Traveling across country: GMRS or HAM

I am going to be traveling over 5K miles, and am wanting to see if having one of the mentioned radios would be useful in that trip?

Wanting to avoid congestion, and or other areas that pulling a trailer would be miserable, as well as keep up with what is going on with the road ahead.

I have several friends on the Ham side, and one also has GMRS. But, I am torn for what would be best.

Or, would it not be worth either one for such a purpose?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

@texasrho83 @equin

 

Use Waze. We did AZ to Florida and back last year and it was nice for avoiding traffic, potholes, and speed traps.

This is coming from a ham radio operator.

 

I'd definitely go CB. GMRS is only good if you know the specific frequency everyone is on in that specific region. CB is a very safe bet with channel 19. I ran both on a 4 hour trip and got way more chatter on the CB.

 

Thank you. Our present set up for travel right now is two Garmin GPS's and the phone using, I think that app. I know it seems like overkill, but we have a new GPS that we do not fully trust yet. We have some features on another GPS we cannot get on the new one and it sometimes gives us different routs, and the phone for up to date info.

This is a very good suggestion, and knowing you have a Ham radio, that gives it a lot of weight.

 

I had looked at a CB, and would like to use it. My concern is what may come across for my kiddos. I have had some warnings against it.

I was also told that about the GMRS and that is why I am leaning toward either the CB or the Ham. CB is a free and test free solution.

So if I stay on channel 19 on a CB, it is a clean channel?

 

Well, for the most part. That's like asking is your tap water as good as mine? Depends on location and I don't know your area. Best thing is to turn it on when you're curious about an upcoming area. I usually turn my volume up if I see red on the Waze.

 

Fair and True. And the trip is going to be going through AR, AZ, NM, OK, NV, ID, UT, MT, ND, WI, OH, PA, VA, TN, then back home. So I will have to just play with it, I guess.

 

I agree with going with a CB. I have cheap, portable GMRS and Hams, but when road traveling, I find a CB to better when hearing about road conditions, but I’ve noticed CB chatter having decreased over the years.

As for bad language on Channel 19, I don’t usually hear it, and I have kids myself. But sometimes you might hear a word or two slip out from time to time.

 

After playing with several things, and looking at different aspects, I think at this time I am going to just hold off on buying any radios. With cell phones and apps, we may be able to get by with that. Thank you all for all of your help.