The Motorola 900 MHz digital FHSS radios are great for in-building coverage. They work pretty well outdoors in the open also. 1 watt is a little misleading when comparing them to "full power" UHF 4 or 5 watt portables. Transmit power is only useful if it overcomes the noise floor that you're trying to transmit over.
Where those 1 watt 900 MHz FHSS radios shine, is that they have an effective receive signal level that's down in the -125 dBm range. Your typical UHF portable is lucky if it's beginning to receive anything at -119 dBm (and even if it does, then it's probably quite scratchy). So the 900 MHz radio comes in at better than a 6 dB winner in the receive category. Search that up on the dBm to Watts conversion scale, and you'll see that your UHF portable would need to transmit a decent signal at 4 watts or more just to begin achieve comparable performance - while the 900 MHz radio is hopping frequencies to avoid interference, plus pushing out a digital signal that's intelligible even at the very threshold of receive.
Forget comparing horsepower numbers. In the radio world, you need to compare receivers. That's where the magic is happening. Watts are for salespeople and marketing types.
I can't even begin to describe how ignorant and arrogant you sound. You clearly have zero practical experience in amateur radio, how the operators are integrated within local, state and federal emergency response plans, nor the overwhelming success the amateur radio community has had serving in actual national emergencies. The assumption that every operator is a decrepit, overweight, old man whom needs rescuing is laughable at best.
Sorry @OffRoaderX I know that has Sad Ham written all over it... but I have to draw the line somewhere. LOL
