perfect chaosmagnet, just what i needed to know. many thnx.

hope this helps the original poster too.

My pleasure!

While ham radio has flexibility and coverage advantages - don't forget that simply handing them out to your neighbors won't work. The operators must be licensed and must behave themselves on the air. Otherwise the repeater control operators must shut off the repeater.

A friend of mine, a real gadgeteer ham radio guy, set up all his neighbors on business band handheld radios. They had a pretty good network going. I don't know if the net has held together since his passing :-(

Thank you all for the great feed back.

I am a real 2 meter fan but am probably the only one in the area that is.

I really appreciate the detail of all the comments.

Blake

I've been using a Uniden Pro510XL w/ Wilson (Little Wil)antenna for years. A solid entry level setup that won't break the bank. Make sure you buy a good SWR meter and tune it properly.

great read guys. I love the info I get from this site