Talkabout Distance DPS

I purchased a Motorola Talkabout Dual Power Source (DPS) General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) radio for extremely rugged outdoor use. Do not confuse this with the Talkabout Distance which only uses a rechargeable battery. The DPS version has proven very reliable in the most trying situations. Because it can use AA batteries, you can stay in the mountains a LONG time with it, versus rechargeable NiCAD batteries. Also, since it has NO Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), you can use it in brutal cold and know what channel and codes you are using. Although like any Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio, it is very "line of sight," but it "punches through" vegetation well, and surprisingly well along ridges, hill tops, and even a limited degree in draws. It has been dropped on rocks countless times and still works great, though appearance wise it is heavily scared and worn. It's only down falls are (1) size...it is quite large (but that makes it easy to use with gloves on), and (2) channel changing can happen when you are not aware since there is no guard for the channel selector knob, and (3) getting a license from the FCC is a Royal pain in the rump. I have not seen it for sale in nearly a year as of July 2002. When you have to have communications in harsh cold conditions, this is a great radio for a 5 mile range (use lithium AA batteries in the brutal cold instead of alkaline batteries for longer service). You can see a side view of the radio in use on Mount Whitney, in January 2001 if you check out my trip report.