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Well, After studying my butt off for several weeks, I took the test Saturday for General class and passed (35 out of 35). I do have to say thanks to the guy who gave me the link to hamexam.org where you can do flash cards of the questions, it really helped!!! Now on to new bands... maybe I will try out 17 meters or 20 meters in the coming weeks.

I always use GMRS properly. I Never, never never put the antenna in my mouth when I push the transmit button.

Update: I did not succeed

It will also depend on the brand of radio and the stock antenna it comes with. I have found in my testing that the Nagoya and Abbree 771G did make an improvement with my Baofeng UV-5R GMRS radios. My Wouxun KG-935G Plus does better with the stock antenna that comes with the radio. The Signal Sticks are popular and work well for 2m and 70cm. I would want to see what the SWR actually is on 467 MHz and 462 MHz. Not all dual band antennas will work well on GMRS frequencies.

The hamexam.org flashcards were a really big help to me (I just passed my General class test this Saturday). Thanks for the tip!!!!

As a added note, concerning Anyone choosing to purchase the 935H, I noticed yesterday it apparently has the Same Problem the FIRST edition of TID H-8's with the battery discharging a Shock from the Positive battery contact, while transmitting ! While holding the 935H in my right hand touching the Battery Contact, I felt a Zap or charge while transmitting ! FYI. I'm going to Call buytwowayradios.com on Monday and tell them this occurred and see if they know about it.

Nothing prohibits it. Some people dislike the idea of GMRS turning into a sort of "Ham Lite" service, but if nobody is breaking the rules so who really cares?

I got sick of all my radios and batteries falling over every time someone sneezed nearby, so I did some light CAD work and 3D printing this afternoon. I think I might re-do this one to have antenna storage on board as well...

I haven’t tried all of them but Ham Radio Crash Course likes the Smiley and Signal Stick antennas. I have had good results with Diamond and Comet antennas.

I bite down on the radio to press the button with my teeth. Gets my mouth NIIIICE and close to the mic.

Any update or is this kaput? Like most forum discussions, it seems to have died. I just checked and there are 3 different listings for 550 in Lexington Co., none of which are working (2 are stale, most recent is offline). I'm getting highway flagmen on 575 (I doubt they're using FRS radios because they are a few miles from me). [Do these flagmen always use 575 in other places too?] And the occasional activity from Crowders Mtn. 575 repeater is still there. The Lexington 575 repeater is offline too but anyway it was Permission Required with no response to requests. So I'm looking for a different home base frequency to routinely monitor. I had an idea that if those in the area would agree on a tone we could use the 600 that mostly sits idle. So IMO 141.3 would be best to start with (typical for open repeater or travel use). Without a repeater, my range will be short but we do have several local GMRSers in range if they want to use it. FWIW, I heard users from Central Time zone on 725 so it is still linked. I don't know about the 650 and 700 members-only repeaters but I'm not monitoring those anymore.

As BoxCar has mentioned, different licensing pool. You still run across some KA call signs for GMRS. The KA call signs haven't been issued in about 30 years though. The standard for Radio and TV stations is still the same. All stations east of the Mississippi start with W and all stations west of the Mississippi start with K. There are a few exceptions to this. If I remember correctly there is one station in PA that starts with a K and one in TX that starts with a W. They had their call signs before things were standardized.

Yes it is. Watch for sales at Radioddity. You should be able to pick up a db20g for less than $90.

Well, I use it for keeping track of each other skiing, communicating with friends and family back on land when out of cell tower range sailing (marine VHF doesn't really have repeaters in my area), hiking, camping, and even quick things like backing up to the trailer with someone guiding me back. But it doesn't really bother me that there are those who like to chat with strangers. Diverse use cases is probably what "general" means in GMRS.

"some people" are born without the natural and normal ability to relate-to, or understand other people's wants and priorities, as if they think they are the center of the universe or that everyone thinks exactly the same way they think. "some people" born without this very basic ability that also post proof of their defect on social-media or websites, over and over, time and time again, endlessly, again and again, non-stop and obsessively, are commonly referred to as retards.

