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While I’ll file all of that under “useful and cool info” you didn’t need to explain yourself to the guy, he’s just being “that guy”, maybe because he needs attention. I’m looking forward to learning about the radio you just tested. I would love a KG1000g with dimmable display too. [emoji16]

Sounds like a ton of fun. I'm jealous. You'll do fine with GMRS radios of any measure on your property. If my mental image of your agricultural property reflects reality it's going to be no problem for a kit of straightforward HTs doing simplex. Maybe all choose an agreed upon frequency and a tone as a family, just to sort of have "a private channel". If you want to get a repeater up to get off of the farm and into town, just do that Retevis thing and make yourself a nice mast up high somewhere. It's all about height. Higher the better. If you want to get out further, figure out how to get it even higher. Don't sweat radio power. It's the most overly discussed aspect of things on UHF radio, and it's almost not even a factor. 5 watts up high beats 50 in a hole all day long.. Another option for an ULTRA cheap repeater is a simplex repeater. It's just a real simple deal. It's a box that connects to a radio that you just set out somewhere (again, preferably really high), and it'll just sit there in the middle of comms, and record everything said, then spit it back out afterwards. They can be annoying if you're in range to hear both transmissions, but they do work very well and the simple nature of it means there's not much that can fail. Easily and quickly deployable for temporary type things. It could be a short term option if you don't want to spend on that full duplex repeater box quite yet.. You could get all of this done on just a couple hundred bucks worth of Chinese stuff..

FYI, the DB40-G is not shipping yet. I ordered one on the 13th and it was to ship before the 20th, according to their website. It is now saying it will ship before the 26th. They did, however, charge my credit card the full amount upon order.

According to this rule, you can operate Part 90 type-accepted radios such as Motorola and Kenwood radios, on GMRS channels legally. Part 90 type-accepted radios are Land Mobile Radios (LMR). See below: 95.335 Operation of non-certified transmitters prohibited. Except as provided in paragraph (a) of this section, no person shall operate a transmitter in any Personal Radio Service unless it is a certified transmitter; that is, a transmitter of a type which has obtained a grant of equipment certification for that service, pursuant to part 2, subpart J of this chapter. Use of a transmitter that is not FCC-certified voids the user's authority to operate that station. See sections 302(a), (b), and (e) of the Communications Act (47 U.S.C. 302(a), (b), and (e)). (a) Exceptions. Under certain exceptions, non-certified Personal Radio Service transmitters, or transmitters certified for use in the land mobile radio services may be operated. Any such exceptions applicable to stations in a Personal Radio Service are set forth in the subpart governing that specific service. See e.g., §§ 95.735 and 95.1735.

I test every radio I get in my house. I dont video them or normally document a ton of stuff becasue if I did I'd have piles of documentation that I just dont have room for. I utilize both a R2670 General Dynamics and my Anritzu LMR Master (later mostly now). Personally @marcspaz spent way more time I would arguing with someone over did he or did he not test something. Some of on this forum work in the LMR field and do indeed have knowledge and equipment to do this. Sorry if many of you dont understand this but its a reality. I didn't get where I am working for a lead LMR manufacturer by not knowing what I was doing. @marcspaz is in the same boat. There are others on here. Learn from those folks. WE have lost a few good techs from this site over threads like this.

I am extremely well known in the tech world. Not because of things like YouTube or forums, but because of the work I do. So, I have had some unique opportunities and have some test equipment that most people don't have. Not sure what else to say. I didn't mention the KG-1000G. Although I did test that radio, too. I said I had test results from the MXT500 and the Yaesu FTM-300DR, the the Midland was better. I didn't say i did a head to head, because i didn't. I have no video, pictures or anything else. I wasn't comparing them. Over the years, I tested lots of radios on separate occasions. I happened to reference the results if these two a couple of times in a few threads here, because I found them unusual. The reason I tested the Yaesu was because I was having receive problems and was hoping to align it... but I ended up sending it to Yaesu for repair. The numbers I shared were after the repair. My results after the repair matched (close enough) to what is advertised in the owners manual... From the manual "0.2μV for 12dB SINAD (420 - 470 MHz, @FM)" I have no pics, video, etc., because I was just doing it for me and my own benefit. I don't typically post tech stuff on YouTube. Especially bland stuff like Yaesu doing a repair for me. As far as the Midland goes, at a completely different time, maybe a year later, I got a pre-release MXT500 model through a friend who is a pro offroader and was sponsored by them at the time. I bench tested it for sharing information here and it was trash. I spent a couple of weeks working with Roger French at Midland to get it squared away. When it came back, he emailed me a test sheet that included the 12 dB SINAD and SQ4 test results. So I confirmed them at home, too. I didn't video record or photograph any of that testing either, because it's way outside the understanding of most people who come to this forum. We have a lot of new users who just want to know if it's any good and don't need to get in the weeds. While I didn't share much on the KG-1000G, again months apart from any of the other two, I tested that radio for entirely different reasons. Danny Feemster from Cricket Ventures was working with Wouxun to develop the KG-1000G. The radio they sent me was a prototype that was essentially a heavily modified KG-UV980P. It was the only one in existence at the time and I had to send it back after about a week. That was a fantastic radio. I've actually been blessed with being asked by a global tech company to test another prototype just a few weeks ago, though I can't disclose those details yet. Should be interesting to some, when it does get shared. While I still have my test gear, I don't have any of these radios anymore. It's been years in some cases. I can't duplicate the tests without spending a ton of money... not worth it. Seems like you have your mind made up that I'm a liar about doing any testing myself... which I find some irony in. I have no problem steering clear.. but I'm pretty sure if you post some BS, you can expect to get called out again. I tried... just not going to bother anymore.

