What a large majority of people buying blister pack radios think is that having a two-way with them when they go out into the wilds is the radio WILL allow them to contact someone in the case of emergency. We more knowledgeable users know it just ain't so. I doubt there are very many active REACT groups for 27 MHz CB anymore either. Forty years ago back in the '70s CB was a fad and there were a lot of people that took it seriously but the fad died long with the skip and CB devolved into something long haul truckers used to combat loneliness along with the pimps and prostitutes hanging around truck stops. The language heard could best be described as filth that would put a drill sergeant or sailor to shame that the people that would have stopped or provided assistance all went away. Cell phones replaced CBs along with a sense of being connected to others around you as you drove around. Some Ham operators do provide a critical service in connecting people in a disaster situation but, for the most part you never hear about the service. LMR, Land Mobile Radio is dying. Fewer new voices are being heard and many of the most stalwart proponents are passing on and their keys are going silent.
Saying all that, I don't believe LMR in all its forms will ever truly die but it will become more and more a niche industry and hobby. The largest user group of two-way radio are those in public safety followed closely by business and industrial users. Public safety agencies are migrating to a cellular system called FirstNet in the 700 MHz range. Once the key issue of mission-critical voice is resolved you will see their VHF and UHF systems dismantled and the trunked 800 MHz voice systems repurposed to a network similar to FirstNet. As both the 700 and 800 MHz systems are close in their propagation characteristics one could be used to handle the voice traffic and the other the data functions from the same transmission sites all tied together with fiber and computers.
This shift will further move people from dedicated voice only devices just as we are seeing the shift from simple flip phones to smart devices capable of doing many different functions with varying degrees of success. But that's just my take on where radio is going.
