WRPG745

Sounds like they're working.

That's me... sort of. No basket weave belt (its a tac trainer) and only 1 radio. I don't use 10 codes, though. Have to draw the line somewhere. 

I'm sure some folks will be by shortly to give technical insight on if you "need" to put one up. (you might)
I'm wondering what you plan on doing with your radio(s). Where you'll operate and who'll you talk to... why did you get into gmrs?
I use mine to chat with family and friends when we kayak, hike, caravan on the road. I also check in on the local repeaters occasionally. I use ham as well but not with family. em-coms is my secondary use.
btw- there are few threads to read that might be helpful (or at least entertaining! I have a sick sense of humor) grab some popcorn and wade through these...
 
my takeaway is to buy a commercial repeater solution rather than build your own, but if you have the skill, it probably would be fun. Drama seems to depend on where you are.
welcome to the family!
-john

I hear people using different words for saying their call sign phonetically all the time. Some will use what ever words they like. It really doesn't matter much when talking to other people who's native language is English. 
Using the NATO phonetic alphabet does help when talking to foreigners who do not speak English very well or have a heavy accent.
In the end use what works best for you and those you are talking to.

Nickel and lithium based batteries should be stored at a 40% charge and not connected to anything. I personally also put tap over the connections, to prevent anything from touching the contacts and shorting or discharging the batteries further 
 
All batteries will eventually discharge to zero if they are in a radio or a charge cradle that isn't on and in a charge state. This damages batteries and can cause the battery to never charge again. Some highend batteries with electronics in them will sleep after they have been out of a radio or charger for some time. Those will appear to be dead, but just need to be reactivated. 
 
Storing batteries in the radio will not only discharge the battery, it could damage the radio. There are issues with corrosion, battery leaks and expansion. 

Jeezus...  WHY in TF would you want to do that?

Ohhhh, the irony of the irony…

wow, this is getting good...
 
(lol, there is no right way to radio...)

wow, this is getting good...
 
(lol, there is no right way to radio...)

No, you don't need your own repeater. You may just want to make your station very good. I'd be curious to know where you are located geographically. You might think that 17 miles it too far to reach, but you'd be surprised. I routinely talk on repeaters over 20 miles away and sound good on them. With a handheld. There's just a handful of things to know and you can do it too.
 
You don't need to spend thousands, or even hundreds to be able to shoot a signal pretty far off.
 
 

Height equals might.  Put up a tower first.  A repeater without a tower doesn't do much of anything.  An antenna mounted on a tower may be all you really need. 

I'm sure some folks will be by shortly to give technical insight on if you "need" to put one up. (you might)
I'm wondering what you plan on doing with your radio(s). Where you'll operate and who'll you talk to... why did you get into gmrs?
I use mine to chat with family and friends when we kayak, hike, caravan on the road. I also check in on the local repeaters occasionally. I use ham as well but not with family. em-coms is my secondary use.
btw- there are few threads to read that might be helpful (or at least entertaining! I have a sick sense of humor) grab some popcorn and wade through these...
 
my takeaway is to buy a commercial repeater solution rather than build your own, but if you have the skill, it probably would be fun. Drama seems to depend on where you are.
welcome to the family!
-john

I'm sure some folks will be by shortly to give technical insight on if you "need" to put one up. (you might)
I'm wondering what you plan on doing with your radio(s). Where you'll operate and who'll you talk to... why did you get into gmrs?
I use mine to chat with family and friends when we kayak, hike, caravan on the road. I also check in on the local repeaters occasionally. I use ham as well but not with family. em-coms is my secondary use.
btw- there are few threads to read that might be helpful (or at least entertaining! I have a sick sense of humor) grab some popcorn and wade through these...
 
my takeaway is to buy a commercial repeater solution rather than build your own, but if you have the skill, it probably would be fun. Drama seems to depend on where you are.
welcome to the family!
-john

I've been declared a shill and I dont even say that!

As someone that has recommended a few radios to a few people in my day, i have, and still do recommend Midlands to "regular people" that just need simple vehicle to vehicle comms; ie; The Jeep Crowd.
Radio Dorks and latent hams will require something with more bells and whistles, but MANY normal people are more than satisfied with the simplicity and performance of the Midland mobiles. 
Choose the radio with the features that are right for you, and ignore the online "experts" that look down on you for not being the same kind of socially reet-ard-ed know-it-alls that they are - it's difficult, becuase there are a lot of them right here in this forum.. Even in this thread..

