WRXB215

By whom?
Yes. And some of them were not impressed:
https://forums.mygmrs.com/search/?&q=Tidradio h8&search_and_or=or
 

I did a recent test on a couple of HTs that enlightened me on that one. A good quality receiver does make a significant difference. Now, when I listen to NOAA, I only do it on the Kenwood.
Agreed. I have a lot of trees to punch through so wattage does come into play for me. Still want to get a higher antenna though and get some real results.

Please don't double post. Mr. Shannon already answered the question in your other post.

Oh-oh. The recommendations just changed. That’s an VERY important point. For safety reasons, fire and explosion, you would be well off to get what are called “intrinsically safe” radios. This might actually be a requirement for your work environment! They are specially fitted normal commercial grades radios but have been specifically sealed to prevent any arcing or sparking from the radio’s internals which can precipitate a gas explosion or fire. The same also applies to the battery packs, external speaker microphones etc.
If you look in the Kenwood catalog they do sell that type of radio for the models I recommend along with the safety rated battery packs.

I got the “ham radio” version of this HT, the UV-13Pro for $20 from AliExpress with free shipping and its open to GMRS. 
i like its “tone scan” feature and I retired my TYT-88UV
Chirp recently added the 13Pro

These are vestigial settings left-over from being a ham radio. Most GMRS radios are not designed as GMRS radios from the ground-up. Instead, they are repurposed ham-radios, and usually a lot gets lost (or remains) in the translation.
Look through the menus of most of these radios and you will find options that make no sense on a GMRS radio, they do nothing, or, both.

Kenwood offers some very good radios for a reasonable cost. For rugged outdoors use as you mentioned a public safety grade radio is a must. I would recommend the VHF models in the attached brochures. You will need the software and license for them. 
To add some of the digital voice modes to the higher end models requires additional licenses.
The NX-5000 series is the only one that can do three digital voice modes, two at a time, NXDN, DMR and P25. The licenses for the first two are really cheap, about $42 each. The P25 license is very expensive and typically used by government agencies and first responders like police and fire.
If you don't need P25 then the somewhat cheaper NX-3000 series hand held might work for you.
The cheapest option is the NX-1000 series. They are good radios but aren't really public safety grade.
Encryption options are available for some of the digital modes if required.
The attached catalog has all of the options listed and the current "list" price. You may qualify for a discount if you're a local, state or federal government agency etc.
Kenwood Land Mobile Radio Guide 2024.pdf NX-5200_5300_5400.pdf NX-5700, 5800, 5900.pdf NX-3200_3300.pdf NX-1200_1300 Num 1.pdf NX-1700_1800.pdf

Your best bet would be a commercial license and commercial grade radios. Almost all the radio dealers can help you decide on exactly what radios and the number of frequencies you would need. My suggestion is for VHF itinerant band radios and frequencies, unless you are going to be in the same area for more than a year or two. Then you would want regular business channels still in the VHF band for coverage. Your HQ or base would need a base station and commercial grade antenna system. Be aware though that just having the radios doesn't mean you'll always have contact with your base or handhelds because of the terrain you'll be working in.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying here… but I’ll take a shot at some possible answers. Channel 17 is 462.600 and repeater 8 is 462.725 receive and 467.725 transmit so different frequencies won’t hear each other. If what you are saying is that when you call out on one radio and you don’t hear anything on the other when they are on the same channel like 17 you may be too close with your radios, try putting 50’ or more between them as they can desense each other. If you are on a repeater channel they won’t hear each other unless going through a repeater so you need to set the tones of the repeater to operate it. Lastly are you sure there are “others” to talk with? Give this video a watch it may answer your questions if I didn’t. 
 

