New Midland MXT275 (GMRS Mobile)

[Kent R]

Kent

I fully understand, and did not mean to take this thread off-track.
I know what you mean about the other radios on the market that are not FCC compliant.
I suspect that in the near future, the FCC will completely remove the license requirements on the GMRS radios, just like they did on the CB radio license requirement years ago.

I like what those on the Rubicon have done with teaching the ham class and everything for comms on the trail.

Finding a better radio than a CB for communication is the end goal.

We have probably met while I was in Cali and doing work with FOTR a few years ago. :)

Todd

I totally agree with the lic req probably going away but for now we are stuck with them and for the lay person who is just getting into the sport GMRS is the easiest way to go mainly because they don't want to commit the time or energy to get the Ham lic.
We just went on a run in NV on Saturday and 1/2 of the 19 rigs only had CB and the rest ham so I did the relay for the CB people and every chance I got I made sure they knew the limitations of them.
And you didn't take the thread off-track they all take on a life of their own. The more we talk about it the more people will understand why we need to go to a better platform.

 

[aearles]

For the record, I have no issues with people personally using non type-accepted hardware on FRS/GMRS with a reasonable attempt to follow the intent of the rules... I'm not trying to be a license nazi.

My issue is with Rugged Radios selling overpriced Baofeng junk and intentionally not informing their customers of the licensing requirements while pre-programming their radios with licensed frequencies and hiding that list from the public.

GMRS licensing requirements may go away completely at some point, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon, considering they JUST updated the rules last year and decided to still require one. I seriously doubt amateur licensing will go away, unless the FCC takes it away altogether to sell the spectrum, the ARRL proposed rule changes allowing technicians to get on HF and all the old hams lost their minds.

 

[Kent R]

For the record, I have no issues with people personally using non type-accepted hardware on FRS/GMRS with a reasonable attempt to follow the intent of the rules... I'm not trying to be a license nazi.

My issue is with Rugged Radios selling overpriced Baofeng junk and intentionally not informing their customers of the licensing requirements while pre-programming their radios with licensed frequencies and hiding that list from the public.

GMRS licensing requirements may go away completely at some point, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon, considering they JUST updated the rules last year and decided to still require one. I seriously doubt amateur licensing will go away, unless the FCC takes it away altogether to sell the spectrum, the ARRL proposed rule changes allowing technicians to get on HF and all the old hams lost their minds.

I was trying to be politicly correct about he brand of the radio. Thanks for you candor it goes back to the post I made about these radios last year.

 

[uss]

For the record, I have no issues with people personally using non type-accepted hardware on FRS/GMRS with a reasonable attempt to follow the intent of the rules... I'm not trying to be a license nazi.

My issue is with Rugged Radios selling overpriced Baofeng junk and intentionally not informing their customers of the licensing requirements while pre-programming their radios with licensed frequencies and hiding that list from the public.

GMRS licensing requirements may go away completely at some point, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon, considering they JUST updated the rules last year and decided to still require one. I seriously doubt amateur licensing will go away, unless the FCC takes it away altogether to sell the spectrum, the ARRL proposed rule changes allowing technicians to get on HF and all the old hams lost their minds.

I understand your concern.
I have met Greg the owner, and have talked to him about them and the other guys selling these radios to the general public with no information about the licensing requirements.
Their market started out to racers, and then evolved into the SxS market, and then the 4x4 guys found them also. Mostly because many of the racers have these types of vehicles, and they brought their radios over.

They do have the list of pre-programmed frequencies listed on their site.

Even though I am not licensed, I try to follow the intent of the law though.
I think it is an opportunity here to help educate folks on the licensing requirements of the different types of radios.
It might be here already, and I have not had the time to go look.
If it is, then I apologize now.

Todd

 

[aearles]

They do have the list of pre-programmed frequencies listed on their site.

 

[uss]

They use to be open.
This is what I have on my computer and freq cards that I carry.
Rugged is channels 1 - 57.
Everything else is what my old club programmed into them.
You can see that we loaded some law enforcement stuff and the Forest Service stuff for when we worked with them.
They liked that we got these radios, then they could talk to us without having to try and check out their radios.
I understand your point and concern.



Thanks

Todd

 

[Graeman]

I totally agree with the lic req probably going away but for now we are stuck with them and for the lay person who is just getting into the sport GMRS is the easiest way to go mainly because they don't want to commit the time or energy to get the Ham lic.
We just went on a run in NV on Saturday and 1/2 of the 19 rigs only had CB and the rest ham so I did the relay for the CB people and every chance I got I made sure they knew the limitations of them.
And you didn't take the thread off-track they all take on a life of their own. The more we talk about it the more people will understand why we need to go to a better platform.

