I scanned through the details and the comments and didn’t see any comments as to the range of these guys. Anyone know?
If you have a ham license, you know this already. If you study to get one you will find out that - with a ham license you can transmit on VHF 144 MHz to 148 MHz and UHF 420 MHz to 450 MHz.
That long list was all outside the legal transmitting range.
These HT (handheld transceivers) are made for fairly close communications. You may be able to get 6 to 12 miles under perfect conditions. It’s going to matter if you are inside or outside, are there obstructions between you and you intended receiver like hills, buildings, etc. Often they are used to local coverage or to hit a repeater that will boost the signal to a larger range.
Hope this helps.
I like the idea of getting into ham radio. Right now I just want to communicate with my family during vacations without a dozen strangers talking over me preferably without buying a license. Is this for me?
You can only transmit on these with a ham radio license. If you’re not looking to pay for licensing, FRS radios and CB radios are two options.