I know there are a few HAM hocks (thats a thing right?) on here and Im hoping to pick your brain. It’s time I moved up from the Baofeng to a permanent install in the cruiser...but there are MANY choices and MANY prices. I was hoping that by posting my thoughts here I could get some advice, or at the very least brain dump and discover what I really need vs want here. Okay
Need
VHF/UHF
50 Watts PEP
memory capacity
Want
Weather band
small and or remote mount with detachable face or controls on the mic
digital comms
APRS (automatic packet reporting for location)
SSB
Less than $250
The main problem that I’m running into is where to put the stupid thing. I could mount it remote and put it in my center console but thats kind of a pain unless I have a remote speaker and controls...which I don’t mind. I could so super small and mount it to my center console on the side or something...again not ideal. I could probably figure out a way to mount it overhead by the sunroof controls but that seems like a PITA.
What I have to work with
Its genuinely impressive how Toyota was able to take a space this large and make it this unusable.