Awesome, I knew there would be a lot of great info here. I'm buying a PLB so if I'm ever in immediate danger I figure I can use that. I'm thinking of the radio more for disaster situations. I live relatively close to the shore in Connecticut (not the snooty NY part :P ), so I figure a hurricane is eventually going to happen here. I'd use a VHF on a regular basis so it would be more likely to be charged in case of an emergency, but ham sounds promising. I did see the Standard Horizon radios that do VHF and FRS. I don't mind a simple FCC license, but I'm hesitant to commit to HAM as it sounds fairly pricey and likely a major time commitment. I'm more interested in being "equipped" to supplement my other hobbies (Sailing, hunting, fishing, skiing, kayaking) rather then taking on new hopes for it.

Satellite was mentioned, can you communicate via satellite on a hand held radio or are you referring to a satellite phone. I'm obviously a total newb at this.

Thanks for all the great info!