For years I ran a Cobra 75 because thats what everyone else had. Last year I went and got my ham license and will not CB anymore. Just got back from camping at Rubicon Springs and out of 7 rigs 3 of us had CBs. I told the rest of the group to invest in some FRS/GMRS radios. I had 3 older Motorola Talkabout radios that I passed out to those who didn't have any comms and then used my Anyone 878 to communicate. I also programmed in all the repeater frequencies in Tahoe, El Dorado and Rubicon as a means of communicating if we had an emergency. The FRS channels worked much better than CB channels the only reason I don't get rid of my CB at this point is because I am not hurting for room in the Jeep.
In summary while most people use CB its simply because they don't want to put the time, effort or money in learning about ham radios. Rugged Radios are NOT what I consider a ham radio, in fact I would highly recommend against Rugged as they have frequencies programmed that are licensed and that does not give any of us the right to use them. Do a little research and you'll see what I am talking about. I would highly recommend you buy a FCC Part 90 certified ham radio. If you get your license great you have free range and can communicate in both simplex (line of sight) or duplex via repeaters (in other words you can talk to someone in Lake Tahoe while you are sipping a beverage at Rubicon Springs). If you don't get your ham license you can still get your GMRS license (no test required) to use those channels and you can also use all the FRS (Family Radio Service) channels.
