hello;
Thanks for the good suggestions.  I plan on doing some cable shopping because there is no eager group of folks with soldering irons.
As for the handheld, thanks for the link Buddy.  Without looking at it I initially thought it was a link to order the radio.
One big question, does it speak pl tone settings?
Also what kind of antenna connector do they use?  Would be nice if it were something more durable.
Richard