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Jonathon

Jonathon

Rank III

Enthusiast III

704
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
First Name
Jonathon
Last Name
Magnus
So lets start with vehicle. I have 2006 Jeep wrangler unlimited with just a bimini top.
I dont have a HAM license however am not unwilling to get one.
I am on a budget and trying to figure out a radio. What would you recommend?
 
Jonathon said:
So lets start with vehicle. I have 2006 Jeep wrangler unlimited with just a bimini top.
I dont have a HAM license however am not unwilling to get one.
I am on a budget and trying to figure out a radio. What would you recommend?
Click to expand...
Hello Jonathon, I am, in no way an expert, in my experience there are a lot of groups the use GMRS. Your best option is if you will be going with a group find out what they use. Otherwise it will be hit and miss. I went this route (GMRS).
Blessings
 
Thank you. We have a trip planned for a day trip with a group. But in the lomg run we are plan ing to do 1 year of overlanding around the US soon as we get a pickup. For now the radio will be in my jeep amd will need to work witb handhelds so gf cam have a handheld in her Jeep grand cherokee.
 
Ham has such an upside, and I feel like more and more people use it. I have an eight watt BaoFeng attached to an external antenna that was pretty inexpensive and works quite well.
 
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Ham radio is far more capable than anything else, however based on this statement below you want GMRS/FRS.
For the below to work with ham radio you both would need to test and get licensed, with GMRS a single license covers your family.
Mobile GMRS radios can have up to 50 watts and they work with handheld GMRS or FRS radios. You might be able to get by with two handhelds but understand that operating from inside a metal container (Grand Cherokee) will limit how well the radio works.

Jonathon said:
For now the radio will be in my jeep amd will need to work witb handhelds so gf cam have a handheld in her Jeep grand cherokee.
Click to expand...
 
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Prerunner1982 said:
Ham radio is far more capable than anything else, however based on this statement below you want GMRS/FRS.
For the below to work with ham radio you both would need to test and get licensed, with GMRS a single license covers your family.
Mobile GMRS radios can have up to 50 watts and they work with handheld GMRS or FRS radios. You might be able to get by with two handhelds but understand that operating from inside a metal container (Grand Cherokee) will limit how well the radio works.

Jonathon said:
For now the radio will be in my jeep amd will need to work witb handhelds so gf cam have a handheld in her Jeep grand cherokee.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Long term we both plan to get Ham radio licenses. However would it hurt to have the GMRS license?
 
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Very first question should be, what do the people you ride with use? Second quesiton should be...and be honest...are you actually interesting in radio/electionics? If you aren't and just want to be able to talk to others on the trial then GMRS is easy and not very expensive. But, if you want to dive in a little bit and learn some radio theory then the starter ham license isn't very hard to get.
 
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