Fascinating and informative post and I'm looking ahead to future posts.
We are located near the Petrified Forest in the high desert of Arizona. Our local community group has been discussing emergency communications for about a year. A couple of knowledgeable speakers came and shared their advice. Both recommended Baofang radios because they are cheap and effective in our mountainous terrain. Plus these gentlemen have all the emergency frequencies and includes the local scanner frequencies which can be downloaded from their laptops, saving time and the programming learning curve.
We will be interested in your thoughts on the Baofang. Thank you.