Ah yeah I was thinking of that as well (FRS/GMRS), but it's a bit less versatile as someone else mentioned (no repeaters, less range). A full-on HT isn't much

Ah yeah I was thinking of that as well (FRS/GMRS), but it's a bit less versatile as someone else mentioned (no repeaters, less range). A full-on HT isn't much more pricy, and in fact you can transmit/receive on all the same frequencies anyways (IIRC). That said, in Canada you don't need a license to use GMRS (up to 2 watts) which is pretty awesome. A family member of mine has a bunch of GMRS radios which they take up for offroading, hunting, etc. They do have fairly decent range (~2km), especially in more open fields and so on. In mountainous or heavily-forested areas, not so much haha :) The low barrier to entry here in Canada makes them a great solution for casual use, going on a family getaway in the outdoors or so on.