Welcome! First, what's your use case? If it's just to chat with others during "normal" (such as they are) times, you can get "radio-ish" apps for cell phones that give you similar functionality as long as you're within range of a cellular or WiFi signal. OTOH, if you want something more radio-like, but still easy, look at the offerings from Rapid Radios. I don't normally recommend them because they're just cellular modems stuffed into a radio case. For many of the use cases they seem to be marketing these to, they'll be as useful as doorstops when the power is out long enough for the cellular network to go down, and don't work where there's no cell service. I expect that after a natural disaster, there will be a bunch of unhappy preppers with these. If neither of those is what you're looking for, consider getting a pair of radios like the Baofeng UV-5G Plus. It's a legit locked-to-GMRS-transmit radio, so nobody will give you a hard time about using unapproved equipment. You'll need at least one GMRS license (entire family, 10 years, $35) if only one of you is going to transmit, which is fine for testing. Get a pair of GMRS-tuned antennas (Nagoya NA-701G is the normal one, NA-771G is the extra-long one), since even the Baofeng radios locked to GMRS come with the same "rubber ducky" antenna as the other Baofeng models which isn't tuned specifically for GMRS. Stand on your balcony and transmit to someone with the other radio (after making sure you're both on the same channel). They can phone you and talk on the phone with you while they try to hear you over the radio. If that works, consider just getting an antenna you can put on your balcony and a cable to run to a semi-permanently-installed handheld with a battery eliminator. If you have a use situation where a repeater would be useful (such as when you're not at home), first check to see if there's an open repeater or repeater club near you and if they're accepting new people. If not, then consider getting a repeater and a more permanent balcony antenna. But if they can't hear your 5W handheld when you're on the balcony, they're probably not going to be able to hear you with your 5W repeater. You may need to go higher than your balcony to get good coverage, which is going to involve a good deal more effort than just clamping an antenna onto the balcony railing. GMRS repeaters are not as easy as the sellers of dedicated units would have you believe, and even more difficult if you buy one of the re-purposed pile-o-parts units (separate receiver / transmitter, duplexer, battery eliminator) on eBay. For one thing, going up to the 35W / 50W power level won't do a lot if there's a building / mountain / whatever between your repeater antenna and whoever you want to talk to. Next, you need to put the antenna up as high as you can (practicality and regulations permitting). Then you should coordinate with people running other repeaters - with only 8 input/output frequency pairs, urban areas need a good amount of cooperation in order to not be talking over each other (even with the repeaters using separate tone codes, there's still only one channel that people are sharing). Even with a repeater that "fell into my lap" ready-to-go, I expect I'm in for another $2000 minimum to get the proper antenna, mounting it on my roof as high as is legal (I'm on a ridge in the approach path of a major airport), getting a custom-made length of heliax cable, lightning arrestor, ground rod field, backup power, etc. Probably closer to $2500. The only reason I'm doing it is that my city used to have a number of repeaters which are now defunct (offline for 5+ years), leaving none in the city. And this is in a "major metropolitan area". There are other GMRS repeaters operating, but one is limited to emergency personnel only and is usually silent, and another is barely in range and operated by a group that apparently isn't accepting new members and their web site and Facebook page haven't been updated in years. Their repeater is still up, but since it is announcing the time incorrectly (by 58 minutes), it seems nobody with management capabilities on that repeater is listening to it any more. Even with a temporary NMO-HDG antenna using my chain link fence as a counterpoise, I get a bunch of people "kerchunking" the repeater for no useful purpose, and I suspect it will get even worse when the real antenna goes up on the roof. I really don't want to have to maintain DTMF ident bursts for individual users, but I may need to in order to keep the kercunkers off the repeater.

Far from an expert, but with the vehicle running you are likely reading the alternator output. Turn off the car you only see the battery voltage. But anytime you reduce the wring and connections you reduce voltage drop. A properly sized wire connected directly to the battery with an appropriate inline fuse would be better.

How old is your vehicle? Newer vehicles will shut the accessory port off after a few minutes. That is only one possibility. Also newer vehicles with the battery monitoring system will actually shut off circuits if it detects a low voltage from the battery. I don't remember off hand what the voltage cutoff is. So yet another possibility. For newer vehicles it is best practice to wire the radio positive wire directly to the battery and the ground wire directly to a chassis ground due to the battery monitor system and all of the computer modules onboard.

Have not heard a pip outta Hopkins in a long time. I took a trip up I-26 and had the chance to talk a bit to a friend on Nesses 467.625 for a long way (I-95 - Columbia) w/o issue with my MXT400 (MIDLAND). Nice and clear signal too. Just a poke about Midland, it works for me!!!!