Hi.  Not sure if you ment LA and Las Vegas or just Las Vegas?   In either event both have many repeaters and many repeaters on the 15 on the way.  Grab the programming cable asap and what ever program works with that particular radio, chirp rt systems ect…
programming multiple repeaters by hand sucks on any radio   
you have 2 radios so practice using them on simplex (radio to radio).  Have you wife, husband, significant other, child, friend ect…. Stay at home and you drive around and do radio checks.  You may get 1-2 miles you may get 30miles.  Make notes of where your radios work well and how far away you are.   When you get the software, cable and a membership here we can help more.  If your radios are chirp or rt systems compatible I’ll send you a base file to get started with some open repeaters and some closed you’ll just have to ask for tones and permission. 

Oops! Thanks for reminding me. 😁
@WSBT251 welcome to GMRS!

you used to be able to use Excel (the newest version) to pull the data from the web site..  But that is no longer working.  I agree with you that the site owner should use the KMZ option to the his paid service.. He would easily increase his paid service subscriptions by doing so.  I did offer to help him do this for no fees.  Even offered to give him the template i built to get the data into KMZ/KML format, he never answered my message.  The template i built would allow him to make KML/KMZ for all states.    I hope the sample of data i sent will entice him to get this going.  In the mean time another web site has reached out to me asking to help them build KMZ files for GMRS.  I would rather help this site get it going but we'll see what happens.   

Thats one reason I'm afraid to update my firmware. I have 230317 ! Works fine no matter how I program it. Bluetooth or chirp. Hits all repeaters.

What are the improvements/corrections that the newest firmware offer that the older one does not provide.   Have there been so many problems with the radio that it needs to be updated every few months?  The radio will continue to work even with old firmware so unless there is a major flaw in the way it is working now, then I agree with gearjunkie; if it aint broke dont fix it!

Yes. Use your existing FRN.
Also be aware that the FCC will begin to enforce the use of multi-factor authentication beginning on March 29, 2024.
Users will be prompted to request a six-digit secondary verification code, which will be sent to the email address(es) associated with each username.
More info here -> FCC to Require Two Factor Authentication for CORES Users.
 
 

WOW! I never gat anywhere near these kinds of distance. Perhaps it's all the buildings, chemical plants, trees, and houses full of fffff...FURNITURE! 🤣

You can still register and use the site. It just doesn't say 100% until you add a ham callsign.

You can still register and use the site. It just doesn't say 100% until you add a ham callsign.

For a db or two that's true for most people. With a modest gain antenna the coax loses can be compensated for. For people on the very fringe of a coverage zone every db counts.

I think LMR600 has lower loses, a bit larger than LMR400, and I think it's not much more expensive either. The loss at 450MHz for LMR400 is 2.7db/100 feet. The loss at 450MHz for LMR600 is 1.7db/100 feet. For somebody who needs to run between 50 to 100 feed of coax stepping up to LMR600 would makes sense. The chart frequency of 450MHz is close enough to GMRS at 462/467 MHz the extra loss at the slightly higher frequency isn't that significant.
For 50 feet of LMR400 at 450 MHz the power loss would be about 27%.
For 50 feet of LMR600 at 450 MHz the power loss would be about 18%.

I've tried to give radios out to my family for this purpose. They come back with the cell phone argument. @OffRoaderX just made a vid about it too.
My wife and kids all have one, but my extended family just plans to use their phones, despite life experience telling me that's a bad idea.

Despite the government's denials, a cell phone kill switch, I'm sure in the case of some "domestic disturbance" cell phone use would be restricted or disabled completely by their order. After J6 if it didn't exist then I'll bet it does now. That's when you're likely to need your radio the most to coordinate with others to get out of an area to a safe place.

You could save some money and use a lower powered radio. Wont need as big of a battery or a higher wattage solar panel. For instance my recent simplex repeater build has been running for a few weeks now on a measly 6ah battery and 10 watt solar panel. However my radio only draws 1.5 amps at 10 watts while transmitting, and .3 amps when idle. Here is the link if you want to see what i used and how it turned out. Might help give you some ideas.
 

666 - Mark of the Beast
911 - Terrorist Attack
322 - Skull & Bones Society
111 - Your latest RST report

A very similar radio, the AnyTone AT-778UV is CHIRP programmable. It costs a little more and you have to run the wires but that isn't difficult and it's a nice radio.