It was the “no test” part that convinced me. I started looking into getting a technician ticket, but sparing a day or five for a class and test is laughable at the moment. Maybe when my life slows down a little (uproariously obnoxious laughter).
A pair of GMRS walkie-talkies (~$70) an associated license (~$35) a better whip antenna for the first (~$12) and a magnetic mount antenna (~$35) that I threw on a high shelf in a closet or could move to a vehicle if desired.
They can hit a publicly open but privately owned repeater about 20 miles away, which has been interesting. Means that I can radio contact over about a 50 mile radius which covers my city pretty well.
There’s a lot of chatter on the repeater, mostly from “prepper” types who want to be prepared if the cell system crashes. They’re kind of politically right leaning, which sucks but hey, it’s their repeater so I don’t participate a lot.
The radios I got have GPS sharing so they’re nice for any backwoods hikes as you can pinpoint each other and that’s a nice safety feature.
Are they worth it? I guess so. $150 to get fairly deep into a new hobby isnt budget breaking for me, but the actual usefulness is kinda limited when cell towers are most everywhere, even in places like campgrounds of most major cities
Our RenFest is also super spotty with cell coverage, so that’s nice. GMRS uses the same bands as FRS, so they’re compatible, but GMRS allows 1) Removable antennas for better coverage 2) More power (FRS 2 vs 50 watts on GMRS) 3) Repeaters for very wide coverage (I hear people talking from 60+ miles away on a local repeater once in a while).
The radios are more expensive, starting around $20 but the benefits are pretty nice.