Just know a phone won't be a viable options, so need a radio

Only in that the government shouldn't be involved.

Just google FRS radio frequencies... much easier than me explaining it.

But they are the same channels the cheap radios from wally world use

I knew i should have boosted some xts5000's when i had the chance lol

But the china radios can be programmed for them and have much higher power than you're legally allowed to use so you get a little more range

@Yeetasaurus Rex you'd still need infrastructure and the programming software

Otherwise just a really expensive baofeng

Ypu can get Motorola CP200's for dirt cheap these days and use UHF channels and have a bulletproof radio

comms is the one thing im lacking right now. because IRC can only go so far.

Really it sucks for civilians.... either you use shitty China radios, or spend an assload of money getting a business license and buying frequency allocation

oh and CB's lol

I ran a radio rental business for a while, so I own some channel allocation, but still regular UHF that I'm not legally allowed to use encryption on. And that cost a few grand.

Stupid question of the day,
So the point is to use a frequency that no one nearby is using, to speak to the parties you want, or find the Channel someone is on to join them, and you can utilize it within the range of your radios capability correct?

Yeah, kinda...

Any and all resources would be much appreciated

Say you had your HAM license.... you could most likely find repeaters in your area that you can absolutely jump on and talk to people, if you're friends have the license you can talk pretty good distances.

Even with a baofeng

If you're all in the woods doing innawoods stuff, you can just use those FRS channels, as most likely there won't be others within the few miles range that they work anyway.

Privacy and civilian radios isn't really a thing

Best advice study for the license you’ll learn a lot of good shit along the way

Yeah

So is the signal grid based? Or for example in the middle of nowhere can the radios be used stand alone to communicate to one another?

And if you're already into electronics and electrical stuff it's a breeze

I'm into it, just have no idea about this area lol

Stand alone, or "simplex" is radio to radio

Repeaters are what you would call grid based.

You talk to a repeater in your range, and it rebroadcasts the signal much stronger out to others... but they still have to be in range of that repeater as well

Then there's DMR, but that uses the internet, so if that's down it's useless anyway

Okay, and in simplex, would you just match frequencies or is it a different functionality on the radio?

Yeah, just match frequencies

Theres MUCH more to all this

But I'm trying to keep it super simple, YouTube really is your friend here.

Yeah I'm gonna have to do some digging for sure

I'll look shit up, but appreciate the help!

Look for “Ham Radio Crash Course” on YT lots of good advice

Basically it's like this.... if you want an expensive hobby, get into hams.

If you just want emergency comms if things break down, just learn the basic FRS/GMRS/weather band programming and keep your batteries charged.

Also our little radios can reach out a little farther with a bigger antenna he reviews a 42 1/2 inch and antenna on there that’s pretty cheap

Yeah, but a few miles over flat ground is it

And that's pushing it

In an emergency I’m sure you give your left nut for a little bit of extra distance if it’s what you need