In my experience all the 771 antenna work pretty will and are cheap to replace. About 40ish miles for me. The slim duck costs more then my radios but does work a little better

There are lots of good radios out there. The Wouxun KG-935G plus is certainly one at the top of my list for an HT. For Mobile the KG-1000 plus has bells and whistles. The right radio for you could include many factors that only you can determine (price, waterproof, number of channel spaces, simple or complex, and so on). Whatever you choose ignore those that tell you that you chose wrong and enjoy. Most of all, good luck stopping at one

I have looked far and wide and settled on a Wouxon 935G, which seems to have high selectivity, clean transmissions and just feels like the old Motorola's quality. I don't use chirp, i use there proprietary software which is fine for me since its also free. Really hard to find alternatives with this quality and features. But my quest is never ending. Though i do have to say there is a special place for my Tidradio H3, one heck of a cheap mediocre radio.

Congratulations!

Hi 73 Blazer! I use either the BTWR/Wouxun proprietary software or the RT Systems in all of my programming. I have found CHIRP to be quirky and difficult to use on the two computers I have tried it on. I know, lots of people swear by CHIRP and don't want a radio that doesn't allow its use. I never use CHIRP so that can't be the issue. It is incredibly annoying when this problem does manifest itself. I have experienced it while in communication with other Wouxuns of various models as well as other Chinese radios and Motorola repeaters. Addendum: I have owned, used, and programmed and tested a number of Baofeng UV5R's, UV5G's, and UV5X's (actually earlier model UV5G's), and even 888's. These are like the flagships of "Cheap Chinese Radios" and are available for a fraction of the price of the Wouxuns. I do not recall ever experiencing this difficulty with the Baofeng radios. For multiple reasons, I prefer the Wouxun platforms, but the CTCSS/DCS issues make me a bit gun shy about dropping another century note and a half or more, on a new Wouxun. I wish Wouxun would collaborate with Baofeng (not B Tech) on this CTCSS/DCS issue if they are unable to fix it, themselves.

Well that is certainly and interesting issue. I played around with a couple of my 905G's and 935G's and my UV8H (I don't have any + models) I set 254.1 on RX&TX on GMRS 02 and GMRS 16 and did the same on one of my Yeasu's and I didn't have any issue with them working btw the Wouxun's or between the Wouxun's and Yeasu. I tried also some DCS tones and same result it all worked as expected. How are you programming these? With CHIRP or native Wouxun software, RT's, or on the radio itself? My tests I just did I just did it from the radio itself. I generally use Chirp for the 935 or UV8H, the 905 is not chirp supported so I use the native. I have seen Chirp do some weird things on my Yeasu, it says it's supported but when you write out the config it will ADD a DCS025N tone as well (which is not possible on the radio itself to have both a DCS and CTCSS set) , so nothing works, , when you read the config back off the radio you can see it had set whatever CTCSS or no CTCSS but added DCS025N to every channel. But that is very obvious when you go to use and no repeater activates. There was a handful of times my mobile UV980P has not opened a repeater. I'll be going back and forth with someone in a conversation and suddenly I PTT and start talking and mid sentence the person I'm talking to will bust in "uh..did I lose you.." because they can't hear me . I know that happened at least three times when in the first few days of operation because I was starting to think mabey I need to send this one back...but that hasn't happened in over a year since and I use that radio alot on various frequencies, so I dunno what that was.

I decided to start this thread so as to not derail other threads. The MXT500 I recently bought only had 30 channel slots and not the 127 slots as others have mentioned. And we all know Midland's software is not the best. When you go to their website, there is two different software versions to download. There is version V1.04 and version V2.01. Version 1.04 only works with the MXT500 with 30 channel slots while version 2.01 only works with the MXT500 with 127 channel slots. When you download the firmware update tool there are two folders with the firmware update .spi files. One is V1_149_2021_5_11 and the other is V1_172_2023_03_23. If you are fine with only 30 channel slots then use the V1_149 .spi file to update your radio and then continue using the V1.04 programming software. If you want to have 127 channel slots then you must use the V1_172 .spi file. WARNING: if you use this file then V1.04 programming software will no longer work for your radio. You MUST use the V2.01 software to now access your radio and program it. Again if you update the firmware using the V1_149 .spi file then you must use V1.04 programming software. If you update using the V1_172 .spi file then you must use V2.01 programming software. Updating the firmware using the V1_172 file does give you all 127 channel slots and the V2.01 software must be used. Midland makes things difficult since the Readme file doesn't say anything about this. Hopefully this will help others that have the MXT500.

