Recommended radio?

[Jonathon]

I currently have a 2006 jeep lj that I am wanting to add communication gear too. However unsure what is widely used. I have a CB but have heard they aren't used as much anymore? What have your experiences been and what would you recommend?
And I do a mix of overlanding and mild rock crawling with groups some times

 

[Dlnuckolls]

I use my CB and GMRS radios depending on what the group is using.

 

[M Rose]

In Arizona most people are running GMRS and 2m.

 

[1Truenorth]

With GMRS ranging from blister pack retail radios, to 50 watt vehicle mounted, there is little reason to use anything else. My wife loves the fact the antennas are less than a foot long.
You can buy a kick A$$ baofeng GMRS hand held for $59.00 on amazon (BTECH GMRS-V1)
. Buy a truck mount antenna and an adapter for the baofeng and you are set for about $100.00.

 

[Kurt Z]

I run a Midland MXT275 GMRS radio paired up with the Midland Ghost antenna and I love it. The radio has plenty of power for trail rides and all the controls for the radio are on the mic so I can hide the radio body out of the way. The antenna is small so I don't worry about hitting it against things and still gets great reception and transmission range.

 

[M Rose]

With GMRS ranging from blister pack retail radios, to 50 watt vehicle mounted, there is little reason to use anything else. My wife loves the fact the antennas are less than a foot long.
You can buy a kick A$$ baofeng GMRS hand held for $59.00 on amazon (BTECH GMRS-V1)
. Buy a truck mount antenna and an adapter for the baofeng and you are set for about $100.00.

You can’t get blister pack GMRS radios... they are .5-1 watt FMRS radios with fixed antenna... GMRS radios are 5 watts and higher, and have more frequencies.
GMRS requires a $70 license good for 10 years, FMRS is no license (like a cb).
GMRS is only good if you are in an area with public GMRS Repeaters and if the group you are running with uses GMRS. Out here in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington there are 0 public GMRS repeaters, so getting out in an emergency is probably not going to happen. However VHF ham linked repeaters cover most of our area. My favorite repeater group covers over a 200 mile radius. Most (not all) people out here run Ham 2m, or MURS (Again VHF).

 

[madcratebuilder]

Hard to beat the BaoFeng for features and cost. I picked up a pair of Midland FRS/GMRS used for $30, nice to have to let others use.

 

[El-Dracho]

I would make that dependent on the one hand on which technology the people use with whom you are mostly on the road and on the other hand on the purpose. I run CB and 2m / 70cm HAM. Here in Europe, many off-roaders and overlanders are still on the road with CB radio, so it always makes sense to have a CB radio on board, especially in groups. HAM is (here) more regulated and requires a lot more preparation, learning and an exam to pass. But you have more possibilities with that, more range, useful technical stuff like APRS and so on.

Furthermore (overland) communication is much more than CB and HAM of course. There are so many possibilities and every has its reason (radio, cellphone, satphone, gps messengers and much more).

I recommend you take also a look at the sub-forum Overland Communication here as there is plenty of information about this topic and many OB members are happy to help and we have some experts here!

Cheers, Bjoern