ShredAZ
TJ Enthusiast
You left out a key piece of information... while VHF radios like that work well, they can't communicate with CB radios that operate on the HF band and it is CB that 99% of Jeeps with radios run. Most organized 4x4 events use nothing but CB too.
I have a VHF ham radio in my TJ but it rarely gets used when compared to my CB. If you go out wheeling with nothing but that VHF radio you won't be able to communicate with most wheelers. By all means run a VHF ham radio if you want but I'd install the CB first if you want to talk with the most wheelers. Then get a ham radio installed.
As said I am a general class ham (N6TAY) but if I had to pick just one radio to have in my Jeep it'd be the CB which is a far more common and popular radio for offroading and Jeeping. I use my Jeep's CB probably 100 times for every time I use my ham radio while offroading.
You can see my VHF 2 meter ham radio (top) and CB (bottom) up in post #22 above.
Keep in mind you can have the coolest latest technology but it's not a good choice if it can't communicate with what most offroaders and Jeepers use when going offroad which is CB. Which actually works very well for this kind of use.
And while it's true a CB can only transmit with 4 watts, that's enough to communicate for several miles and more than that in most conditions.
Get into a large 4x4 event without a CB and you'll wish you had one.
Depends on what your local clubs run, Jerry. AZ's largest Jeep club runs both CB and VHF. I've never had a problem.
I agree CB is probably still more common, but I don't agree that VHF/UHF is uncommon.
The world of VHF/UHF is another option for OP to consider - not the only option.