I would rather spend more money on a better quality built radio one time than some POS cheap radio from Pandaland many times over time. I refuse to buy or give into buying inferior cheap products. There is a reason why low cost products are cheap and POS junk. Buying cheap is not saving money or even your personal time in the longrun. I own a lot of Motorola mobile (12 various models) and portable (47 various models) radios, and that count does not include my one Midland and 4 Kenwoods model radios. A few of my portable radios are 35 years old and still in almost brand new condition and have been used a lot over time in a harsh environment and still check out very well. I doubt that any POS Pandaland radio would even stand up to any of my Motorola radios and there is a valid reason my Motorola radios cost a lot of money and we'll worth the cost. None of my Motorola radios ever had a firmware upgrade, but my MXT500 did receive a firmware update about 2 years ago to expand the channel capacity from 30 to 128 programmable channels. I have owned a MXT500 radio for about 3 years, but it is not my everyday radio now because my everyday radios are Motorola. I keep my Midland as a Loaner Radio for my radioless Jeep Creep friends for Trail runs. I did start out using the Midland MXT 400 many years ago and eventually upgraded to a MXT 500, but my radio needs out grew the Midland capabilities. My radio needs have grown to the use of 43 separate radio zones, over a total of 800 programmed channels, and several radio features that consumer radios do not offer. My Midland still puts out about 48-49 watts today as measured with a calibrated Bird 43 watt meter.

Good job trying different things. It doesn’t make sense to me either, but based on past experiences that definitely means little. Did you feel any difference in how well the magnet holds for these different locations? The magnetic base couples with the metal to form the ground plane. It would be interesting to see if a non-ground plane antenna worked better in your specific circumstances. Also, play around with your cable. You might have a problem that manifests itself when some portion of the cable is bent or straightened but not others. That could form an intermittent problem that coincidentally happens as you move the base around. Radio is sometimes the most frustrating mystery, but I have found that most problems have simple solutions, propagation being the exception.

Different licensing pools.

Interesting...just installed one in the wifes JK this weekend (newest jeep in the family) and she even managed to turn it on and get it on he right channel to talk. Amazing I guess being they are junk and all that.... SMH... Oh and she even figured out how to change the speaker from the deck to the control head. Guess I got a keeper here.

if you are within .5 - 1.5 km of each other you probably do not need a repeater at all. Get GMRS handheld radios (or mobile for your cars) - pay the $35 for 10 years license and talk simplex (radio to radio) without a repeater.

I am glad you have noted no PL/DPL issues with your Wouxuns thus far. I hope your good luck holds. Mine is not such. In fact, this past Saturday I got a taste of the problem, this time with DPL. A good friend and myself were helping out a privately run charitable event with logistics (parking, sign in, site transport, protective, etc). He and myself brought several each of our own radios to use on FRS/GMRS at the venue. Overall, as far as range, etc, they worked very well. The night before, I was programming three WLN KD-C1's so as to match up with a channel our radios had in common. Yeah, I know the KD-C1's are not type accepted so save the lecture, anyone thinking about it. Two were new out of the box and one I have used lightly for about a year. I programmed them using the template my friend's three WLN's were programmed with. Knowing how weird the Wouxuns can be with PL, I tried all three on a Simplex (from FRS/GMRS 1 thru 7) on a channel I had DPL 245 programmed in, with each-other and with my KG935G+. All radios could hear each other with no issues, except that the older KD-C1 could not be heard by my KG935G+. As a precaution, I programmed my 935G+ with an extra version of that channel in it but to encode DCS 245 and receive CSQ. My thought was to issue the older WLN out only if there were a shortage of radios and I absolutely had to. If it came to that, I would set my radio to the channel with CSQ receive and still be able to hear the older radio. Just for the heck of it, I tested that older WLN with my old and slightly off frequency KG935G and my KGS88G. Interestingly enough, they could both hear the older WLN KD-C1 just fine, despite the fact that I have had PL/DPL weirdness with them both, in the past. I packed the KGS88G in case it was needed but it was never issued. For most of the day, all radios performed well and contributed to the smooth operation of the event. Near the end of the day, I was talking to my friend who had brought some of his radios to issue out. He was carrying his own KG935G. Another member of event staff on another KG935G called him on the radio. Both of us heard that transmission. When my friend answered on his KG935G, I could not hear him. He made a series of transmissions to the staff member and each time, I heard the staff member but not my friend. I switched to my recently added version of that channel with CSQ and continued hearing my friend. Leaving the event, using my mobile B-Tech (I think the 20V somethingorother) with DPL encode AND decode set, I could hear my friend just fine. There IS something effed up with these Wouxun KG series GMRS radios regarding their PL/DPL algorithm. Whatever it is, IS mostly intermittent which makes it all the harder to catch and diagnose. I wish people who experience this would come forward and share their experiences. I find it harder and harder to believe that I am just the poor unlucky SOB that BTWR has somehow managed to divert all specimens with this problem to. There is definitely something in their PL/DPL algorithm in need of modification or replacement.

