$800 is about what I did maybe a bit more. I did a mobile yaesu ft891 a grv5 and a mfj 941. For all the same reasons. price and functionality. I have about a dozen UV5r handhelds and created my channel list in chirp. So everyone has direct connections, repeaters and fmrs. Noaa. Ear pieces and whip is antennas spare batteries if you can,,. I collected comms for a while. I use them as job comms for work, most of my guys have technicians licences. I. also bought a TYT 8900 which is a cross band repeater quad band 70cm, 2m, 6m, 10m. And use this for a local around the house base station for my handhelds. This uses an antenna switch for a yagi. and an omni. I'd say antennas and location matters most. I was really heavy Into it, got it setup and working and then moved on. Using solar panels and 12v agm batteries for a power supply is good because it's always powered even when the grid goes down. Read up on antennas and how to tune them, you can make a simple wire antenna and string it through some trees if you know how to tune it. in fact just talking about it makes me want to get back at it again. Good luck, Beans bullets and band aids.