I'm currently using a Yaesu/Vertex VX-150, and sometimes a Yaesu Ft-530. The VX-150 is better for sensitivity and selectivity, and seems to perform better when connected to my outdoor Ringo Ranger ARX-2B (tuned for 160Mhz). I still do get interference from the pagers, and my local police station. I live in northern NJ, about 6 miles away from NYC, so there are thousands of radio transmitters within a 5mi range.
The FT-530 is nice because it allows me to talk to other hams on the UHF (70cm) band while monitoring RR's on the VHF band at the same time. The radio has two transceivers, and can even be used as a cross-band repeater between 2m and 70cm.
When I'm mobile, I use a Larsen 5/8 wave mag mount, and a 25W amplifier (for hamming), and when pedestrian mobile I use either a Comet SMA-24 on the VX-150 or a Diamond RH-C77A on the FT-530.
I recently performed a mod to the VX-150 to improve audio output on receive. The mod helps me to hear the intelligence on weak, and/or undermodulated signals. I do not recommend this mod to anyone except professionals who have worked with tiny SMT components. As it was, I did not have the correct soldering equipment, but I managed to do it without damaging the radio.
The mod brings up the high end of the audio spectrum, which can improve intelligibility on poorly modulated signals, but it also boosts the hissing sound you get when the squelch is open. The better option would be to use a headset or earbuds to listen. If you do this though, you need a couple of adapters. For one, the Yaesu CT-44 microphone adapter, and a 1/8" mono male to 1/8" female stereo phone plug adapter so that you can hear the audio in both ears.
I am now considering purchasing the Yaesu FT-60R - another dual band 2m/70cm radio that has gotten great reviews in the hamming community. The main advantage to the FT-60R over the FT-530 is that it has 1,000 memories compared to the FT-530's 88 (total between VHF and UHF), and has 10 banks for memories so you can easily enable/disable any number of frequencies at once.
If anyone is using the FT-60R for railroad scanning, I would like to know your opinion.
CP