The 8900 is not usually a radio I'd reccomend. First, there only 2 antennas afaik that will do all 4 bands without jumpers or having to tune them for individual bands. Second, 6m and 10m FM is pretty much useless, although when 10 is open you can hit repeaters across the country with it. Third, 10m FM is in the general portion of the band, techs cant use 10m FM. But if you got a great deal on it (Ive seen big rebates on it, maybe something new coming down the line?), well, you cant argue with that.
Couldn't agree more. For the right price, it's worth it, but otherwise the 8800 is generally equivelant for less. Generally... the crossband repeat function does require the 8900, and while rarely useful, there are times when it could be handy for sure.
Our county and the majority of those around us are running on 450( anywhere we go in the state we've got coms w/ other agency's) . We are not trunked not even LE. It will receive on 450 and the yeasu Rep said it could be unlocked to transmit on 450, under my agency's and the FCC license from our radio programmer vendor. However if he was wrong I will be sure to let you all know. Yes it sounds like the diamond and comet are the only ones that would work. Other the stuff for our agency I am pretty new to all of this stuff.
Not sure what rep you spoke with, but yes, they were right/wrong...
That radio can not ever legally (except in rare FCC-defined emergency situations) be used to transmit on your public safety frequencies. It's not type accepted and because of that alone is only truly legal on the ham bands.
The part they were right about is that it CAN be opened up to transmit out of band. Every radio I own went under the knife within an hour of getting it home to make that modification. Unfortunately, most of them are not modded in software, but by getting out a soldering iron, or xacto knife to remove a diode or cut a trace on a PCB. Warranty goes byebye immediately as well, and it's still not legal to actually use it for those out of band transmissions. (Even if it had been type accepted for the frequencies your department uses, it'd almost certainly lose that the second it was modified and no longer in the same condition as during the FCC certification process.)
Can it be made to work? Yes. Is it a good idea? Most definitely not.
As for your further discussion on radio choice, I'd personally still go for at least the 8800, if not the 8900 given a good price. Being able to have multiple frequencies up at the same time doesn't sound too useful until you've actually been presented with the need, but it'd extremely useful for many folks. On the trail I personally find that simplex on one side of the radio for group chatter, and repeaters on the other side for longer range/emergency works well.
