hahaha thanks. I'll let you know how it's going. Tonight I played with it for a few hours while listening to the Colorado Connection repeater on Cheyenne Mountain. I made it about 20 pages into the manual. It is a complicated beast with some nice features. Now I need to learn to use them!
As for ICOM... I can't afford that kind of quality! I had to save up my extra pennies and empty brass for a few months to afford this one.I got it for $159 on Amazon with free shipping. Got a 12VDC charger for it too so I can keep it charged up while out on the road (or trail).