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Hi everyone! I'm new to all this and have some setup questions. Just hoping someone can help me with the basics. I will catch on easily. I have experience in electronics, computers, and telecommunications. My background is in telecommunications in the Army from 1990-1994 and I've been computer networking and programming for the last 25 years. I live in San Bernardino County and work in Riverside County. I just bought 2 Baofeng GT-3TP handheld radios for Christmas. Here is what I'm trying to accomplish: 1. I want me and my son to talk while riding our quads. I have the earpiece attachment for them but haven't tried it yet. 2. I want my wife at home to hear us while out exploring in case of emergencies. We just ride behind our house in the mountains. 3. I want to use them while driving to work, going to the store, etc while driving from home or work. Probably a 30 miles radius will reach home. 4. I want to use a private channel if possible for security reasons because sometimes, we just want to talk while riding or driving. My problems so far: 1. The handheld radios only reach 1 mile. 2. I'm not sure if I'm even connecting to a repeater after entering the freq, tone, offset, direction because I can't hear myself and no one hears me but if they do, how do I know it's from a repeater? 3. I see repeaters located in S.B. to Riverside with the same frequency so shouldn't I be able to talk to my wife at home using them? 4. Do I need to setup a home base station with an antenna and one in our vehicles to reach us wherever we go? I eventually plan on living off the grid when I retire so I want the family to learn how to use and operate on GMRS now instead of relying on cell phones.