Gear query: 2-way radios?

[Poopah]

The midlands we have allow you to choose bwt FRS and GMRS. For GMRS you're suppose to get a license.....but no one has ever ticketed me for using it without one.

I dropped one of my motorollas in one of the Cottonwood lakes years ago. Took the batteries out and let it dry and it worked fine the next day.

[Crawler]

We use 2 Meter radios 4wheeling in the Desert. They work surprisingly well in non line-of-sight scenarios. On the trails we are constantly down in deep canyons and can usually hit the dry lake bed where camp is located without issue on 3-5w handhelds. Two weeks ago I hit my friends from Lucern about 30 miles away towards Landers with my 5w handheld with a magnet mounted cheapo antenna on the roof of my 4runner. Not direct line of sight but no giant ranges between us either. You will need a license to transmit on these freqs but the technician test is very easy and should cost under $20. Not to mention you can pick up lots of local fire and police freqs on these, as well as NOAA weather service almost anywhere in the US. Much better then walkie talkies and about $100ea for the ones we use.

Amateur radio operators will put the world back together if the S ever hits TF.