Handheld 2 way radio

Only way that will work is he gets one with FPP Option.
Trying to see if that was even an option on the HT1250s and so on.

He could just get an XT2500 with FPP for $600
Or get an APX7000
Yes that's what the 'Cops Run' you're going to be paying Cop prices though.

 

why doesn't your employer fill you in on all the details and devices needed?

 

Note: grab a sandwich & a beer before starting to read the following

When I worked in the inland Pacific Northwest, the "Gypo trucks" ran on 151.9250 MHz. It was one of the original (pre-2013) business channels, set somewhat apart from the other freqs because the legal power limit was, IIRC, 250 watts, instead of the more common 110 watts. Of course, at VHF, pretty much if you don't have line-of-sight (or nearly so), then if 25 watts won't work, neither will ten times that. The difference with greater power in average terrain is that higher power will penetrate farther through obstructions, like trees.

Canadian truckers used to come south through my service area still talking on their "LADD" channels -- three of which were in common use in Idaho and Washington state by police, fire, and other local governments. We got IDs on a few of them, had WSP stop them, and turned them in to FCC area enforcement engineers. I had to spend an awful lot of hours (part of my job) finding interlopers who were interfering with the quite elaborate interoperable systems in WA & ID.

A note about just picking up some sort of surplussed commercial VHF or UHF radio: as of January 2013, all "Part 90" (commercial land mobile, including business, forest products, manufacturing, public safety, special emergency [ambulances & school buses], and Part 95 (MURS channels 1, 2, and 3) radios must be narrowband, meaning maximum TX deviation of +/- 2.5 kHz. Using some older Maxtrac or GE Delta won't meet those specs, even if you're using licensed frequencies with the permission of the licensee. Note: The narrowband requirement doesn't apply to frequencies in the VHF Low Band, meaning 25-50 MHz, nor to the 700-800 MHz SMR bands. CB is also exempt, besides not allowing FM's use anyway. So an awful lot of the VHF & UHF radios available in quantity from police, fire, EMS, and business agencies, especially on eekPray, are not capable of the newer narrowband requirements, which is why so many agencies either dumped them or sold them off at huge discounts to hams at auctions. Amateur radio is exempt from most bandwidth requirements.

There is no need to spend money for a P25 radio; they're designed as an "open standard" technology so that police & fire agencies can be programmed to talk with another, assuming sufficient infrastructure systems are in place.

It's going to be really hard to find a keyboard-programmable handheld or mobile that's *not* a cheap Chinese radio. Some of my nice Icom commercial mobiles can be done via keyboard, but the formula and steps to do so seem similar to the procedure necessary to transmute base metals into gold. I usually just use a laptop.

Take a look at Miklor.com, a privately run info page about said cheap Chinese radios. They show & review a whole slew of handheld and mobiles that can be had for between $35 and $200, although they don't sell any.

FWIW, Idaho even made provisions for loggers working in remote areas to use one of their state emergency frequencies, without license, to call for emergency assistance. Northern Idaho & NE Washington are fairly littered with linked towers, allowing a handheld in the middle of just about nowhere to call for help and get a state dispatcher on the air to send a helo (or ranger, if people are abusing the system) with pretty good response time.

FWIW, all the cheap Chinese radios (I have nearly a dozen of various flavors, band pairs, and power outputs) are capable of the FCC-mandated narrowband channels, and many are even FCC Part 90 accepted for business, police & fire, etc. I've sold about 30 locally to sheriff's deputies tired of lugging their 28 ounce Motherola portables and opted for a 6 ounce dualband radio (police & fire) that fits in a buttonable shirt pocket

73

 

I think the bigger issue is he wants to be able to program them from the keypad.
His options are fairly limited.

There are many good Motorola and other brand radios that are narrowband capable. But can't be programmed from the keypad.

http://www.acdtelecom.com/uploads/Narrowbanding.pdf

I have a Kenwood TK280 for example and it is capable of narrowband. But it can't be programmed through the Keypad.
That will be the case with many of these.

 

my hand held midland failed today, I could hear receiving but they couldn't hear me. another driver answered, receiving could that one...

time to move on