I would actually prefer the uv5r at a public service event simply because 
it's cheap, and if it gets dropped, broken, wet or other wize made to be 
non-working, your out 40 bucks and not 300.
The stock battery is also a very good one and will last all day with use 
such as seen at a public service event.
It's a very robust little handheld and certainly more suited to commercial 
or field work than most amateur hand helds.
It's also fairly light compared to say the th f6a or ict90a.  This is a 
consideration when you have it hanging on you all day or for those times 
when you do drop it...it'll tend to bounce rather than crash like the 
heavier kenwood or icom.
It's as reliable, or perhaps more so, than either the kenwood or icom...I 
have all 3 so I do speak from experience.
Actually, if your running close simplex, or are near to a good repeater, the 
uv3r is my prefered radio...it's very small, rugged and will go all day on 
the little 3.7V battery at 2 watts.
Put a shorty antenna on it, and the thing is smaller than your average sell 
phone.

The ict90a and thf6a are certainly more feature packed and have more bands 
and the wide band receiver etc.  So, if you need all that while sitting on 
one frequency at some event then I guess it's better.
The receiver is slightly better in the UV5R than the thf6a.  It's prone to 
less intermod as well which can be a consideration for pure noise purposes 
while in the field.

I still use my th f6a on occasion, but most of the time, the uv5r is my go 
to radio for around the house and when I'm out and about.
I don't use 220, and I certainly don't listen to much outside the 2m and 
70cm ham bands on something like a handheld.
Yes, the kenwood and icom models have HF receive, with ssb on the kenwood, 
but it's utterly useless with a rubber duck antenna anyway.
The uv5r has full commercial rx and tx on vhf and UHF, so you've got the 
option to listen/transmit on gmrs/frs frequencies as well if needed at 
public service events...or on the MURS or whatever.

73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Fiorello" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 12:51 PM
Subject: hand-helds


> Hi;
> Just have to ask what if anything does the kenwood thf6a that has been
> very popular offer over these new very low priced hand helds?  For some
> of the prices I've seen it would hardly be worth repairing one.  The
> kenwood thf6a is drastically more expensive and not sure what one gets
> for all that cash.  Has to be putting a dent in the sale of handhelds by
> kenwood icom and yaesu.
>
> -- 
> richard