I have a Uniden with a four foot antenna. It's hooked in with my GPS and shows my lat and long. Push the red button and it transmits a distress call with co-oridnates. The weather channels is the main thing. It really saved me some grief in South Dakota at lake Oahe when the weather warnings came up and I was 12 miles from the boat ramp. I was transmitting and recieving from six to eight miles. Not much use in Iowa but very helpful on the big water.
fatrap