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If you feel adventurous you can turn that old satellite antenna dish into a GMRS antenna by cutting a slot in it. Amazon has a book about slot antennas and how to construct them.

Now all that being said. GMRS and Ham licenses are BOTH going to be 35 dollars and last 10 years at this point. So the SAR / CERT groups that are pushing folks to get ham licenses could just as easily push their members to get a GMRS license that requires no testing. Ham radio is great for what it is. It's a fun hobby. The problem with ham radio and CERT / SAR operations is they typically want to rely on other peoples infrastructure. ANd that can work if that infrastructure is installed and maintained at a high level. Problem is that it's not always that way and it can become a single point of failure for communications. And I am not saying that a GMRS repeater is somehow more technologically advanced than a ham repeater, but if you as a group have a GMRS repeater, YOU as a group are going to be the ones maintaining it. And while this may 'hurt' ham radio if CERT / SAR folks go the route of GMRS, if that was their only motivation to get a ham license, then what were they bringing to ham radio to begin with?

Went to see about throwing something together for you to approximate the blank/callsign only user photo (since i'm home again with access to a computer), but it looks like either you beat me to it, or @rdunajewski got it handled (if so, thanks Rich!) Below is what I saw just now when viewing your profile in the main site:

Same here, and why I never was able to work from home these past two years.....DHS CISA letter meant me and my crew came to the office and job sites. We do SCADA, microwave, satcom, and land mobile radio, along with telemetry for flight testing of experimental aircraft. As for radio, I find FRS/GMRS equipment all over the place that should not be in use, whether voiding company policy or FCC regulation, like that buffet example provided earlier in the thread. What I tend to find around my house and at work sites are the baby monitors (audio), some video capable units, and then lots of sites that are supposed to use corporate radios, using Midland GMRS handhelds bought at Cabela's (most are camouflage models). The local thrift stores have received many Midland sets, after providing the corporate users with UHF HT-750/1250, EX500, EX600XLS, PR400/CP200, up to XPR7550e replacements. At this point, I am no longer surprised what is being imported that operates in the GMRS frequency band, as so many consumer products come into the country with little to no scrutiny.

Here is the link for a previous thread on this subject. For my own use on the second floor of my house, I just use a New Motorola (NMO) mount UHF antenna, a magnet mount, and have it mounted on the top of a 19" network rack. Other people use metal baking pans for GMRS antennas as a ground plane. GMRS antennas do not have to be big, or even outdoors to work....I get consistent 8-10 miles in a mountainous environment, but this drops to about 5-8 miles when I move my base station to the first floor (daylight basement) setting.

Well, there are several groups working on Tampa to Orlando. Last I heard, it’s almost ready, working out the bugs. Stay tuned.

Hi Dave, an thanks for the nice words. My real problem is the lack of people GMRS, in my area. Putting that antenna on top of my truck could work if there any users in my area. So far I’ve not found any even after putting the Nagora 772G antenna on my handheld. Now that said I’m not giving up for finding folks. I might try the ham route if I knew that there ham folks in my area. With the cost of ham equipment I’m afraid of trying an finding no one. I hate wining but I’ll keep plugging along. Thanks again for your nice words an welcome to our site. Where are you from? I’m from New Jersey. bob - WRPL668

On a low battery the HT power-output may be low (depending on the battery and the radio) but because SWR is a ratio of reflected power, it should not change significantly (if at all) based on power - especially when you are talking differences of only 1 or 2 watts.

If they don't stop using them perhaps it's time for your repeater club to form a "Steak users Net" and have a few 50 watt mobiles go to their parking lot and chat up the consequences of over-cooking steaks! ? c.f., hacking McDonald's Drive-Thru intercoms!

I agree with off-roader but I live in a dead zone an talking to anyone has been difficult to say the least. It’s all that he said an more. I put the Nagora 771G antenna on it an the static is cleaner ?. It’s a great starter radio. You always buy a more expensive radio down the road. Good luck. bob. WRPL668

The UV9G was my "go to" HT that I used when off-roading for a long time. It's cheap, waterproof, fairly tough, and did the job (talking to other Jeeps nearby) just fine.

I worked on cyber security for a portion of the western power grid for years. The FCC had nothing to do with it.