I just got my GMRS and figured this would be more appropriate for my needs. Friday/Saturday we drove from middle TN to Columbia SC. I found very little simplex action (only heard ONE conversation outside ATL), I-40 had the gorge shutdown and Google routed us, and nothing on the repeater channels (absolutely my fault in programming I'm sure). That was disappointing but I'm used to that. I have a long way to go, and have a KG-UV9GX back ordered thanks to Randy! LOL I try to do more reading than typing but thought I would add, I've earned my technician before the GMRS. The sad hams have totally turned me off the ham aspect. I also get that people tend to be myopic and post before researching. I see it all of the time on the gun boards I frequent. To I gotta say, as Randy predicted the sad GMRS' are surfacing.