I moved the car, but no difference. So it got me thinking and I moved the antenna around the car. Guess what… different places on the roof, no difference. Hatch top, no difference. Even tried doors and fenders, no difference. But finally, smack dab in the middle of the hood, bam, keyed the repeater with a radio check and got a response. Doesn’t make sense to me, but it worked. Maybe the type of body metal? I am gonna play around with it some more tomorrow, to see if I can figure out if the metals are different.

Very good point that I missed - and the cable on the UT72G is, as many "experts" here like to say "junk".. very cheap/low quality.. not to mention the adaptor in use could be junk/bad.

@OffRoaderX We don't know how the OP plans to mount the antenna for his proposed repeater. He may very well be within one of the propagation nodes for whatever antenna he chooses, and then, he may not be. Your testing of HH with your repeater's antenna above you has you within an area of very low propagation for your antenna and therefore, your results are applicable only to you. As to suggesting amateur radio, this is an option just as using GMRS, MURS or FRS are options. GMRS and amateur radio services are the only services having repeaters available for use by other licensed users and therefore fill the requirement for repeater availability. It is well known you are a vehement adversary of ham radio preferring to classify all amateurs as sad hams. Does that make you a sad GMRS user? l believe you need to be more moderate with your tar brush remembering when you point your finger, three are pointing back at you.

I don't really see how it would melt anything,.. Drawing a RATED current through a receptacle. And with it, it makes an actual 18-19 watts. People are mad at this radio only because they paid 3x for something else and don't even get 1.5x the results.

This is incorrect/impossible to predict/guess/assume without knowing the topography of where it will be used.. With my RT97 people with 5W handheld radios are able use it from 50+ miles away. TL;DR: Ignore anyone's guess of how many farz it will work unless they know/are famailar with your exact/specific location and topographical shituation.

The repeater output is 5 watts; about the same as your handhelds, but you will be using it with a higher and somewhat better antenna, so direct communication with others at home should not be a problem, but you most probably will have limited range when mobile, since the repeater output is relatively low and the antenna is only about 2' long. Getting GMRS radios, as OffroaderX suggested will make things a LOT easier for you and your friends to program than 'converting' Ham versions of the radio. (Getting GMRS licenses is also suggested)

I like the Garmin Rhino also. There’s no better gps/GMRS radio and the screen is so good in daylight. I just use the built in maps, but for a price you can get higher resolution maps on a card that you install in the radio.

I picked up a pair of GTX67 Pro Midlands for my son and his girl. They aren’t “radio people” so the simplified operation is a benefit for them. It’s also a good match for the MTX575 in his Jeep. He’s been happy with them so far.

You just can't help yourself can you. No one cares what you think and we definitely do NOT care for your Negative Nancy attitudes towards everything. You seem to have a mental issue and you really should go seek professional help for it.

FYI The radio has a menu setting to turn the USB port ON or OFF. The default setting is OFF......only took me an hour of trying different cables and looking at Device Manger on my PC to figure that out, hopefully this post will save someone some headache.

I don’t understand their signal reporting.

