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LOL. I catch your drift. I may give them another try.

It is an HT, I doubt there are components in there that I could service with my 62-year-old eyes. Recent capacitor replacements on much larger devices required enhanced illumination and magnification (for me).

Not the radio battery but perhaps a small battery or super cap installed on the pc board whose only purpose is to support the chip that stores settings. But I agree; the failure you’re talking about would destroy your confidence in Wouxun.

We have our 70cm repeater antennas and GMRS repeater antennas on the same tower. The 70cm antennas are higher but the actual range is the same for both GMRS and 70CM. We get between a 30-35 mile coverage radius with the usual dead spots due to local terrain. Our 2m repeater antennas are at the same height as our 70cm antennas and we get a 80-85 mile coverage radius with it. Those ranges are all with using 50 watt mobile radios and good mobile antennas with the proper ground plane. And before "some people" state how they get 200 + miles with their GMRS radios, they live in the most perfect ideal location across wide open and flat desert terrain. Real world range will be anywhere from 15 miles to 50 miles depending on what part of the country you lie in and what the local terrain is like.

I have two KG-1000G radios along with one KG-XS20G. I have not had any issues with all three radios. The XS20G is a very nice 20 watt radio and easy to program through the radio or with a computer. Actual output power ranges from 18 watts to 25 watts. It also has the same screen and menu setup as the KG-935G hand held radio. The plus of the KG-1000G is that it is 50 watts and has a removable faceplate. That makes it nice when space is limited like in most new vehicles. It costs close to the same as the Midland MTX500 and MTX575. I have used all three and prefer the KG-1000G. A lot of people are happy with the Radioddity DB-20G. SO that is another option for you.

Overall, on average, usually, most of the time, statistically, Wouxun makes the best quality radios (that's why they cost more) - but no matter what brand you buy (of anything, not just radios), you always risk getting a dud. Might I suggest the Wouxun XS20G - i think it does everything you want, its small and costs less than the 1000g+ ... that said, I know of hundreds, if not thousands of people with 1000G radios that are very happy with them.

Thanks, but I replaced the battery with no success. It will sometimes retain the programming for a few minutes or an hour when turned off, but will eventually revert to the factory program with Chinese voice prompts. Displays only CH01, CH02, CH03, etc. All repeater and other programming is lost. I was just keeping it turned on in the charging stand when not in use, but it became a hassle and I finally just put it back in the box. This is why I hesitate on buying another Wouxun.

I have set up sort of an network in my neighborhood. Now mind you geographically it's an area of about 4 blocks north to south and 6 blocks east to west. Not a large area. In addition it is a long established neighborhood with a lot of older residents who have been here for decades. It's a mix of Los Angeles City and unincorporated Los Angeles County. Jurisdictional issues are fairly frequent with both agencies at times saying it wasn't their area. Sadly, typical for SoCal today. This was motivated by a home invasion not long ago. The mother and child were home alone in the evening. It took the LAPD over an hour to respond. She did get a hold of a neighbor a few doors down after about 10 minutes on 911 hold. By then the invaders had left. The idea is simple. Folks have GMRS handhelds. We have a dedicated frequency. There are a lot of retired folks who can monitor the frequency. There currently isn't any established roster of who and when. But turns out there are more than enough to have it covered 24/7. Had our neighbor just called on a radio there could have had several "experienced" guys there in a minute or two at most. Most folks who are on the network have bought their own HT's. For others several of us have donated HT's. Obviously not everyone is onboard. You still have folks who insist that the police can protect them. This with clear evidence to the contrary. Now there is nothing on paper. No one has a list of folks or anything else. But it has already proven useful in several "property" crimes. Just neighbors helping neighbors. A lot like it was when I was growing up. Back then a kid got banged up (happened frequently when we used to "play" outside) you could go to any house and the adult there in would take care of you. Today that rarely happens due to fear of litigation.

I’m the worst at thread-creep, but this sounds more like the battery or capacitor than a chip failure. In a computer it would be like the battery for the real time clock.

Thanks. And I am your favorite subscriber, because you told me so LOL. This Midland has been very reliable for 4 or 5 years now, but is limited to only the 4 repeater pairs, without the ability to add any additional repeaters. Also, it cannot receive vhf frequencies to be able to be used as a public safety scanner. The inability to set split tones from the radio is also a liability, especially since this radio (and apparently, the programing cable) have been discontinued by Midland. I have no idea why the radio suddenly lost the split tone. I hadn't changed anything. I have a Radioditty (can't spell that) DB25G in my car and it also has quirks. Such as the tendency to drop the receive in the middle of a transmission and add a long, loud squelch tail, even though the "Squelch Tail Eliminator" is turned on. I have been looking at the Wouxun KG100G, but have some concerns as I have a Wouxun KG805G HT that lost the ability to retain the programming whenever it is turned off. I contacted BTWR.com and they said it sounds like the chip that retains the programming has gone bad. Unfortunately, out of warranty. So...I don't know. I need to have reliable base communication and the ability to add multiple repeaters on the same frequency since I live in Nowhere, Nor Cal. VHF scanning capability would be a plus as well. I do have battery backup and a decent generator. Landline, internet and cell service pretty much suck here. NOAA weather radio is pretty much useless, as there is virtually no reception from any of the "local" NOAA stations here.

Ignore anyone trying to talk you into spending more money IF your current radio does what you want... and if you decide that you have grown weary of the limitations on your current radio, you will never actually get a helpful answer from that particular rheet-hard - he only knows how to type negative things and never anything that is actually helpful. You may as well put him on your block-list like everyone else does.. that way you don't have to see his stupidity and overt-acts of utter social retardation until he makes a new account and starts over.. again.. with a different name.. So IF you have decided that you want a GMRS radio without all the limitations of your Midland, there are many manufacturers to choose from like Wouxun, BTech, Radioddity (and more) - but which one is "best" depends on what it is you are looking for/want/need, so let us know what is important to you/what you are looking for in a GMRS radio and we can make some suggestions ..