I think you should work "moral turpitude" back in somehow, because after reading his comments, it is rather fitting.

No worries man. I’m not going to bug you. I will say that I “got goofy” in the way I carried on. And,.. I probably wouldn’t choose the same language choices that I did before going forward. I carried some heat over from a completely separate discussion than was happening in this forum and brought it here. The context of it was entirely in my own mind, apart from anything going on here, so it’s no wonder why it seemed “extra”. Aside from that though, I pretty much don’t retract anything that I’ve said. Midland radios aren’t better radios than a lot of Chinese brands. They, themselves, are in fact Chinese radios. And not even the best ones of them. I don’t believe that you bench tested the MTX and a KG-1000 and that they had comparable sensitivity marks. What your motivation for claiming that is,.. I won’t speculate. But I also won’t be pain in your a** about it going forward. If you feel compelled to show something concrete about it (video), then I’ll gladly lay myself bare and all such things… But if not, also fine. We can just get on with everything else and we don’t need to even bring it up anymore.

Totally agree. Hate them! Over priced junk. Can’t stand them. Don’t even want to look at them. Don’t want to hear about them. Marketing gimmicks. Total rip off.

Just talked to WRXU693 Pensacola Fla, from Palm Harbor, Fla on my Baofeng UV5G+ w/tactical antenna (5x5). Sweet!

Twenty acres is not much for GMRS. You are not likely to need a repeater for that small an area. I would start with good hand helds and see how that works. The Midlands also do not have removable antennas as well as not being repeater capable.

What I don't understand is, you can make a friendly post like this and politely disagree, but for some reason, even though I have zero to do with Midland or any other brand or radio industry at large (I'm an IT guy by trade) you attacked my character and credibility in a mean way. Have to be honest, a big part of my issue with you in this thread has nothing to do with you not believing me. You have no idea who I am, so I don't blame you. The situation is comfortably in the category of "not what you said, but how you said it." If you were as cordial with you're original concerns as you were with this post, I would have been a lot more receptive. As I mentioned before, no skin off my back one way or another, but if we're going to play in the same playground, you can't get upset when you behave poorly and people here give you grief about it. I am 100% willing to wipe the slate clean... I don't even need an apology... but there needs to be some understanding that not everyone is a sellout and just genuinely has a different opinion. Either agree or disagree. No need to be rude. Seem fair?

Wow, you just keep going. [emoji849]

Yeah, I got it wrong. I’ll edit my comment.

Just curious . it’s become a bit of a separate hobby of it’s own with the aftermarket firmwares. Pretty cool.

Not anyone. But “some people”..

So anyone who offers a positive opinion of Midland products is getting paid off? I’ve got a couple Midland’s and they work great, so can you please call them and expedite my check? I think you need to take two steps back and read what you’ve said. Maybe this place isn’t a good fit for you….

You should always listen before sending. With no receive tones you would hear any traffic on the channel,

So here’s the deal. I genuinely don’t GAF about cliques in any of this stuff. Some of us can just stay out of each other’s way. Take the merch or paid speaking engagements from midland dealers. Enjoy… I’m just going to shoot straight as a person who uses and enjoys radios in my exploits for no other type of gain aside from personal use and enjoyment. To be fair, I’ll re-name this thread “I don’t think Midland Radios are very good”. If you want to fight with me over that, we can. But it’ll be risky.

Let’s just say that Midland’s pockets run deep and some of us here in the “influence sphere” are affected. Some people here are a part of the “Midland Ambassador Program”. And I made the mistake of pissing that off..

You’ll get lots of replies with ideas and advice, but do yourself a favor and spend some time watching YouTube videos and reviews. This will give you far more “pros & cons” and you’ll actually see the items. Our own Randy has a great channel, with great reviews, and he’s entertaining as a bonus. (Randy, I’ll be watching my Venmo [emoji6]) Affiliate link: https://youtube.com/@TheNotaRubicon?si=eguV0C9AX-2SL0Fa Start with the most recent vids, as that’s typically the latest stuff. Welcome & enjoy!

You definitely want to recheck the VSWRs if it wasn't tuned/check with the spring.

I was wondering that about the Midland handhelds. I didn't see anything on their website about them being repeater capable so it had me wondering. In that case I'll have to nix Midland. I definitely want something that is repeater capable for when and if I ever need it. Thanks for the recommendation! I'm going to check out that channel and do more research now.