Reviving it a bit, I may try out that internet radio stuff, but really, in a real pinch it won't be reliable.
The Joplin tornado took out cell towers, repeaters were down, city police and fire comms were out, we had some County comms, SHP and some road maintenance radios, that's it! Local (area CBer's were trying to get a net, I-44 truckers were busting in, mostly it was unorganized chaos on 11 meters. Police had to try and run simplex, unit to unit and the Red Cross doesn't have the trunked encrypted police-fire comms to relay anything. I ran my Icom 706 on 10-20-40 meters out of my F-150 as a Red Cross volunteer.
Think to consider about emergency comms is the antenna required, you can get a good multi-band radio, 100 watts out and have reliable comms but, your operating frequency depends on the antenna you're using. Higher frequencies like 70CM, 2 and 6 meters use shorter whip style antennas or small directional types, the lower you go in the frequency bands, the bigger your antenna has to be on your base station. Unless you like having your vehicle look like a high school science project, hang with 10 meters and higher I'd suggest, and radios are cheaper too.
I'd strongly suggest new operators getting into UHF/VHF and HF try to find an Icom 706 multi-band radio, one of the very best, if not the best, ever made, solid, reliable, simple to use, built like a tank, small enough to carry easily, put out 100 watts and is full coverage (AM/FM/CW/SSB/MARS modified are usually found. The best one is the 706 II "G" model which adds UHF 440/70 CM band, they all cover 2 Meters down through 160 Meters.
Research the antenna you'll need to operate before you buy a HAM rig, the test is easy! 73's
