[Newbie Questions]

Also how many radios do you need and how much are you willing to spend?

[Newbie Questions]

I would go with getting a bulk order of older vertex or kenwood radios. Sometimes you can get good deals on the older radios but make sure they fall in the correct band, 400-470 or 450-490MHz. Before you buy the radios, do some research online, eham.net usually has reviews. Also make sure you can easily buy the programming software and cable online. as programming at a dealer can be a hassle and expensive. I don't recommend motorola only because the radios are very expensive compared to other companies and it is so hard to buy the software. Kenwood, icom and vertex are the way to go. Decent radios, with ok customer service and easy to purchase software. Good luck.

[MURS pre programmed equipment]

An eBay search only shows Dakota alert has having MURS frequencies pre-programmed. They have portable and mobile models.

[MURS pre programmed equipment]

The puxing px-777 VHF is part 90 certified but unknown if its part 95 certified yet. However when I went to pa last year I remember meeting a neighborhood watch group using these radios for their operations. Since the town was just about a mile radius the radios were tx/rx fine just on two watts.

[I think myGMRS should have a page dedicated to licensed GMRS travelers]

For people who often take road trips or often travel through states, it would be a good idea to have a state name plus it's open repeaters that travelers can program into their radios for road trips. If your traveling tomorrow you can program the freqs and pls without going thought the trouble of emails that you won't get back till a few days. It would be very convenient for everyone. Just a thought.