I just installed my Uniden 980 AM/SSB radio and after reading your comment did any of the 4 wheelers have SSB and how does it perform? Seeing as it has 3 times the wattage of a standard CB radio to communicate on and with a good 102" whip antenna I would guess that it competes very well with a GMRS radio. Would this be a good assumption?

 

[Kent R]

I just installed my Uniden 980 AM/SSB radio and after reading your comment did any of the 4 wheelers have SSB and how does it perform? Seeing as it has 3 times the wattage of a standard CB radio to communicate on and with a good 102" whip antenna I would guess that it competes very well with a GMRS radio. Would this be a good assumption?

No non of the rigs we had on the run used SSB and we haven't had any in a couple of years, yes more watts but still CB.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Per a post by Midland on another forum they are hoping the MXT275 will be out by the end of June.

 

[Kent R]

Per a post by Midland on another forum they are hoping the MXT275 will be out by the end of June.

Thanks for the info. I don't like the idea of another radio in the vehicle but the ease of use for a dedicated GMRS radio is awesome. Just dial it in and there you go! great for the non ham or non tech person.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Current 20% off code: Dad20

Still no MXT275 available.

 

[mylilpwny]

I just installed my Uniden 980 AM/SSB radio and after reading your comment did any of the 4 wheelers have SSB and how does it perform? Seeing as it has 3 times the wattage of a standard CB radio to communicate on and with a good 102" whip antenna I would guess that it competes very well with a GMRS radio. Would this be a good assumption?

Now that I have had my set up for a while I feel confident in my answer for this. My Midland is my first gmrs radio I have always had cb prior. I have ran many different cb radios and antennas over the years. That said my group of friends decided to make the switch to gmrs for better coms and easier installs (radios are smaller) . We have tested running our full sized cb radios all peaked and tuned (still legal tho) all have ssb with 102 whips. We then went back to the gmrs radios. We are all running the mxt115 with mag mounts( for now) on roof with the Browning 5/8 over 5/8. We found that we had much better clarity and range with the gmrs. I will say the antenna included with the radio should just be thrown out. It will work for short term as we did but upgrade as soon as possible or right away, the difference is incredible. The best part is the ability to use hand held gmrs radios for coms on foot to help with spotting. We no longer need to yell. The fact that some areas we go into have open repeaters is a great plus, even at home we have a repeater that you needed to join the club and very small fee to join and now easy coms between us at home as well. In my opinion it is well worth the upgrade and was much less than I had in my cb set up, less work involved and better experience overall, only way for better is to go to a ham license and go that route.


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[Graeman]

Awesome honest review. Thank you. I am ripping out my cb tomorrow. Lol. Well maybe after our trail run.

 

[mylilpwny]

Not a problem. I do carry a back up cb pictured just in case we are with people that only have cb. Sits under my backseat and rarely gets used.

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[danthman114]

Not a problem. I do carry a back up cb pictured just in case we are with people that only have cb. Sits under my backseat and rarely gets used. View attachment 58382

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lol I have one just like it but a friend of mine broke the antenna... I actually forgot about it until I seen this!

 

[mylilpwny]

lol I have one just like it but a friend of mine broke the antenna... I actually forgot about it until I seen this!

yeah mine is a family hand me down and it has seen some rough days. I have had to rebuild this thing so many times lol. but works great if you find yourself in a pinch and need it.

 

[Prerunner1982]

July 23rd release date per their Facebook page. They are taking pre-orders.

 

[DanW]

They are saying pre-orders actually ship on the 17th. Unfortunately, I've got to wait until next pay to order one of these up. I've already got the larger antenna, but I'm waiting for someone to come out with a fender antenna mount for the new Jeep JL Wrangler similar to the one for the JK.

 

[GatorDoc]

For those who might be interested in saving some dough, I picked up one of the older, lower powered MXT90 (5 watts) Midland GMRS radios at my local Wally-World for $25 last night. Another location nearby had several on shelf, also on clearance, so you might be able to get one of these pretty cheap right now.

I was planning to go with the MXT275 or MXT115 at a later date, but for the price I couldn't pass it up.

I have a CB, and am studying for my HAM ticket, so this is going to be a secondary or tertiary radio for me - mainly to talk to hand held FRS radios. It should be fine for what I need now, and should be an easy upgrade later on if GMRS adoption takes off in my area since it appears (based on a quick review of Midland literature) that the mounting cradle, power, antenna, and mic connectors are all the same on all of their models.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Already scoured the local Walmarts with no luck.