I settled for a dual-band antenna that performs excellent on 2M/70CM and good enough on GMRS.  A switch sounds like a good alternative, I may look into this...

XPEL Clear Vinyl Paint Protection Film

Man... hard to answer without more info.  Are you talking about as close to guaranteed as you can get for emergency communications or non-critical recreational?  Are they in college or secondary school?
 
If you are looking for non-critical recreational communications, I would lean away from UHF or even VHF communications.  It's possible, but not likely in a vast majority of the country.  Your most affordable and reliable would be to all get your general class amateur radio license and us HF.  With proper antennas at all locations and adjusting the frequency used based on the time of day, you would be able to talk directly for 12 to 15 hours per day, with blackout periods during and surrounding mid-day.
 
If it needs to be discreet and it just has to work, get a Garmin InReach Mini 2 or InReach Messenger and a Recreation or Expedition plan for each person.

Markskjerve said it all. I'm new to the GMRS repeater world myself. I'm just wondering how many repeaters are private that you may hear conversation but not have access. Now with radios that can scan for tones, it's probably a mute point while traveling.
Years ago, you could get trip tickets from AAA. Maps would be market up with routing and highlight the locations in route that was of your interest. Not sure if that's an option today.
If you did want to turn the phone on every now and then, the RepeaterBook app does a great job locating what's close to you at any given time using auto location. It does have options (Filter) for selecting bands to include GMRS. 
I think you're right that CB is not like it use to be but I would still take a portable with you and throw up a mag antenna for the heck of it. I've often heard conversations when there was stop and go traffic on interstates learning what was going on. 
I still would recommend bringing a laptop for evening planning when you stop at night. Google search in the area you are traveling to may help locate the best local stops for dinner and help with stops that are important to you knowing what's open and times.
 
 

I'd suggest programming all 8 repeater channels for a tone of 141.3, the national travel tone and setup scan for all 8 channels. A good majority of public repeaters use this tone and is usually a good way to tell if a repeater is public or not. If you hear something that's not on 141.3 then scan for the tone if you want.

It has become apparent to me that I will be learning for the rest of my life. That's one of the things I really like about two-way-radio. 👍

I'm still learning all the sciency stuff about how weather and such effect radio waves...but last night it was an overcast evening and I was able to hit the repeater just fine. So, some cloud cover helps. 🤷🏼‍♂️
Either way, I'm learning, and that's what matters most to me.

Welcome to myGMRS.com.
In one sense GMRS is quite simple, yet you can take it to quite an extreme. And some people do.
Your budget will determine a lot about what kind of radios you buy.
I would start with a couple of HTs to get your feet wet.
GMRS is in the UHF band so don't expect to get the distances you hear by hams doing HF. Trees, terrain, etc. will affect your distance. It could be anywhere from 1/2 mile to 50 miles or more. Do your own testing in your area of operation to find out what's real for you.
"Privacy Tones" aren't private. Others can still hear you, you just can't hear them unless they transmit with the same tone.
Repeaters typically use tones to operate.
These are just some basics to help you get started.
@OffRoaderX has some good videos to help you get started.
As you come up with more specific questions, feel free to ask.
Also, you can do a search to find questions that have already been answered.
73
Edit:
I forgot to mention, @marcspaz did a real good video on intro to GMRS.

I don't know. I think there are some reviews on YouTube on the topic. I would also do some research on-line to see if there is anything. As popular as they seem to be somebody likely has done some recent testing. 
One other place to check is the FCC site. If the radio is legally sold in the US it should, required, to have an FCC ID. Using that you can look up the grant and test reports. The grant by the way will likely just show just a certification for Part 15, not 97. The FCC's main concern is the radio is blocked from receiving cell phone frequencies.
You can do an informal, crude, test using another radio. TX on 146.0MHz on the test radio. Then using a second radio some short distance away tuned for 438.0MHz, that's the third harmonic, and see if you can pick up a signal.  If you can you likely have a problem. If not the radio "might" be acceptably clean, at least on VHF. It's no guarantee it's OK on UHF however.
Dual band radios typically have two transmit "chains", power amp stages and filters, for each band. Both need to be checked. 
You can try the same kind of test on UHF but you'll likely will need a scanner that can tune up around 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz to catch the third harmonic.
Your final option is try at a local Ham Radio club. Somebody there might have a spectrum analyzer, I have a model in mind on my wish list to get sooner or later, or access to one. You can see if a test of your radio can be arranged. I'm sure you won't be the first person in a club who wants to know if their cheap radio meets FCC emission limits.