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When discussing antennas commenters often refer to their antenna as "working great." However, while I am sure the observation is subjectively true, it is a whole different question as to how "great" the antenna is in objective terms. In other words. Unless you test the antennas in a well equipped and controlled environment it is virtually impossible to draw any concrete conclusions. A big part of the difficulty in judging a UHF antenna's performance lies in the nature of how we observe them in use. It is pretty simple, do we get good connections to the stations we are communicating with? Given the nature of UHF, in most cases we are looking to contact stations relatively close to us and would probably succeed with a tuned coat-hanger. A secondary problem, especially for people coming from CB is that FM reception behaves quite differently than AM. AM tends to fade all the way to the point where the noise over-comes the signal. However, FM tends to go from intelligible to non-existent very quickly. Thus, if we receive the signal at all, it tends to be good enough for conversation. There are also a host of other issues, like bandwidth and propagation pattern that may be important in some applications and irrelevant in others. And, finally, there are the mechanical factors ((like corrosion) that are usually only observed after a period of a few months or years. All of which is to say, and this is strictly my own opinion: Unlike the ham low-bands where you can, and in some cased (low-power/QRP) must spend more on the antenna than the radio, for most GMRS uses, that is not the case. The perfect GMRS antenna is probably gong to be the lowest priced antenna that meets your basic communication needs* and is built by someone you trust to make quality products. Unfortunately, in GMRS there is no magic perfect antenna. * terrain (elevation changes), distance, mobil, fixed or portable, power, etc.

It occurred to me after posting the above comment that there are some issues involved that may make the transition to GMRS from CB a bit harder to understand at first. Unlike CB, being roughly 6" long, installation of a basic 1/4 wave ground-plane antenna is easily achieved on GMRS. Likewise "gain" antennas and even multi-band gain antennas are all achievable in designs that will not break every light in a parking garage. This becomes even more straight-forward when you consider that (as noted previously) in the majority of cases, the basic 1/4 wave antenna will be more than adequate. However, the situation in mobile CB is very different. In that case, at 102", mounting even the basic 1/4 wave antenna is a compromise, and all the options involve managing loss, not gain. So, the choice of antenna design, mounting method and mounting location all become critical. This is especially true when you consider the maximum 4 watts of power out of the radio. Anyway, I hope this helps newcomers to GMRS and VHF/UHF in general, ease the entry to the new environment.

And further to @Tsavorite75's question. You can communicate between FRS & GMRS on any authorized FRS channel. That is, all FRS channels are authorized for GMRS, with the limitations @steveC7010 noted. However, be aware that the 8 GMRS repeater input channels are not authorized for FRS and will not appear on certified FRS radios.

The new Part 95 specifically authorizes communications between FRS and GMRS users subject to the power and bandwidth rules for each channel.

The 49D software is rather straight forward. hook the cable up, install the software and run. You need to read from the radio (Make sure your com port settings are correct) then you'll have a screen where you can start entering channel information and stuff. Remember for repeater frequencies, the 462 frequency goes under receive, and the 467 goes under transmit. You have a choice of CTCSS (PL) or DCS (N and I) tones. Just enter the info in, keep everything wide band and you should be good.

One note... If you do file a petition, it would probably be best to refer to: Rule Part 47 C.F.R, Part 95 Subpart E. The section numbering was changed in 2017. And, before doing that, make sure the rule is still there. It used to be in Part95-A § 95.25 Land station description. But, I do not see any such reference in the new Part95-E.