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JALLEN wrote:
I also believe the Forum discourages or forbids advocating unlawful activities or conduct, which using non type accepted or approved radios in FRS and GMRS is. "Well, it's only in emergencies." Right!

From what I have seen this area (Harris County / Galveston) is pretty disciplined during emergencies.. But we are kinda used to it.

It isn't illegal to monitor those frequencies with ham gear, although I think I might have inadvertently implied that one could be used to transmit.

My thought is my cheap amateur handhelds would be monitoring major nets including preset GMRS channels. Most of the handhelds are pretty decent scanners Almost any 2 way communications I would be doing would be on my GMRS sets ( I got 4 of them) unless I were working with one of my emergency groups/clubs. GMRS worked great for me during Ike. Even in the direst of emergencies, there is still plenty of empty bandwidth to be used on 70cm to be used if one works within the simplex bandwidth. Amateur is a pretty lousy way for most family groups to keep contact unless everyone has a license, but it is still pretty handy to monitor what is going on, or to contribute to Emergency services.

I haven't gone full prepper, but a couple of hurricane evacuations have taught me that a little bit of care can have big payoffs. Simple things that integrate with daily life.
Ham radio is is something I enjoy. But I found that GMRS radios are cheap, and also act a PA system with nearby family,
Water I drink bottled water anyway .. Keeping a case backlog isn't much of a life change.
Never let myself run out of batteries. Especially AA and AAAs.
Canned food is something I like anyway. Peas, fruit. Chili, Bush Beans, Spam and even Canned Chicken,
Being a prepper to me isn't a lifestyle, its a mentality. I don't even have a bugout bag, but I know where things are.

vjallen75 wrote:In the event of a disaster, I am, for lack of a better word, screwed.

Emergency communication is pretty easy to do these. Days. Inexpensive GMRS can be had real cheap, and licencing is inexpensive and done for the whole extended family. GMRS works well when travelling in an automobile convoy camping or at large events like rodeos and fairs as well as when a problem arises scenarios.

Even amateur radio isn't all that difficult these days. There is no code involved, and cheap but good handhelds can be bought for about $30 bucks. They can function on GMRS/FRS frequencies although not legal. The hambands offer a wide availability of nets and communication with the outside world.