Not to mention, that 16 mile range is probably optimal performance in a large flat area, not inside a building with reinforced concrete in between you and your buddies. I'm not naysaying, just a little heads before you lose your buddies anyway. I'd personally do a little recon first; go to a largish city (think skyscrapers), walk about two blocks away from a friend, pop into a Starbucks or something, and try to raise your buddy on the radio. If it works, I'd say good enough and cannibalize the osik out of that radio. If it works, I'm just guessing you'll hear a lot of voices on your channel, not just the people you know. I know for a fact that in Atlanta, Georgia (especially where they had DragonCon this year) cell reception was almost unheard of. Not sure if it was the amount of people that were surely clogging the towers, or if it was the construction of the hotels/convention centers it was in. At a guess, probably a little of both. (FYI, cell phones are essentially very phancy radios with unique channels. If a phone is struggling with reception, I would assume a cheapish commercial radio would as well.)
As for the setup, why not have all the settings on your guants? It would add a cool looking comms setup, and your greebs would actually do things!