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I think they've stopped issuing GMRS for commercial applications
That's me, grandfathered, GMRS system license, includes base, mobile, portable, and repeater.Correct. They are "Family" Licenses now. Old ones are Grandfathered, so there are some users out there, but new ones are only for family use. I can hand my GMRS radios to the kids and let them go have fun, but if my neighbor and I wanted to use them on a fishing trip (you know, to keep track of the guns that fall out of the boat) that would be in violation.
I just realized... I have more FCC licenses in my name now than I do gun licenses. I need to correct that.
I'm a ham, but no expert on your type of needs, but this sounds like very good advice.Depending on how long you'll be on the job site, consider renting radios on a commercial system, such as the MotoTurbo system run by All comm Technologies of Revere. Simplex radios will always have range and obstruction issues, and you probably aren't interested in the expense and hassle of setting up your own infrastructure based system.
I'm a ham, but no expert on your type of needs, but this sounds like very good advice.
The only way to ensure non-line of sight comms is to, well, have line of sight buy using a repeater high up on a building. Your antenna can see it up there, and it rebroadcasts your signal back down all around itself with a lot of power. I really doubt simplex (radio to radio without a repeater) can do what you need. I suspect what RKG is saying is there are commercial repeaters (infrastructure) around the city you can use for a fee.
Using the ham repeaters and my little 5W Baofeng UV-5R hand held I can reliably talk to people 10-30 miles away, depending on the repeater height and location.