Ham handhelds are a much better than the blister pack FRS radios from homedepot but they won't generally talk 10-50 miles without help. That's where repeaters come in. They are powerful radios with excellent antennas mounted high above terrain that listen for signal on one frequency and repeat it on another. Most have very large "footprints" that allow you to communicate easily with hams all around your area. Technician license will give you access to 2m (144MHz) and 70cm (440MHz) so you can look for those kind of repeaters here:
https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none
Repeaters exist in GMRS as well but I don't know much about that service.
Tech license test is almost a joke to pass. Morse code is no longer required and all the questions are available online so you can just memorize the answers but I recommend learning the subject matter.
Ham handhelds are a much better than the blister pack FRS radios from homedepot but they won't generally talk 10-50 miles without help. That's where repeaters come in. They are powerful radios with excellent antennas mounted high above terrain that listen for signal on one frequency and repeat it on another. Most have very large "footprints" that allow you to communicate easily with hams all around your area. Technician license will give you access to 2m (144MHz) and 70cm (440MHz) so you can look for those kind of repeaters here: https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none
Repeaters exist in GMRS as well but I don't know much about that service.
Tech license test is almost a joke to pass. Morse code is no longer required and all the questions are available online so you can just memorize the answers but I recommend learning the subject matter.
Very much appreciated. Thank you for the informative reply. Saved.