Law Enforcement Radio Network = LERN, or LEARN. It's a group of networked GMRS repeaters throughout New Jersey. They reach into southeastern PA, DE, & NYC. You're supposed to be Law Enforcement to use the system. Not sure if it's still linked. I rarely heard anyone on it when I used to monitor GMRS in the area. /off topic

Any suggestions? This Midland has serious limitations.

Sounds like a great time to get a good radio. Sell the midland to some other sucker and buy a couple good radios that have aftermarket support.

"I’ve never once had to had an upgrade to firmware offered on any radio ever. Fixed it for you. At least Midland put out upgrades.

When you create your next account, you should change your name to AntiSocialgmrs.

Does anyone know where to find one? Midland is out of stock and so is everyone else. My radio recently had an issue where it lost the split tone on a repeater I regularly use and It couldn't be fixed from the radio menu. I tried a couple of 3rd-party cables with no success. I even tried rewiring those cables and wasted a bunch of RJ-45 connectors with no joy. I borrowed a Midland cable and fixed the issue in two minutes, but had to return the cable to its owner. I have another 3rd-party cable on the way, but am not optimistic. Ideas?

Learned Elmers Are Really NIce - he was describing you amd MarcSpaz Steve!

Skywave propagation is a trip. Just messing around with WSPR, the sweet spot for me, in terms of signal strength is roughly between 800-1500km. Anything farther away gets weaker with distance, anything closer just passes right overhead. Of course, there are tons of variables here, and I'm working QRP, too.

Simplex Or transmitting into a repeater is exactly the same. Some research into bands and vhf and uhf is in order however lower frequencies like the 150s where murs is goes further if all other things are equal. I know a 2w Murs HT goes about 2Xs as far as a 5w gmrs HT.

HTs on the amateur bands are basically limited to VHF (6m, 2m, 1.25m) and UHF (70cm), so not really any different than GMRS (UHF). Mode (FM) and power levels are basically the same as well. It basically comes down to the things you already mentioned, like terrain, as well as antennas, availability of repeaters, etc. In my area there are a handful of GMRS repeaters, but there is at least one ham repeater in almost every city in my county alone. YMMV

Amateur radio spans almost the entirety of the RF spectrum, and LW, MW, and HF propagation are vastly different from VHF, UHF, and other much higher frequency band propagation. GMRS uses 65cm, which is very close to amateur 70cm. For those, propagation will be virtually identical; UHF 70cm and UHF 65cm GMRS will be identical. GMRS doesn't extend into VHF. Amateur radio has bands in 2m and 6m that can be described as VHF. VHF requires bigger antennas than UHF for similar gain characteristics. VHF suffers less from attenuation by foliage. But UHF is a little better at getting through walls. Both are "line of sight." Amateur offers 10m (a lot like CB propagation -- pretty long range during periods of high sunspot activity, line of sight at other times). Amateur offers 20m, 40m, 80m, 160m. These are the bands people use to talk all over the world, but they're subject to seasonal changes, day/night changes, sunspot activity, and so on. They achieve these long distances by bouncing the radio waves off the ionosphere -- layers in our atmosphere. Requires knowledge and good technique for knowing when to use which band. Very large antennas are common, and high power levels. Not entirely reliable. You're probably asking about 2m/70cm amateur vs GMRS. And again, there, 70cm vs GMRS there's no practical propagation difference. 2m vs GMRS there can be some advantages to 2m if you have comparable gain antennas, which will be bigger. But the advantages are subtle. The fine print: I skipped over the following amateur bands: 1.25m, which is less used, but close in propagation to 2m. I skipped 900MHz and GHz bands because they're uncommon for simplex over any distance. And I skipped LW/MW, as well as 17m, 15m, and 12m amateur. 17,15,12 are going to share characteristics of 10m and 20m, but are less common bands. LW and MW require much larger equipment and are relatively niche bands. 160m is pretty close to MW though. I also skipped over MURS, because its power requirements are more limited, despite propagation being similar to 2m. 30m is useful in the same way that 20 and 40m are useful, but less common. And 60m is relatively niche. I skipped CB because at 11m, its propagation is similar to 10m, but it's a dumpster fire of crazy traffic. However, people do use CB. It's limited to 4w for AM transmissions, and 12w for SSB transmissions.

As others have said, ham UHF vs GMRS, you won't notice a difference with HTs. VHF high (2m) will get a bit further under normal conditions. VHF low (6m, 50MHz) gets to the point that an adequate antenna is the issue for HTs. It will act the same as 2m without atmospheric propagation helping, but when propagation is open, there are thousands of stories of talking across the USA on only 5w.

High Frequency (HF) amateur bands have the greatest range, but propagation can vary. Yesterday I was easily able to talk to a ham many hundreds of miles away (Butte, MT to Chelan, WA), but at the same time I could not hear a ham who was thirty miles away in Anaconda, MT because our signals were passing over each other’s heads. GMRS has no range advantage over amateur UHF. Neither does amateur UHF have a range advantage over GMRS. Their ranges are practically identical. But, there are many times more amateur repeaters than there are GMRS repeaters and unlike GMRS the amateur repeaters may be linked together in networks. On Saturday I used my 70 cm handheld and talked to a repeater 30-40 miles away which was linked to a worldwide net at the time.

If I could find someone about 5 miles north of my location willing to host a repeater site, I could likely scrape up the cash to get it done. I don't think it would meet the goal if I did it where I am. These are small, rural communities in a low-income area. One has about 2,500 residents and the other (where I am) has about 350.