>>620944>A GMRS license will cost you (and each non-family member) $90 for 5 yearsPrice went down a year or two ago, iirc it's a $60/5-year license now. Might even be less than that.
Callsign/license is good for a family. You'll need that callsign if you want to use repeaters.
No exam for that test, just fill out the appropriate forms and send in your fees and the FCC issues a call.
>>620944>HAM (amateur radio operator, technician class) is freeMost VEC's (group of volunteers administering the exams) charge ~$17 to take a test... covers administrative expenses, postage, etc.
If you pass one, they'll almost always let you take the next test as well.
If you're good, you can go from no-license to extra in one sitting for one $17 fee.
Might be able to do it for free through a university/school-sponsored VEC, but the vast majority of them are in the $15-20 range.
Commercial's a bitch of an exam, and a little over $100 plus filing fees. Coordinated pairs or trunk groups are big $$$$$.
MURS is okay for small group comms. My biggest issue with those radios are that you limit yourself to you and your group with them. Using FRS, almost everyone has them, and they're readily available for cheap at sporting goods stores. Want to go out with a different group one weekend? Coordinate a channel/tone with them and you can all use your own equipment and comm with each other.
If you do go with a baofeng/yaesu/kenwood/whatever and program in FRS/GMRS freqs, print out a "cheat-sheet" of the codes/tones. It'll save you from having to spend 10 minutes searching through the PL tone frequencies for the equivalent "7" "sub-channel". (85.4Hz PL).
