No--they really don't, at least in my area

No-in my area they don't get through. I wish they did. I am an ICU nurse, so I really rely on my pager and cell phone. Actually, I am stuck carrying two pagers sometimes. Of course, we don't use CW! HIHI! I really should get a two metre rig again, just for emergency ops. Of course, I am NOT talking about the autopatch, as the line to IT is also useless. I guess that they can't figure for everything that could go wrong. Definately give me point-to-point 2 metres in a disaster. Instructions can be conveyed quickly. There's always a 12 volt vehicle that can be used to power it, you could set up a radio-shack-special simplex repeater up on a hill, even to a wrecked, non-moving car, and be on the air for days on end. Little antennas, etc. and lets not forget for FM, static-free..