kenwood mobile reccomendation question

[Guest mike]

Shopping for a mobile to use for mobile & another one for a base.  I'm considering used commercial grade Kenwoods.  Are there any favorite models that are appropriate & well suited for GMRS ?  I'm wanting to do some simplex at varied distances (base to mobile) so I'm guessing I would be better off with a radio with capability of doing 40-50 watts.  Is it agreed that it may be best to have a 40-50 watt radio for best simplex results ?  I'm not as worried about getting to the repeater in my area, I would actually prefer to run less power just to reach the repeater.  Also , anyone know of a good / reputable source for these ?  thanks , mike   

[JohnE]

look into the tk880H and 8180H both are ~40W radios. programming is strait forward

[Extreme]

look into the tk880H and 8180H both are ~40W radios. programming is strait forward

 

I have both 880 and 8180 in the non-H version so yes from me on the model and ease of programming, etc.

And if you can't find the 'H' models the 880 is 25w and the 8180 is 30w. 

 

Search the forum on how much benefit there is to increasing power and whether/how much it increases range vs the inherent increased heat, larger heat-sink size, battery draw, possible reduced life-span..

 

Your results may vary.

 

Hopefully others will weigh in for you.

[Guest John Gillaspy]

So, what is the difference between the TK-880-1 and the -2? I'm looking to use these for GMRS as a mobile and base station.

 

JG

[Extreme]

So, what is the difference between the TK-880-1 and the -2? I'm looking to use these for GMRS as a mobile and base station.

 

JG

 

When programming an 880 V1 after I'd previously programmed a V2 last year, the software picked up on the version difference, gave me a note V1 will not support all the features as V2", to which I simply said OK and carried on.  The rest of it went smoothly and no glitches.

[axorlov]

So, what is the difference between the TK-880-1 and the -2? I'm looking to use these for GMRS as a mobile and base station.

 

JG

The -1 -2 and -3 mean alignment in the UHF band. 1: 450-490MHz, 2: 485-512MHz, 3: 400-430MHz. Type -1 is 95A certified. The version V2 and no version, that is often called V1, are the versions of the hardware. For GMRS purposes they are no different.