Skookum

It helps immensely. I thank you and Mr. Wayoverthere for your input. There are very limited GMRS repeaters in my area. I was granted access to a few privately owned but "open" ones which will help. Luckily they are using different freqs so for the most part, multiple repeaters with same freq and different tones won't be an issue for now. I very much appreciate the help I get here.

Ok, here is an equally noobish follow up question. I am guessing it's pretty much locked down unlike a Baofeng handheld or many of the other brands that are actually HAM type radios. Isn't this part of what makes it FCC compliant? One would think you would also get the FRS accessibility but I'm guess the non adjustable power output disqualifies it for FRS. I'm making assumptions here,,,stop me or please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm here to learn and not be a pest. Or at least try lol.

I’m a pretty green GMRS guy and was hoping someone could explain the programming deficiencies with this model. It comes with a programming cable and I’m assuming can be programmed via chirp?