[transcriptase]

With all due respect… you’re wrong in the case of the vast majority of regions in North America that don’t have large city/municipal budgets and are mainly staffed by volunteers.

In my area SAR and even fire departments actively communicate with various amateur radio groups. While quite a few public services such as paramedics, police, fire, etc are using newer trunked/digital technology, they’re keeping analog VHF/UHF systems adjacent to amateur bands as a fall back. In the case of rural volunteer services they have nowhere near the expertise or hardware capability of an even half serious ham, and many in the scene are former military comms guys who love to help out.

It’s very rare that you’ll call on the 60 year old ham with his $25,000 station capable of using a rotating directional beam antenna to put out 1000 watts to relay a message to a team of emergency services who aren’t responding, but when you do and it saves a life you tend to see it as an advantage and not some guy waiting for an excuse to use his cool toy.

Edit: and I’m not sure where the FRS mentions are relevant since it’s pretty far from being anything hams or emergency services would go near. Type certified radios with intentionally regulation-nerfed antennas and max 2 watt output are the definition of toys, and as a result only reach their advertised range under perfect conditions on the salt flats.