I know it's an old post but it's interesting. I just found out here locally 2m and 70 cm are the channels. I'm looking into studying for my ticket.
On 2 and 440 mhz 90% are on FM so you can get away with a dual band fm radio. On 6 and the HF bands 80-10 you neen a SSB radio There are many good ones old and new I like the IC-718 ot a FT-450 for under $700 IF you can find a IC-706 MK2 used it is also a good radio as is the FT-840. Lots to choose from.
Since you are wanting to do it 'legal & right' (and that's a good thing, IMHO), stay away from the so-called "10 Meter 'amateur'" radios. They are ILLEGAL for use on CB. Sure, it would handy to have 10 and 11 Meters in ONE radio, but these things are NOT FCC-approved, and will never be. Should you ever get caught USING one of them on CB, you could lose your amateur license + get a fine. There's a whole string of them at www.arrl.org. Follow the yellow border to "amateur radio enforcement". or go to FCC.gov/enforcement. Follow the links. Some of them are pretty recent. The legal route is to buy/keep an FCC-approved, 40 channel, non-modified CB radio and then buy ham radios as needed to cover amateur. There is an old saying: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". IOW, when on CB, do the usual (legal) stuff on CB. When doing ham stuff, keep the CB (equipment, lingo, etc) OUT of it. GF
Well My first Ham rig was a 2 meter rig. I was driving coast to coast at the time and I found out that I was almost never out of range of a repeater. If someone else was on I had someone to talk to. I still own and use the second 2 meter radio I bought, and she still works fine. I paid $150.00 for her at Texas towers. And yes you have to watch with mike you pick up. I run more then one ham rig and I have picked up the wrong mike. Also on the duel band radios make sure you are on the side that peolpe are talking on.
http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/Welcome.html "Fines normally range from $7,500 to $10,000" here's a sample love letter to a CBer: http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/files/Borgi11_03_22_5241.html
2 meter fm beams here Stacked 5 at 7 foot apart with the vertical I worked this station on both FM/SSB
Thanks for the info....wow I forgot about this thread, it's 1.5 years old....but hey on a high note, I took my first tech exam this past Saturday and passed. So they say by this Wednesday my name should be in the FCC's list. I'm pretty stoked. now I'm looking into seeing what radio would be best for me.....so far I've been told a dual band but didn't realize their prices....until now. Might have to just buy a HT over the mobiles and they're really not my cup of tea.
Good going on the Ham ticket. As to the HT. I found after I bought my HT I couldn't trade it in on a another radio when I wanted to upgrade. Leon (kc0iv)