On my repeater-in-training* (The New JC 700) roger beeps are discouraged. The repeater sends a courtesy tone once it's done handling your traffic. It then sits for 30 seconds to see if anyone else keys it up. If not, it auto-IDs itself with my call sign. If someone else keys it up before the time-out and it doesn't get a chance to ID after 14.5 minutes of repeater duty, it will cut in and ID itself every 15 minutes until traffic stops. That seems like the best of all worlds, so it isn't pumping out its ID 24/7, but only IDs while it is passing traffic or after traffic stops. The repeater has one input tone, a different output tone, and sends Morse IDs with no tone. Right now the NMO-HDG antenna is using my chain link fence as a counterpoise. Once it gets warmer, I'll be running 7/8" Heliax up to the roof with a Commscope DB408-B on an additional 20' mast. That's as high as I can go without permitting and warning lights (approach corridor for Newark Airport). As I'm already up on the Kennedy Blvd. ridge in a 3.5 story building I should have pretty good coverage. I also need to pound a field of ground rods into the ground once it thaws for lightning protector earthing.

and risk a hefty fine or jail time? It's your choice, but is it really worth it?! SOURCE: "some people" on this forum.

I understand your point, but in order for that to happen, a number of things would have to occur simultaneously. 1) Someone would have to hear your call. 2) They'd have to know they could look up your address from the call sign. 3) They'd have to know a criminal near where you live -- because by definition, if you're away from home, the miscreant is somewhere near you, not near your house. 4) They'd have to go to the effort of contacting their buddy and telling him to burglarize your house, which they'd have little incentive to do because criminals don't burglarize a house and send part of the ill-gotten gains to a friend 100 miles away. The odds of all that happening simultaneously are so astronomically small that I don't even consider it. I just periodically check the security cameras on my phone and go on enjoying my vacation.

Hi All, I'm a new GMRS user and recently got my license, mainly to allow my family to participate without the licensing exams (my wife would never take the amateur exams) and also to broaden my own communication capabilities. I've been into electronics since the 70s, when I worked on radars for the Army and enjoy learning about radio. I had a CB license back in the day and still have a CB radio, albeit disused. I'm a licensed ham, an Amateur Extra for about 11 years and a volunteer examiner for administering the ham exams with my local amateur radio club. I also hold a GROL+Radar and a GMDSS license, which I decided to go ahead and test for since one of the very few east coast NMEA test facilities is only about 10 miles from my home. I've joined the forum to learn more about GMRS operations and better understand the equipment and operation. Thank you for having me!

Thanks for the info.

The thing about the Wouxun's version of GPS is that it only works with Wouxun radios. The Baofeng/B-Tech radios are the same, they only work with Baofeng/B-Tech radios. They are not compatible with other brands. I have a Wouxun KG-Q10H and it works well on 2m and 70cm. I have not had a chance to test it on 1.25m or 6m yet. AS mentioned, any 6m antenna for hand held radios is a compromise due to the short length. Plus 6m is called the magic band for a reason, it is not open all of the time like other bands are. And most people use single side band of digital mode on 6m. There aren't a lot of 6m repeaters on the FM portion. Activity on the 1.25m band will depend on your location. It is more active in some regions and hardly used in other regions. This radio can also be unlocked to transmit on MURS and GMRS too. I can say that the Q-10H does work well on GMRS with the 2m/70cm antenna attached. have not had a chance to test MURS yet. I do pick up traffic on MURS but I haven't transmitted. I have zero experiences with the Yaesu VX-6R so can't comment.

I have owned several VX-6Rs and VX-7R and they are both great little radios. I still have one VX-6R. The VX-6R makes a great e-comm radio, in my opinion, because of the size and waterproof rating. I think most tri-band and quad band radios are a compromise at best mostly due to the antennas. When I carried the VX-6R into the back country I would bring two single band antennas tuned to the range I expected to use. My biggest problem with the VX-6R is the older I get the smaller the buttons seem to be so the feature I liked most, the small size, has now become a problem for me. I don't own, nor have I been able to fondle the KG-Q10H. I have multiple Wouxun GMRS radios and one of their HAM 2m/70cm HTs. I like them a lot and trust them, but again, I don't have the Q10H. I would think the GPS function would be a plus for me and my wife, being able to have a location function. My wife isn't and has no desire to be a HAM and the complexity of the Q10H or G would be an issue for her (and me). She will use a GMRS radio but wants me to set it up and then lock the keypad for her. I suppose a big part of the choice of which radio to have for e-comms would be who would be using them. In a situation where you have to depend on radio communication the stress level is probably going to be a factor anyway. So handing any HT to someone who is not accustomed to using them and trying to have them change bands or even frequencies may be problematic. I try to follow the KISS method when I can.