Great Tom, Glad to Hear that you renewed!
Yes, GMRS is becoming the go to radio service for off roaders here in S. CA, who don't want to bother to study a little and pass a simple muiti-guess 35 question test! It offers more quiet ,clear FM, skip and a**hole free , albeit shorter range comms than CB. I too, BOUGHT a GMRS license a few years ago: WQXK637. Small point, GMRS is way above 2M (144-146 MHz) and even above Ham UHF "440" and is at 462-467 MHz. You may be thinking of MURS at 152-158 MHz, NO license required, but that has only 5 channels, and power is legally limited to 2 Watts, VS GMRS having a Max of 50 Watts.
This brings up a good point: What will we be using for Comms at T-Haven this time? I have all 3 on Board: Ham, GMRS, and CB. Of course, It will depend a lot on what other ppl have.
If we do 2M Ham, I'd like to suggest 146.580 Simplex. I've been checking the S.CA, N.CA, AZ, and NV 2M Band-plans and that appears to be the only simplex that is common to S. CA's 15 KHz channel spacing, and the other's 20 KHz channel spacing.
In know we've used 146.520 in the past bc that was the only simplex some claimed to have, BUT ,in S. CA at least, .520 is the calling and the Emergency Wilderness Protocol (WP) channel. The WP says that all hams traveling in the back country should monitor .520, on and for 10 min after the hour for emergency calls from stranded or distressed backcountry users. .520 definitely isn't recommended for trail chatter!
If we do opt to use 146.580 ( my recommendation), that gives everyone who is a Ham plenty of time to program it in ahead of T-Haven. Even if the majority are on CB, the Ham channel is a great back-up.
Sooo, Is everyone Ham on board with 146.580 Simplex for T-Haven? LMK Please.
73 DE Ray, AE6H