Not sure if I checked into this thread when I registered on the site, but here goes. W2IRT, West Caldwell NJ.
41 years in amateur radio, contester/DXer and award chaser, and I love CW, but brand spanking new to this wonderful hobby of overlanding and offroading. Although it's been almost 18 years since I was active on 2m/UHF, I'm about to buy an FTM-400 this month to replace an ancient Icom 208H in my Jeep Grand Cherokee so I can do some APRS on my travels. I'm occasionally active on the "Venture Overland" Brandmeister talkgroup on DMR (also brand new to DMR).
My question to fellow hams here, how much activity or usefulness do you find on 2m/440 on the trails and while camped out, etc? Do you pre-program your radios for repeaters in your destination area every day or two, or do you just stick to .52 or .46 simplex? On a recent trip to Virginia I only had one single QSO on .52 on the entire trip, and not a single one on the repeaters near my destination. Maybe it was because I had a "2" callsign in "4" land? Also, does anybody find GMRS to be useful on the road in addition to amateur radio? I'm licensed on that service as well (WRJB851) and need it for club trail rides but have never had a contact outside of that environment on GMRS. 73 to all and safe travels. de W2IRT.