Finally, have a few buddies ready to go on some trails and was curious what everyone uses to communicate while in the middle of nowhere since cell service is spotty at best.

Been looking at CBs as well as the Midland X-Talker 2way radios. https://midlandusa.com/product/t71vp3/ I can't imagine I'd really need a CB these days but was hoping for some feedback from others with more experience.

Thanks!

I hate this, but sounds like CB is your better bet.

It has the least legal concerns if you don't plan to invest the mental equity in doing something up right, and since you mentioned "buddies" the chances of getting them all on the same page with something that requires filling out a piece of paper are a snowballs chance in hell.

CB sucks, it has horrible sound quality and dismal range, and is a pain in the butt to set up properly, but if you all stay pretty close anyway it works fine for chit chat while driving.

But it's popular so ample resources to piece together the transceiver and antenna components and have something the just kinda works, no call sign, no rules, and your buddies don't have to really learn anything so long as one of you kinda knows what to do and tunes the antennas for everyone.

Thanks for the feedback! What do you mean filling out a paper? There are at least 4-8 channels I read about no license required. Plus too, my boys are all pretty sharp, getting radios set up would be fun lol.

Filling out a paper means you'll have to get a license of some kind, in other words do more than open up the package and start keying up.

The "no license required" channels (defined as FRS) only put out at 0.5 watt. The licensed GMRS channels put out 5.0 watts. All that info you see on the packing about range in miles is nowhere remotely close to the performance you can expect on FRS.

The radios are probably set up to switch power automatically depending on the channel, OR more likely you will be using the FRS channels at a higher output than allowed...as is allowed if you are GMRS licensed. (The radios will likely NOT prevent you from violating the power requirements.)

I will neither advocate or condemn you using the radios as you see fit. But I would like more people to be aware of what exactly they are doing. It's not exactly put out there in a way folks who are not into radio can understand. While you might make a personal decision on how you use your radios, you can't just ask your buddies to follow along very well unless they know what is up also.

Back to FRS, imagine how much use you are going to have out of radios that only put out 0.5 watt inside a vehicle that treats radio waves in a comparable way to how a silencer on a gun treats sound. Basically if you can see each other, they might work. While CB has ample disadvantages, setting up an external antenna makes it actually usable.

You and your boys won't be "setting up" any non-licensed radios outside CB. The non licensed radios, if legal, do not allow any external antennas. You get a walkie-talkie and turn it on.

There is MURS which allows some external antennas. Right now the availability of legal equipment is pretty much nil and if you do find some it's extremely expensive for what little power it has. (2 watts.)

Well holy shit.

Based on this The Best Kept Secret in Radio Communication | ITS Tactical, MURS would be a good combination of CB with two-way? If I can get some kind of vehicle mounted antennae and some DIY mods overall, MURS sounds like a winner.

I openly admit I know nothing about radio communication, but I'm trying to learn it.

For an alternative go to Ebay and look at Boafeng UV-5R. Very good, well made 4 watt cheap radio. Then go to You Tube and type in the same too learn all about em....the license to operate one is like taking an 8th grade math test....

I recommend this ham radio setup, if you are licensed. It works on all amateur bands and you can set up a screwdriver antenna on the roof and talk to other offroaders on the other side of the US or across the ocean. The wattage of course, is way above the CB and FRS radios' limit.

I have a Yaesu 857d and a few baofengs rolling around. Ive routed the external mic PTT to be on the OD button on the side of the auto transmission handle instead of using the original hand mic...which comes in very handy when you have to drive and not let go of the steering and shift lever.

On the left side of the steering wheel Ive set up the screwdriver antenna to be hooked to the toyota radio antenna button, and a ETC button to switch between slow and fast tuning of the antenna with the radio antenna up/down button.

It works nice and is simple.

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These are decent, really cheap radios. I recommend them. Just get your stinkin' ham license for it.

Have any issues with RF interference (from the engine) when operating HF?

I've got a stinkin ham license and had one for over 9 stinkin years now...

Same! Glad to see more hams in the 4x4 scene.

just a simple CB set up?

Handheld CB's work well. But usually, I just stay close to my friends and we yell back and forth

Yes, I did. Quite a bit actually. But I created and attached a low band pass filter which eliminated most if not all of the interference. Here is the link from where I got the DIY - San Antonio Hams

I am pretty happy with the results.
He uses a shackle for the inductor, but I used a big sized bolt., which worked fine.