Midland's entry into ham radio

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Plasmajab

Rank IV

Off-Road Ranger I

937
Quinte West, Ontario, Canada
First Name
Ian
Last Name
Howard
Ham/GMRS Callsign
VA3IRA
Im guessing about the form factor, but if its that small, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. That would fit perfect in my rig.

As far as the company. I havent had any issues with any of thier CB's. Hopefully this adventure is just as good!
 
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TerryD

Rank VI
Launch Member

Member III

3,402
Covington, Virginia, USA
First Name
Terry
Last Name
R
Member #

3710

Ham/GMRS Callsign
KT4OZ
I personally won't buy a mobile that doesn't have a squelch knob. It's too handy to be able to quickly open squelch to listen for weak signals or crank it up when you're around a leaky transformer or some other kind of noise.
 
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Prerunner1982

Local Expert, Oklahoma USA
Launch Member
Member

Member III

3,372
Navina, Oklahoma
First Name
Jon
Last Name
B
Member #

16274

I mostly agree Terry, though my FTM-3100 (no squelch knob) has worked fine for my APRS I generally like a squelch knob as well.
For a new ham though looking to get started for cheap if they could get a dual band mobile for $83 (if the 25% off applies) that might be a good start.
 

Kent R

OB Executive Director
Staff member
Mod Team
Moderator
Member

Pathfinder III

5,200
El Dorado, Ca
First Name
Kent
Last Name
Reynolds
Member #

1632

Ham/GMRS Callsign
K6KNT
Service Branch
Retired Firefighter
I like it! I would say one drawback I see is the 25w max power. This is perfect in my mind for the new ham.
 

TreXTerra

Rank V
Launch Member

Advocate II

2,779
Salt Lake City, Utah
Member #

1028

That is a good looking set, way nicer interface than my older ICOM. At that price it will be a serious contender for entry hams.

EDIT: the link seems to be broken and I can't find the radio on the Midland page.
 
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jeep670

Rank IV

Pathfinder I

Looks like Midland has jumped into the ham radio market with their copy of the AnyTone AT-778uv for $109.99
If their normal 25% off holiday discounts apply to this radio as well that might be a pretty nice deal.

https://midlandusa.com/product/dbr2500-dual-band-two-way-radio/View attachment 78183
Wow! You don't see every day a well known company copying a Chinese product. I guess it's made by Anytone and rebranded. Nonetheless it looks like a great beginner radio especially for that price!
 

TerryD

Rank VI
Launch Member

Member III

3,402
Covington, Virginia, USA
First Name
Terry
Last Name
R
Member #

3710

Ham/GMRS Callsign
KT4OZ
I know there's been some litigation involving these cheaper Chinese radios and I wonder if they didn't realize that this radio falls into that category. The Baofengs, Pofungs, and similar are all under fire from the FCC right now.
 
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Prerunner1982

Local Expert, Oklahoma USA
Launch Member
Member

Member III

3,372
Navina, Oklahoma
First Name
Jon
Last Name
B
Member #

16274

I know there's been some litigation involving these cheaper Chinese radios and I wonder if they didn't realize that this radio falls into that category. The Baofengs, Pofungs, and similar are all under fire from the FCC right now.
Their specs said it would only transmit within the ham frequencies so I don't think that was an issue.
 
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TreXTerra

Rank V
Launch Member

Advocate II

2,779
Salt Lake City, Utah
Member #

1028

I think the make-or-break for this one is going to be the interface and the documentation. My Baofeng is horrible to navigate around and the documentation is entirely user-generated. To do much of anything requires about an hour on Google reading various forum posts.
 
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Kent R

OB Executive Director
Staff member
Mod Team
Moderator
Member

Pathfinder III

5,200
El Dorado, Ca
First Name
Kent
Last Name
Reynolds
Member #

1632

Ham/GMRS Callsign
K6KNT
Service Branch
Retired Firefighter
would you say this would be a good entry radio or first starter for a newbie HAM user?
Not a bad little radio, but depending on where you are in NorCal it might not be enough power. Two examples;
* We went had a guy stuck on Fordyce trail at night off of Hwy 80 two years ago, to rigs went in to take the parts he needed one about 30 minus ahead of the other. We started on medium power around 25 watts and ended up at 50 w simplex due to terrain.
* On our adopted trail in the El Dorado NF we typically use the local repeater so power is not really a problem, but we have had one incident were we could not talk on simplex to a member at the bottom of the trail when we got to the top mainly because the member at the bottom did not have the repeater ch and could not transmit at high power.

So depending on what you are going to use it for it just might be a great entry level radio. It certainly is a great price.
 
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