They only work very well if they are setup correctly. I have an ICOM in my truck and a small handheld for my quad. I had a radio person walk me through proper antenna tuning and it works really good - I can easly hear weatherman to my house from both north and south. Dont buy into the big long antenna BS - My antenna is 16" with the proper mounting and blows away the guys with whips flapping around without the proper mounting. Also with the correct setup you can achive better results with 5w then a guy with a poor setup @ 50w. I have the frequencys if needed - they are usually assigned by PCI for racing, but the BLM has a frequency also if you need it. If you have the ICOM they are also easily programmed with the software/cable...