GMRS via a repeater or w/ a pair of directional antenna's may work well, but
be aware you will need an FCC GMRS license (and your friend will also,
unless he is family, as defined in the FCC GMRS rules). The license is $75
and is good for 5 years IIRC. GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) is very
similar to unlicensed FRS (Family Radio...), but you have more channels than
FRS, share some w/ FRS, are allowed to use alternate antennas on the radio,
antennas w/ gain, repeaters and can use more RF power. Both FRS and GMRS are
in the UHF band (462 MHz).

The other option to look at is amateur "ham" radio. Here yopu and your
friend will each need an amateur radiio license (Technician class is enough,
$12 (or soon $14/$15?) multiple choice test, no morse code test (for the
Tech class lic.) and is good for 10 yrs. Here you'd likely use a "2 meter"
(146 MHz VHF) or perhaps "70cm" (445MHz UHF) radio, either with an external
antenna or an antenna on the radio.In populated areas repeaters are common,
perhaps more common than GMRS repeaters, or you can talk directly, as w/
GMRS. The two, GMRS and ham should be similar in performance. Look at both,
see which makes the most sense for you.

See also: http://www.popularwireless.com/ for more on GMRS in particular and
FRS/CB/amateur/etc. in general. Another option might be MURS (a VHF radio
system, fairly new) but I am not up on the FCC rules and the equipment is
not yet common I believe.

For you the only downside to GMRS I see is license cost. OTOH you can also
talk to anyone nearby w/ a FRS radio, might be handy.

For Ham radio look for the book "Now you're Talking" at RadioShack or other,
the Tech test (35 multiple choise questions, 28 to pass) is not very hard,
and if you like to tinker a bit too amateur radio can be a lot of fun.

wrote in message
oups.com...
thanks for the reply fred - i'll keep investigating. GMRS looks like
the way to go