) experience..
I recently built a repeater using two KG1000G's, a cheap mobile duplexer, a Tram 1486 on the roof and LMR400 coax - all the experts assured that my 'toy' would not work at all. Despite what all the experts predicted, not only did it work, it worked better than I expected, with a range of about 40 miles in each direction.
I have now got my hands on a (very) used Vertex VXR-7000 repeater - after paying for programming and re-tuning the internal duplexer, cost was about $650 - it DOES work better - less de-sense so it is noticeably more sensitive/able to receive signals that the KG1000g setup could not, and i'm getting a bit better range.. But the other big difference is that it is 'full duty cycle' so it can be used 24/7 - Wouxun says that the KG-1000Gs can also be used 24/7, but i'm not sure I believe that claim..
Was I happy with the KG1000G setup? YES!  Am I more happy with the "real" repeater?  Yes.
Do the math and do what works for you..Ignore the 'experts' as many dont seem to understand the difference between the term "will not work at all" and 'will not work perfectly/be the best" ...

I think its great to have people on here from Alaska. Hoping to have people around me with them since I am in a dead zone 
 

RT97 “Duty Cycle”
 
I had a replacement RT97 come in today as a replacement for one that failed. The prior failed as it would not longer talk to a computer for programming. The TX/RX worked fine. I decided to test this new units “duty cycle” and heat displacement abilities.
 
The first thing I did was open it up and see what it has internally to bridge the transmitter to the aluminum outer housing. The bottom of the RX/TX unit has large fins cast into its aluminum body. It appears to be bedded in thermal paste to make a conductive path the aluminum outer housing.
 
I took a food thermometer and put it into the thermal paste. The unit was at 70 degrees.
 
The “Test”:
 
Stage One: I had it transmitting on high power. The transmission was broken up into three 1 minute sections with 10 seconds between each followed by a whole 2 minutes of TX. The transmitter rose from 70 degrees to 82 degrees. Hardly warm to the touch. (12 degree rise for 5 min Total TX w/ 40 seconds rest)  
Stage Two: I gave it about 2 minutes of rest and hit it with two more sessions of 2 minutes transmissions, separated by 20 seconds. It had fallen to just below 80 prior to and rose to 89 after.(9 degree rise for 4 min Total TX, w/ 2 min 20 seconds rest)  
Stage Three: I finally let it sit for 1 minute and did five more sessions of 2 minutes transmissions, separated by 20 seconds. The temp started at 88 and rose to 102 (14 degree rise for 10 Min Total TX w/ 2 min 20 seconds rest)  
End total of 19 min of TX w/ 3 min 20 seconds of rest. The temp rose from 70 degrees to 102 degrees.
 
What I find interesting is that after the radio “warmed up” it took significantly more time to heat up further. I expected the 10 min spent TX'ing in Stage 3 to raise it more than it did. At the end after only about 60 seconds of rest it already had dropped to 94 degrees from a high of 102. I did not repeat this test on low power but I can only assume it would take longer to heat up.
 
Being as my use with these repeaters are outdoors here in Alaska it doesn’t appear that heat will be an issue for me. During the winter our avg daily temp is around 20 degrees and we only get to an avg daily temp of 60-65 in the summer. This leaves a lot of head room. The cooler ambient temperatures should further increase the rate of heat dissipation as my home was 70 degrees to start with. Anyone see any flaws with my logic?

"MOST"
Sorry I somehow missed the CAPS in your question.. "most" is the top item in my long list.
 
Field proven (lots of happy owners), Reputable manufacturer and consumer friendly retail outlet. 
Battery capacity..  (More bigger is more better)
Rugged and professional appearance.
I like fast scanning radios.. 
When I scan I want to get from beginning to end and do it again at warp speed.
I like radios that easily and quickly *decode* CTCSS and DCS. 
This whole business of slowly "scanning" for tones seems crazy.  
I don't care all that much about color displays. 
Visibility in all lighting conditions is more important to me than color.
Sensible non cryptic screen layout.
I want a reasonable number of characters for my descriptive channel names.
I hate memorizing acronyms.
I want to personalize my screen in every way possible
Bluetooth is very sexy to me. 
BT would weigh heavily on my decision to decide between competing models.
Connecting speaker and mic to my motorcycle helmet BT system...  A BT PTT remote.. Programming the radio from my cell phone..  Yeah that would make a radio hard to pass up for me (although my pockets are not very deep).
I personally don't care at all about extra frequencies (except for NOAA). 
FM broadcast radio, civil service and air band don't interest me.  (Not sure if I am normal.)

Flash light function will never get used on my radios..  I disable if possible.

I might think of some more later..
 
 
 
 

I have several HHs and each was purchased to fit a specific requirement,