Lscott

They are. It depends are what point of view you take. The minimum length for a radiating element used as an antenna is 1/2 wavelength.  Obviously a 1/4 wave alone won't work. That's where the ground plane come into play. The easiest way to understand how it functions is place your finger at a right angle against a mirror. You see a reflection of your finger so it looks twice as long. The same thing happens with a ground plane. It "reflects" the 1/4wave element making it look like a 1/2 wavelength long.
By bending the radials it changes the feed point impedance so it's closer to 50 ohms, a good match to the 50 ohm coax cable. A true 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna is closer to 70 to 75 ohms with the feed point at the center. That results in an SWR of about 1.5:1, which is perfectly acceptable by just about any radio out there.
A 1/2 wavelength antenna is used where a ground plane, or room for radials at the base of a 1/4 wavelength antenna, is not possible. The draw back is the antenna is now twice as tall and the bandwidth is reduced since a special matching section is required at the base of the antenna.
Also high gain antennas are multiple sections of 1/4 and 1/2 wave elements with a "phasing" section in between the sections. Those are the small bulges or tiny single loops you see spaced along the length. The down side to high gain antennas is the gain is HIGHLY concentrated in a direction perpendicular to the antenna. Works great for relatively flat open terrain. Not so good in hills or mountainous areas. People who like to hit the trails often carry two antennas. A high gain one, these antennas can be rather tall, used when on the highway and a low gain, usually a 1/4 wavelength, when hitting the trails.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/259-ca-2x4mb-jeepjpg/?context=new
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/268-ca-2x4sr/?context=new
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/338-cheap-14-wave-gmrs-antenna/?context=new
 

On Friday, I received my order of:
Baofeng GM-15 Pro Extra batteries Solar panels The radios seem to be working well so far. Still more testing to do here. Have only tried a short test with the stock antennas but sound quality was good.
Friday evening, using the wall charger, I charged the batteries that came with the radios. I didn't time how long it took but wish I had. It seemed to take longer than I thought it would.
Saturday at 10:00am I set the extra batteries outside on a table with the solar panels. The day started off partly cloudy. I was busy but checked them when I could. There were times of bright sunlight when the charge lite was red and times with clouds when there was no light at all. I thought this test was going to be a complete failure especially since it gradually became more cloudy/overcast. At 3:00pm I gave up and brought everything inside and decided to put the extra batteries on the wall chargers to go ahead and charge them up. To my surprise they were completely charged.
Next step is to run the batteries completely down and try the solar panels again. I hope it will be a sunny day when I do that. But charging without complete sunshine is a more "real world" test.
I will give an update in a week or so after I have more info to share.
Special thanks to @Lscott, @Sshannon, and @WRXP381 for their input on solar panels.
P.S.
Someday I plan on getting the stuff I need to charge a UV-5R with solar.

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.

GMRS repeaters will have close to the same coverage area as 70cm repeaters. VHF and UHF frequencies will have their advantages and disadvantages. 
I am lucky that the local club has all of their repeater antennas on a very tall FM radio tower. The 2m and 70cm antennas are at 900 feet while the GMRS antennas are at 400 feet. We didn't notice much of a difference on coverage are between the 70cm and GMRS repeaters while we were testing the GMRS repeater. We are getting around 30 -35 mile radius of coverage with the 70cm and GMRS repeaters. Our 2m repeater has a large coverage area, it covers an 80 mile radius.
I say get and use 2m and 70cm along with GMRS. It never hurts to have more tools in the tool box.

Your comments about signal penetration is generally true.
The 2M band is popular for general communications. It’s other advantage is Hams are the primary users and enjoys worldwide allocation, typically 144 to 146 and 144 to 148, depending on country and zone.
The Ham 70cm band, at least in the US, is allocated frequencies from 420 to 450. There are some reductions in spectrum when close to the Canadian border. Due to the large spectrum allowed you find various experimental modes being used. Also most of the digital voice activity is on this band.

Your comments about signal penetration is generally true.
The 2M band is popular for general communications. It’s other advantage is Hams are the primary users and enjoys worldwide allocation, typically 144 to 146 and 144 to 148, depending on country and zone.
The Ham 70cm band, at least in the US, is allocated frequencies from 420 to 450. There are some reductions in spectrum when close to the Canadian border. Due to the large spectrum allowed you find various experimental modes being used. Also most of the digital voice activity is on this band.

Your comments about signal penetration is generally true.
The 2M band is popular for general communications. It’s other advantage is Hams are the primary users and enjoys worldwide allocation, typically 144 to 146 and 144 to 148, depending on country and zone.
The Ham 70cm band, at least in the US, is allocated frequencies from 420 to 450. There are some reductions in spectrum when close to the Canadian border. Due to the large spectrum allowed you find various experimental modes being used. Also most of the digital voice activity is on this band.

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.

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.

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

I doubt that Ohio has any desert area or that type of terrain.

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%.

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.

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.

As I was referring to the "R" and "Q" model radio, those radios are Motorola radios. 
The Kenwood TK880 model (25 watt) band splits are: the TK880-1 is 450-490 MHz; TK880-2 is 485-512 MHz; TK880-3 is 400-430 MHz and the TK880H is the 40 watt radio with the same respective band splits.
As Lscott said, you may be able to push the 70cm freq programming in the Kenwood. Since, I am not an Amateur, as in HAM radio operator, I never had a need to try that with my Kenwood.

I've tried installing my own connectors, wasn't easy, didn't turn out that well. Unless you've done a lot of it, and have the right tools, it's money well spent to just buy a cable with the connectors already installed. One less question mark if things don't work as planed.

Recently, a local Phoenix family drove up to the mountains northeast of Phoenix   several days ago and got caught in a snow storm and they were stranded for several days. The family did survive and made it out unharm.  They were lucky to be found by local Payson Area residents during the snow storm.
While they were stranded, they attempted to call for help using their cell phone but unfortunately, they were in an area of no cell service, which is not unusual in the remote mountain areas of Arizona.
However, the area they were in was well covered by the Diamond Point GMRS Repeater which is linked to other repeaters of the Southwest Community Radio System (SWCRS) that serve the Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, and the eastern mountain communities in Arizona; and throughout the state of New Mexico. If they had a GMRS radio and if they were licensed and knowledgeable about the GMRS repeater system they could have use their GMRS radio to summon for help.
The point is, you can’t always rely on a Cellular Telephone for help, especially in remote areas. So, don’t leave home without your GMRS radio even in the metro areas. You can never plan when a GMRS radio will be the most valuable tool in the time of need.

At a reasonable cost. There is better cable, various types of "hard line", but gets expensive real fast.

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.

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.

With my K40 on my Pickup I think I am seeing between 3.4 and 3.7 with my Cobra 29 LTD Nightwatch depending on the selected channel, and my Firestik II antenna on my Jeep with my Cobra 19 DX III is seeing about 2.8 to 3.1 depending on the selected channel.  The power levels were checked with the engine running. 
I'm still waiting to come across someone with a FM CB Radio so I can see how FM 29 LTD performs.

I got a new repeater a few days ago and started pricing hardline for the new setup... it's going to cost me about $1,300 for 250 feet and a couple of connectors.  I only paid $350 for the repeater.  It's wild... but if you want it to work...

That’s definitely true..
But here’s another enecdote. I once received an SSTV image from a cube-sat that transmitted at 1 watt.
The point being that if you’re in the clear,.. You’re in the clear.. 1 watt or a factor of 10 doesn’t matter..