WRXB215

Those are pretty neat!  I think if you're going to be traveling a lot, that can be something to help keep you company while driving.
 
I was supposed to be going to Moab, but I get very sick twice this year.  We rescheduled for August of 2024.  We're going to do some desert runs in SoCal, the Rubicon, Black Bear Pass, then head to Utah.  Planning 3 weeks in total.

Well, if we are gonna get into 'real' Faraday Cages, then lets actually talk about their construction.
First off, they are layered.  There is an outer and inner layer and they are NOT connected together. 
Hole size in the shielding material is what sets the minimum / maximum frequency that is blocked.  In other words.  A fine mesh will block a higher frequency than chicken wire will with 1 inch holes in it.  Consider the holes with regard to frequency wavelength.  If the hole is larger than the wavelength of the frequency in question, it will pass right through like it wasn't even there.
A strong understanding of the signal level and the attenuation level of the Faraday Cage needs to be taken into account.  A cage is not a perfect attenuator.  It has very high attenuation levels, but a signal that is strong enough will get through at a much reduced level. 
 
Proper construction.
A 2X4 or 2X6 frame is sufficient spacing to get a very high attenuation level with modest materials.  Those being standard wood framing and aluminum screen. For an added sense of security, thin sheet metal can be used in place of the screen.  You have an inner layer and an outer layer.  of the conductive screen material.  And remember they can't in any way be connected or you will loose attenuation properties.  The other thing you need is a GOOD earth ground.  This is not the 1 or 2 ground rods that are grounding your electrical service entrance, you will need to do better and it's advisable that the grounds be kept short as possible.  So if you are planning on building a cage, do it on the first floor or in the basement near an outside wall so you can get the ground wires out the wall and to the ground field withthe shortest wire possible.   Longer wires equal bigger antenna's and you don't want that. 
To put a door on the cage, you will need to ensure that the entire perimeter of the door be connected to the screens, both inside and outside.  Couple ways of dealing with this is either finger stock, copper or other metallic door trim / weather stripping, or construction methods that taper the inner and outer screens in a way that when the door / cover is in place that a 100% seal exists in all locations around the door inside and out.  
Again, can't say this enough, the INNER shielding material is NOT connected to ANYTHING including the outer shielding material.
 
For those that are looking to play around and build something similar to the professional level cages, this should be a good starting point.  Sure you can locate copper screen and use that.  It will work the best but it's also very expensive.  Not worth the money to protect your Baofeng radios. 
 
If you are REALLY wanting to go for broke and build a large cage, and be able to occupy the space, there are methods of bringing power and RF into the cage, but special filters and methods are required and are put in place outside the cage and are bonded to the same ground as the outer layer of the cage.  Remember that you need both layers of screening on all sides, including the roof and floor.  There is no reason that you can't set the floor screen and then sheet over it with layers of plywood or other subflooring material as long as the screening isn't molested (floating floor material.And of course you can also drywall the walls and ceiling but it's advisable to use construction cement and not screws to fasten the drywall to the framing.  Screws can be used sparingly to assist in placing the drywall until the adhesive is dry but will need to be removed after that happens to ensure the best isolation.  If you bring electricity into the cage, do NOT bring a ground with it and you HAVE to use an isolation transformer with proper filtering right at the entry point on the OUTSIDE of the cage,  DO NOT use conductive conduit to route wiring through within the inner shield. 
Detailed construction instructions are available on the web for building a Faraday Cage.  Study those plans carefully and scale your project to your needs.
 
 

I’m much more concerned with non-emp power outages. Our local region has enjoyed record highs and several storm related power outages this year. Having robust power backups on individual radios (ht/mobile/base) as well as local repeaters is paramount.
IMHO grid down scenarios are more likely to happen from neglect, accidents, and non-emp terroristic acts than nation state or wide area emp strikes. I hope I’m right.
“Grid down, power up” is an interesting and somewhat sobering discussion on the state of the grid

Apparently emi gasket works. You’d have to take a wire wheel to the lip and inside of the seal are then apply the emi gasket.

As Steve said, no but, it is always good to check the VSWRs on a new setup just to make sure you're not reflecting a lot of power back into the radio by having a bad connector of a defective coax cable. It does happen and a lot of reflected power will affect the power output and you will have a poor performing antenna system regardless if the antenna is properly tuned.

I tested an ammo box using radios (2m HT with rubber duck antenna) and it still RXed.  I figured it was because of the rubber gasket.  Old gutted microwave worked though.

It wasn't high enough, not even close, to cover a large area.  And yes I saw it, and 2 fighter jets that approached it.

I have a few thoughts on that. While a lot of criticism was leveled at the government for waiting to shoot it down over the ocean there might have been a legitimate security reason for it. Getting photos is one thing, but I think the main purpose was to monitor our military communications systems and gage our response procedures and times to an unknown threat. If China invades Tiawan that would be very valuable Intel. Waiting until it was over the ocean to respond sort of wasted their efforts in that area.

