>>644108>Do you need a licence to have one of these even if you're taking it with you in case of emergency?Life-safety emergency, no... you can use whatever means necessary to get help. Not saying go for the radio first if you've got phone coverage, but if you've exhausted other options, go for it.
Having the best equipment in the world won't do you or anyone much good if you don't know how to use it. Get the license, play with it on bands you're authorized on, learn what the features do. An amateur license is cheap and lets you do a LOT.
>>644406>Where did you purchase the Motorola and how much? Did you program it yourself? What frequencies/what do you use it for?One of the bigger Motorola dealers in the US.
Kind of a pain, just the way Motorola is, but the radio (and software) are both terrific.
Programming software's a huge pain to obtain. Easier if you're commercially licensed and have a business.
Since Motorola bought Vertex's commercial line a few years back, I had some Vertex training... basically I had to create an account that already existed and had training certificates in it, but their site was not happy about creating an account that already existed but didn't exist. Several weeks back and forth to get all that resolved.
Yes, I do my own programming/radio management. Not too bad if you understand radio network architecture (P25/Astro, trunks, routing... DMR's a lot easier than P25). Kind of gets used everywhere - amateur, commercial, public service, GMRS...
All said-and-done, i'm about $1600 into this rig.
