thank you... i've been looking for something like thisPrepper PING!!
Please consider this our weekly Preppers’ Thread to post progress, good buys, DIY projects, questions, advice, ideas....
Can you please add me to the Prepper ping.
I picked up a Baofeng UV5 last year, and am pretty impressed with it. Well made, flexible and amazingly inexpemnsive.
Am planning on picking up a few more for my SHTF ‘buddies’
There is a rather large user group for them:
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/baofeng_uv5r/info
Got mine on eBay
prep ping
thank you... i've been looking for something like thisDepends on what your needs and objectives are. VHF/UHF line-of-sight radios aren’t going to be good for more than a mile or two at most after the ham and GMRS repeaters go down. FRS will be OK for tactical comms a little beyond shouting distance - but not much. GMRS will have better range, especially those connected to a real antenna. A programmable scanner will probably be more useful unless you have a defined communications target withing a 2-20 mile radius. Since most law enforcement/first responder comms have not gone to trunked digital systems that works basically like the cellular network, they will be dependent on commercial power or availability of fuel supplies for backup generators, and in many cases (sadly) the internet. If the S really HTF and these digital networks go down, the fire/police dept’s that still have operational backup V/UHF FM systems will revert to using them, and those local frequencies in your area would be important to have on file. As long as the digital systems like P25 are operational, you need a $500 scanner to hear them, period.
The real action is likely to be “off the grid”, using purloined and highly protected HF frequencies and most likely frequency hopping and/or encryption.
For those of us with Base Stations equipped with 2m/440mhz antenna's, there's also an antenna adapter ($3.50 at RFPARTS.COM) that will enable you to plug your Baofeng/Wouxun into your base station antenna and REALLY increase its range on GMRS and FRS. I have one, highly recommend it. Both GMRS and FRS are very active where I live. (I also have a modified Icom V8000 modified that receives and transmits on GMRS/FRS. Highly recommend that radio as well.)
Is that legal?
Ping to read in detail later
To add more to the confusion, is there a reason to go with the Baofeng UV-5R+ rather than the UV-5R?
i've had an icom-ic H16 programmable for years 
I do hate to be a downer here but much of what is being advocated here is illegal. Licensing and/or type acceptance is required for use of most all of these bands:
HAM - Tech License gets you UHF and VHF, General License and Extra License gets you HF. Otherwise verboten to transmit.
FRS - legal for anyone but very short range - carry on.
GMRS - technically requires an $85 license for the whole family to operate at 5 watts.
MURS - Legal for anyone BUT with type accepted radios (which the radios in the OP aren't for MURS and thus illegal)
MARINE - Illegal to use on land - period (unless you're a bridgetender or something)
WEATHER - receive all you want but don't transmit on those frequencies licensed or not
BUSINESS - technically falls under the other VHF/UHF license requirements but you'll need a licence to "own" a frequency.
All of this applies to transmitting - nothing says you can't receive on a radio set up like this (though it is technically illegal to do so on some bands). To those who think that they don't need "no steenkin' license" I would simply point out that it's gonna be hard to master the skill of communication on several bands in the cold and dark. Good luck with that.
The scanner idea is a good one and an excellent entree into the world of radio. Get your license (it isn't really that hard) and learn to use your stuff. You'll be a lot more valuable to your loved ones when the shit really does hit the fan.
73
If ya have time Al ....your opinion is valued ....stay safe !
Kartographer, could you add me to the prepped ping list? Thanks