I don’t know for sure, but I would be optimistic. But for God’s sake don’t pay $100 for one just because a preppier supply company sells it.  Find a local surplus store.  I think I paid $10 for a 30 mm ammo can a few years back.  If you absolutely cannot find something locally at least shop around:
https://www.cleanammocans.com/50-cal-ammo-cans.html

That would surprise me, but I have no actual knowledge.  My gut tells me it was more likely just for electronic surveillance, slowly passing over the US collecting signals while passing intelligence to Chinese satellites to be relayed back to China.  

I spent the last 13 years of my career in the control center for an electric transmission system. I supervised the team that maintained the Energy Management System (SCADA) software and hardware that controlled the electric transmission system.  We spent nearly all our time making sure the Energy Management System worked well with hot swap redundancy at every level in the control center.  Every electric transmission system has such a control system which controls energy transmission substations across huge sections of our three national grids.  Loss of a single control center or our largest substations has significant effects on the grid. Fortunately, such losses happen very infrequently and our systems are built to be restored quickly.
But, those EMP weapons, tiny as you say, would be sufficient to completely destroy the controls for our largest electric substations and control centers. Or any other cyber or communications infrastructure.
I think an atmospheric nuke, causing an EMP as a side effect, is a highly unlikely occurrence.  There are only a few countries which have the capability and for the most part there are checks and balances.  
But, it’s just a matter of time before a suitcase sized EMP only device is deployed by some small political or religious extremist group.  It’s the ideal weapon for group that might wish to “bring our evil society to its knees” but that might also have a fundamental aversion to taking lives.

It has been advised to me from an Anytone technician that there are many Anytone versions of the AT-779UV. Use CPS version 2.01 and change the radio service in the CPS and then save first file. Then restart radio and read from the radio into CPS. It should give you all common GMRS channels. My Version of radio from Let's Get Ready did not have GMRS option in start-up. I had to change it in CPS 2.01.  Remember every time the format is changed in radio all memory will be erased. So Using as a ham or part 90 commercial radio or GMRS Part95e, make sure to read from radio and save file i.e. "Ham radio 9/6/23" or GMRS radio 9/6/23" Alwayts date and save you last updated files in a folder so you can go back to older files if necessary. 
RJ
 
 
 

Not only is this statement factually true... but in my opinion, the decade of the absent enforcement has led to the ridiculous behavior of jammers.

@Blaise I assume they are just giving the accused a chance to have their say before anything else happens.

@Blaise I assume they are just giving the accused a chance to have their say before anything else happens.

That’s how all of the letters from the FCC seem to work. FCC sends a letter, a notice of wrongdoing, asking the accused to explain why they’re innocent or how they’re going to avoid future transgressions. If they give a satisfactory answer that’s often the end of the matter. It’s as if the assumption is that most people don’t intentionally violate the regulations and with some remedial measures they will do better. 
Personally, I like that. Based strictly on observation I would agree that most people don’t understand the regulations.  Why not give folks a chance to do better instead of crushing them after one mistake. 
 

@Lscott Loved that show.

Select Menu #9 for receiving DPL tone or Menu #11 for transmitting DPL tone, select tone from list, confirm, enjoy.
Pro Tip: DCS, DTC, & DPL all refer to the same thing.

Pumping 50 watts in and getting 33 to 35 watts out at the far end of a 65 foot run of LMR400 is completely reasonable at 450 MHz. The higher the frequency, the greater the attenuation. 
Don’t get this confused with SWR. It’s not the same thing. Measuring SWR at the two endpoints of a lossy cable will result in different measurements of SWR. At the radio end an SWR meter sees the full strength of the forward power but only measures the reflected power after it has been attenuated in both directions, making the antenna appear to have a lower (possibly much lower) SWR than it really is.
At the antenna end of a lossy coax cable an SWR meter measures the actual forward RF delivered to the antenna after losses in the cable.  The SWR meter also measures the actual reflected power from the antenna, yielding a more accurate measurement of SWR.
 

@Lscott is right. I would suggest you hook the wattmeter between every section to see where the loss is. 

If it’s real LMR-400 coax you should read about 67% of the input power at the end of the 65 foot run. That’s at 450MHz from a data table I have. GMRS is a bit higher frequency so the loss is a tiny bit higher from that factor. Crappy feed throughs and other poor coax end connectors can reduce the power more. 

As Steve mentioned, GMRS is a "Bring Your Own Contacts" type of service.  Very utilitarian.  If someone is looking for people to chat with on the radio, I always recommend getting your Amateur Radio license.  Particularly a General class or Extra class.  Then, there are millions of potential people to chat with, both on local Ham repeaters and Nation-wide, as well as globally on HF.

What do you mean I have to take it off in put it in a separate tray to go through the X-ray machine? It’s a radio, not a shoe!

Not every repeater is in Repeaterbook.  Check the repeater database here to see if any appear within range of you.
Also, are you always able to hear it or does it come and go?
 

https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/the-first-time-the-us-tested-an-emp-weapon-was-a-doozy/
A lightning strike is not the same as a nuke produced EMP pulse or a solar flare. However it can exhibit similar effects. 
 
The main effect is the high electrical field intensity in volts per meter. For nukes that could be in the range of thousands of volts per meter. 
 
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2021/01/f82/FINAL HEMP MEMO_1.12.21_508.pdf