For those of you who posted replies to my walkie talkie question - Thank You. They were extremely helpful! But now that I'm a little more educated on the matter I have one more question:

Is it worth it to get the GMRS license, or will the FRS signal work just fine up there with a decent two-way radio (ie. Midland gxt1000)?

IT SHOULD BE NOTED: We are going in as two groups with two different permits and for the sake of etiquette, we are going to stagger our entry times as two groups to avoid potential bottle-necking at the portage areas, so there may be times we need to communicate a good mile(+) apart with trees in our direct path to one another.

Google works
Even for an ossified (second generally applied definition), geezer like me.
"Any radio using the shared FRS/GMRS frequencies that is able to transmit above 2 Watts of power was reclassified as GMRS only after the recent FCC Changes in September 2017."

butthead

PointMe2Polaris: "For those of you who posted replies to my walkie talkie question - Thank You. They were extremely helpful! But now that I'm a little more educated on the matter I have one more question:

Is it worth it to get the GMRS license, or will the FRS signal work just fine up there with a decent two-way radio (ie. Midland gxt1000)? "

It recently changed from a 5 year to 10 year license for $70. At $7 a year I think it is worth supporting and being legal. GMRS far exceeds FRS.

Technically you need a license to use the channels above 14 as I remember.

No where in the outside packaging on my Motorola T5000 did it say I needed a license. All I read was this radio broadcasts up to 8 miles. I said to myself, wow they must have really improved the technology in these radios. So I bought it and took it home then I read in the inside package that I needed a license. False advertisement in my opinion.

If I was going to be using them in a urban area or on open big coastal water I would get the license. But I’m only using them maybe an hour a year in the woods where the signal can only travel 8 miles. There is no way another person up there would have the same frequency tuned as I would in that 8 mile range. And remember 8 miles is in the best atmospheric conditions on flat land with nothing in the way. So taking that into consideration you are back realistically to about 2 miles. So again there is no way you could possibly interfere with anything. You broadcasting is limited to line of sight. So if you are on most lakes up there you need nothing in the way of you when on the water. The higher the better for reception.

My brother is a state president of the ham radio association. I asked him this question because I too wanted to do the right thing. He said with my use don’t bother getting a license. I found this when I ask this question online...As for GMRS, yes, a license is required.
The chances of getting caught are slim to none. The FCC is way to understaffed to care about GMRS. It's very rare that any enforcement actions are carried out regarding unlicensed GMRS use.

So to catch anyone using the frequency they would have to have sophisticated technology to catch you in a mobile unit with a giant antenna to locate you. The chance of that happening is less than zero in the BWCA.

To make clear of what I said you need to get a licence to be legal if you plan on using Channels above 14. If you want to support the system then great. I only use my radios a few minutes in the woods every so often so I didn’t get the license.

In most parts of the world, you DO need a license to use a GMRS radio. FCC mainly requires you to have a GMRS license. Consumers must have an active and valid license before using GMRS radio. I have one as well, and it took my $70 for a few years’ tenures(10). You can get it too, and the steps are pretty simple! GMRS Radios

So you're never going to get great two way radio signals, anywhere, with any device without an amplifier on a high point where you're trekking. And even then we're not talking signal strengths over a mile in the BWCA which is barely to the next campsite down the lake in most situations. Wanna talk to someone the next lake over? Not happening, trees and hills in the way will kill your signal.

If you're talking about spending money to have communications in the wilderness there's only 1 way that makes sense.....

Buy a Garmin GPS Map 66i. Something you can type a text with, and text via InREACH (Iridium Satellite Network) which has service on every above-ground-inch on the planet. Service for a month is 25 bucks. Cancel at any time with no fees. Text each other wherever you are, if they haven't entered the BW yet, text their cell phone, if they're in, text their GPS. You can also use a text to ping the network, which will send you weather data to your GPS that breaks down hour by hour and includes all weather info you can want, surprisingly accurate too. My group always knows exactly what weather is coming.

When you text someone's phone it sends them your message and a small link that shows the person you texted your exact GPS location via a map and coordinates. My buddy has one, one trip I went in on a Tuesday, and my buddy wasn't coming in until Thursday with the rest of the group, I secured a sight, texted him which also shows where I am, he knows exactly what site I'm on....I'm sleeping in, in my tent as he's driving to Ely and paddling leisurely and nonchalantly because he knows what site I have, and that the site was just waiting for him to show up. While we were there we had perfect peace of mind splitting up and doing our own thing, because we could text each other. I'd be farting around over here, he was over there, we'd catch a fish, I'd text his canoe, he'd come over, catch fish with us. It's a level of wilderness convenience that is undeniably worth it.

Not to mention....my maps are freaking useless now. The Garmin GPS maps come pre packed with campsite locations and portage locations for the BWCA which I was surprised to see. I download birds eye photos of my target area pre trip which help fishing TREMENDOUSLY, and yea, lets not even get into how amazing it is to have a nice GPS. The communication aspect of it is the best that you're going to get. Text anyone, literally from anywhere, any time, it just takes like 5 minutes for it to get picked up by an overhead satellite. I kinda like the delay in sending/response time, reminds me I'm using a GPS and not a phone. Not as easy as a signal tower picking it up, I have to wait for a satellite that's flying 17,000 mph (I just fact checked that lol) around the earth to fly over my head and scoop up my text.