Recommended Brands
The brands, builders and creators we use, trust and work alongside. If it's on this page, it's been in the field with us.
M.A.D. Gear Company
Practical preparedness planning. Their Contingency Planner turns a family or team comms plan into a binder you can actually use under stress, and they're our partner for BTECH radios.
Shop on ZBM2: Contingency Planner Complete Kit · BTECH UV-PRO · BTECH GMRS-PRO · BTECH UV-50PRO
Visit madgear.shop →
Manpack Radio
Family-owned builder of complete, ready-to-use 50 W manpack systems for GMRS and ham. Each kit pairs the BTECH UV-50 Pro with a battery and antenna on their own American-made 5052 aluminum bracket, then gets assembled, configured and tested before it ships. They also offer BTECH UV-PRO handhelds fitted with ZBM2 antennas.
Visit manpackradio.com → · UV-PRO with ZBM2 antenna →
Go Ham Radio Armor
Rugged protective rails and cable routing for field radios. B2M turns the BTECH UV-50 Pro into a 2m manpack, and their armor for the Yaesu FT-891 and Xiegu G90 HF rigs protects the radio and keeps coax, power, mic and CW key cables strain-relieved and tidy. Buy the full kit or only the parts you need.
Pairs with: BTECH UV-50PRO
Visit goham.store →
Prep Comms (Caleb Nelson, K4CDN)
Family-first communications from Caleb Nelson, K4CDN: a longtime prepper and ham with 30+ years in emergency services, teaching family comms since 2014. The Prep Comms podcast, with over 1 million downloads and following his earlier Ham Radio 360 show, helps families build a real plan for when the phones go quiet: who calls first, which channel, when to check in, and what to do if nobody answers. Radios support the plan; they aren't the plan.
Prep Comms podcast → · Family Communications hub → · Watch on YouTube →
Radio Made Easy
Off-grid comms made easy: pre-programmed GMRS and ham radios, custom kits and beginner-friendly training, with no jargon and no guesswork. New to GMRS? Their walkthrough covers the whole licensing process, from creating your FCC FRN to getting your callsign. No test, one fee, and the license covers your immediate family for 10 years.
GMRS license walkthrough → · Visit radiomadeeasy.com →
Gridbase.net
Pocket is a subscription-free, off-grid information grid. It doesn't rely on satellites or cell towers and works from any device with a browser.
HXC Comms (Hardcore Comms)
Hands-on amateur radio training in Boise and the Treasure Valley, Idaho. Practical, honest communications skills built on fundamentals, repetition and peer networks, not hype or the most expensive radio. DIY over dependency, community over ego, skill over aesthetics. Their daily carry is the BTECH UV-PRO.
Shop on ZBM2: BTECH UV-PRO
Visit hxccomms.com → · @hxccomms →
HOA Ham Radio Guy
Hand-made amateur radio gear, including the HOA Antenna Relocation Cable (ARC) and the Manpack Antenna Relocation Cable (MARC). A relocation cable moves your whip off the radio and onto your pack or shoulder, which makes it a natural partner for the Foul Weather Whip.
Rokland
A Gainesville, Florida supplier with over 20 years in wireless. Rokland is a go-to source for Meshtastic and LoRa hardware from RAKwireless, LILYGO, Heltec and Elecrow, plus ALFA Network antennas, 915 MHz base antennas, coax, connectors and batteries. A good place to source the base-station side of a mesh build.
Ham Radio 2.0
Jason, KC5HWB, licensed since 1994, covers off-grid communications: ham radio, Meshtastic and MeshCore, GMRS, digital modes, satellite and POTA. Honest, real-world gear reviews that separate what's useful from what's hype, with new videos twice a week and a live show every Sunday.
Hobby Steve
Steve, KJ5MQE, started on GMRS in 2024 and got his ham license in 2025, and his whole channel is about getting new operators on the air on a budget. He covers Meshtastic and MeshCore, ham radio, Morse code and FPV, with gear he's actually used on the bench and in the field. His Manpack Build pairs the BTECH UV-50PRO with a ZBM2 whip.