Hi Jeff,

I don't know about other events but the Mini's used to use (and probably still do) a 70 cm (440 MHz) repeater. This was because the 2 m repeaters in the GTA had a lot of traffic and we didn't want to interfere. Also, the 440 one we use(d) has fantastic coverage for the territory.

We occasionally used 70 cm in a couple EOS rallies where it was convenient.

But, except for that, I don't know of any other event that uses 440 Mhz. The performance rallies in remote areas may not even have 440's nearby.

However, the other band may still be useful, even at perf rallies, where you might want to have a "private", ie off the main repeater, conversation with someone via 70 cm simplex. Another useful feature is to be able to cross-band to your car from a handheld. At stage starts/finishers, I have found it handy to talk to my car's mobile on 440 from a low power handheld while the mobile communicates in turn with the rally repeater at 2m. It gives you the ability to walk around and not miss anything in an area where a 2m handheld alone might not reach or hear the rally repeater. This only works with a dual-band mobile that has cross-band repeat capability; not all do.

Jeff, as you see the cross-band advantages I wrote about are largely convenience. If your main interest is working perf events, then any 2 metre mobile will do just fine. Since money matters, my advice is also to eschew the models with fancy features. I never use them, and if ever I needed to I would never remember how to invoke anyway. I see that there are 2 metre 50 watt mobiles for less than $300 Cdn these days, and they all have an adequate number of memories on board.

The ability to roam around at a stage end with a hand-held is only really useful if it's warm and there are no bugs and it's not raining. This boils down to the Voyageurs, essentially, and it is not on the schedule anymore.

The 440 capability only really matters if you work a cp at a mini, and even then you can always arrange with organizer to check with you on 2 metre now and then.