John,  Kevin used to have an ICOM 2410 I think that had the remote control features.  Aside from the delay in squelch tails for most repeaters it worked fine and is indeed nice to rag chew on a distant repeater not accessible from the hot tub or  patio or other sites away from the primary shack.  

Some of our repeaters here are 60 plus miles distant from where I am and the little boost from the main shack rig or the mobile is helpful.  As I indicated the squelch tails will decrease the usability as most reset with curtsey tones but you need a full drop out to let the remote radios trigger the system.  

As for monitoring two bands, I use this to listen for the wife on a quiet channel while also listening for to other activity on busy ones, (even tv audio for news etc.).

Ah well.

thank you!

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