As with anything it's how much money do you want to spend.
Also it depends upon your religion. Want to start a war? Just go a HAM web site and post that your Yeasu/Kenwood/Icom radio is the best. The holy wars quickly begin!
Here's my 2 cents worth:
- get a unit with a detachable control head, it makes mounting a lot easier
- Terms:
-- Single band: transceiver only has one band, i.e. 2 meter only
-- Dual band/Single VFO: transceiver can operate on two bands (2 meter & 70 cm [also referred to as VHF and UHF]) but can only operate on one band at a time
-- Dual Band/Dual VFO: Like having 2 radios in one. You can monitor 2 channels simultaneously (VHF/UHF, VHF/VHF, UHF/UHF). Check the owners manual a true dual band/dual vfo transceiver should have "cross-band repeater" ability.
-- Cross-band repeater ability: Let's say your are working an event that is using a 2 meter repeater. Let's say that you want to leave your vehicle, but you are too far from the repeater for your handheld transceiver (HT) to reach the repeater. What to do? Set the mobile in your vehicle to operate as a cross-band repeater. When your mobile receives a signal from the 2 meter repeater, it retransmits the signal on the UHF band. You are carrying a UHF handheld so you can still hear the communications. You transmit on your UHF handheld and the more powerful mobile in your vehicle receives the UHF signal and retransmits it to the 2 meter repeater. You have complete communications at all times. This is a neat feature I have used many times.
Now for the actual recommendations:
Single Band:
- I have not seen a Single Band that comes with a detachable control head.
- If you're going single band go with the most power.
- YAESU FT-2900R (75 watts) $165 at
www.hamradio.com
Dual Band/Single VFO:
- YAESU FTM-10R $380 at
www.hamradio.com
Dual Band/Dual VFO:
- KENWOOD TM-V71A $405 at
www.hamradio.com
- Dual bands are usually limited to 50-55 watts output.
Good luck with your test!