Droopy

Welcome Droopy... Just read all the posts, ask questions on the forum or in a private message PM...  Any way you see it this forum has many interest and the biggest think is to pick a radio based on your needs...  So pick what is best for you and your family needs first...  I did purchased from https://www.buytwowayradios.com as I was looking for a Part 95 certified radio.  Our family is having so much fun and connected to the best private local repeater.  Who we have connected with personally and he encouraged me and my grand daughter to get our Ham license which we are Hams for the last month.  I learned a lot as we made our family local repeater for our neighborhood in our valley which helped my 12 yo grand daughter how it all works so we pass the test.  A lot of info here so ask us on this forum as we all where Newbies which I was in Nov 2020... Look at me now as a Ham...
MacJack 

Welcome Droopy!  

There isn't any special GMRS lingo, no 10-4, no 73's etc.  Like ham operation, you are required to USE your call sign. The main thing to know about GMRS is that its in the UHF band and signal propagation is nearly exclusively line of sight.  If you are over the horizon without an elevated antenna location there will be no tranmission beyond 20 miles under any conditions. Buildings, trees, hills count as nearly 100% signal blockers. Repeaters are the big advantage of the GMRS band as licensed in the US.  If you are lucky enough to be in an area with many GMRS repeaters (very much like ham and police emergency service repeaters) you may be able to work thru them for dramatically extended range beyond the 1, 2 or 3 mile normal local transmissions. Some examples:  I can hear but not get into a particular repeater about 15 miles away, I can easily get into one about 2 ½ miles away and another repeater 18 miles away very well placed high up a hill and on a high tower. The repeater at 18 miles lets me communicate with others within a 25 mile radius of the repeater itself in all directions potentially 40 miles from me in that direction.  Some GMRS frequencies are inhabited by legacy business licensees and are nearly useless in the immediate area of the business. Repeaters are privately owned, some require permission for use, others only ask that you operate legally.
I only have experience with Wouxon and Motorola GMRS units.  Not 100% certain I would buy another Motorola, but definitely would buy another Wouxon.  I have a few Baofeng hand helds, but probably wouldn't replace with same if they failed. 

We are bumping up this announcement once again as a refersher to all members.
 
MyGMRS is one of the fastest growing GMRS and alternate radio service forums in the US. As a result of it's popularity, we are being "scanned" by countless 'spybots' from all the major search engines as well as some from other countries. We have seen as many as 30 search engine 'bots' collecting data here at one time.
 
We would just like to remind everyone that this forum is PUBLIC and if you don't want the world to see your personal info, don't post it.

We have seen that the Google, Bing, Ask and other search engine spybots are camped out here reading new posts. Just a word to the wise... use your discretion in posting personal or sensative information that could possibly compromise your personal safety, security, lead to identity theft, or give non-licensed individuals a way to access your radio systems.