Extreme

Why not use the free wouxun software?

@Extreme Sorry about the dog. I actually only have 1 badge so far, but the wife and I love to travel so they give us a reason to travel and trail. Plus I like the badges. We hope to be out that way at some point. Looking very forward to it. 

Haven't done any BOH. Was to go to Moab last Spring with some friends but my dog got very ill and had to back out.
We run the many thousands of acres of BLM/USFS trails.
Great Basin high desert is perfect for GMRS and repeaters.

@Extreme It's the Jeep Badge of Honor Trails. 

The product ID was on the original CD from ICOM. There are Product ID's on the web if you do some searching. If you ordered the Software from ICOM it would have the ID.

If it is a stable, close knit group, like a family or hunting buddies, they may have their radios set up for dense areas and for woods. And they don't want to hear any other chatter. Set up once, use forever, assign a button for a "home" channel. It is very fool-proof setup, also safe and practical to give to 5yo. It is how my family radios are set up.
If the question is about advantages of DCS vs CTCSS, bigger pool of codes to chose from comes to mind. I can't think of other advantages.

Yes, called DQT in Kenwood-speak. Digital quiet talk. It also supports advanced feature Operator Selected Tone, if you program it correctly.

DCS or DPL tones can  have errors making you miss a transmission, either on reception or deode.Only real reason I can think of why it isn't used very often.

I absolutely hate these style antennas. Just person opinion. 
 
A 1/4 wave antenna is about the smallest pure mechanical antenna you can have and have it be reliable. Antennas like the one you linked are 1/8th wave antennas and have a capacitance hat to kind of 'fake it' for the other 1/8 wave required. My problem is, in my personal experience the design is way more susceptible to failure due to damage and aging due to weather, and even over-driving the antenna with too much power.  Me and friends of mine have own many of them over the years and there has been a 100% failure rate among us. Sometimes they broke within weeks. The longest anyone I know personal who had one that worked was about 2 years.
 
I also think they are ugly. For whatever that is worth. LOL 
 
A 1/4 wave is literally just a 6 to 7 inch piece of stainless spring steel. Unless you use tools to damage it, the 1/4 wave will last several lifetimes.  One of my 1/4 wave antennas is older than I am, and I have 3 grandchildren. Still looks great and works perfectly. 
 
I have a 5/8 wave rubber ducky antenna fir when I'm wheeling and I don't want to risk breaking the mount or stripping the antenna off the mount. 

Note that a 5/8 wave is NOT a "No Ground Plane" antenna.

Some folks say putting a "no ground plane" 1/2 wave over a ground plane works better. In my case, my Rugged Radios 1/2 wave doesn't work any different on my van than a quarter wave or 5/8 wave. 

I have some lots in Walkerville if there's interest in putting a GMRS repeater up there.  Not living there now but don't know why it couldn't be done.  Should provide hella range from there, overlooking the valley toward the Highlands, Fleecer Mtn, Pintlar, I-15 corridor and toward I-90 West toward Deer Lodge.

For fiber glass tops a good choice is a 1/2 wave antenna. They typically don't really need a ground plane so you have much more flexibility in mounting locations. 

I found zero difference  between a 1/4 wave and a 5/8 over 5/8 collinear antenna where I am when talking to a repeater. We have mountains as well as wide open flat area. I go with a 1/4 wave because there is no reason to have a larger antenna if it doesn't do anything better.

Thanks Marc.  As soon as I read this I realized I'd been taught this here a few years ago when pondering antennas... sheesh.
My 1/4 is great in the mountains but we do have some extremely long shots with potential for more reach.  I've hit a repeater from 50 miles so don't know what better I could ask.   I might consider a 5/8 to play with.

Make sense.  I am moving the other way away from the MXTs for radios that allow more.   Altho the wife's TJ still running the MXT115
 
 
Re-did the wife's TJ mount. 
 
Found a LED third brake light for the TJ at the swapmeet today.  Got home installed and the ball started rolling on a new mount, inspired from an earlier post.
 
 

Very near to my experience on/off road with one exception:  a stuck hunter actually contacted us from about 10 miles when we were driving by his general area in route to another recovery.  He scanned us chatting on 16 with his HT, shouted us down, and got himself 'scheduled' to be recovered.  They had walked 7 miles out and had many more to go with zero cell coverage.  We got him on our way back from recovery 1. 

Very near to my experience on/off road with one exception:  a stuck hunter actually contacted us from about 10 miles when we were driving by his general area in route to another recovery.  He scanned us chatting on 16 with his HT, shouted us down, and got himself 'scheduled' to be recovered.  They had walked 7 miles out and had many more to go with zero cell coverage.  We got him on our way back from recovery 1. 

Very near to my experience on/off road with one exception:  a stuck hunter actually contacted us from about 10 miles when we were driving by his general area in route to another recovery.  He scanned us chatting on 16 with his HT, shouted us down, and got himself 'scheduled' to be recovered.  They had walked 7 miles out and had many more to go with zero cell coverage.  We got him on our way back from recovery 1. 

Besides 2 repeater channels all my frequencies are simplex and over three years now I have run my radio in scan when traveling around town and road trips.  Never heard another traveler on the GMRS with exceptions to maybe four truckers.
Being Jeepers and traveling in small groups we'll talk amongst ourselves over the open road and off, using 462.57500.  Seems no one local even turns their GMRS on or uses SCAN on a day to day ride around town.
Of course I have to consider that I am dealing with "the ONLY TIME" I am on the road and that may just never coincide with others travel routines  during normal daytime/night travel.
 

I don't understand what all the commotion is about.  Talking to people is way overrated.  Most of the time I can't stand talking to people I love.  Never mind strangers on the radio.
 
You guys are weird. 

If the auto carwash is a concern they make a cap to install after unscrewing antenna base.

Now I like that idea!

Seems like regularly somebody wants to advocate for their favorite channel to use as a travel channel. Just program all 22 in, scan them all and be done with it. Then it won't matter.  

For ease of use, mounting options and power/capabilities, you can't beat the KG-1000G which is a 50W SuperHet radio.. If you want something less expensive, the KG-XS20G is a good, small, very capable SOC radio.
For simplicity the Midlands are great - but they're not cheap, they have limited abilities and many/most of the pre 2022 models are narrowband only, which is an issue if you want anyone using a "real" GMRS (wideband) radio to actually be able to hear anything you're saying.

My opinion is based on having/testing/using virtually every mobile GMRS Radio on the market.