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As you have made clear in several posts. However, I am referring to now, not some possible time in the future. Also, even if/when Midland does address the problems with their radios, there is no evidence that “fix” will be available to upgrade radios already in the field. With all the options out there, other GMRS certified products, used products, and non-certified Part90 gear. I could not, in good conscience recommend that someone buy a Midland radio today.

Well, you could just google “amateur radio band plan.” But, I’ll save you the trouble, this time. http://www.arrl.org/band-plan

that is exactly what I am saying.

Our company has done more than 50 installations on Aluminum body F-series trucks. I can tell you that there is no issue with the thickness of the roof, or any "weakness" in the aluminum as compared to a steel roof. There is some validity to the idea that an aluminum roof isn't going to be as easy to repair as a steel roof when some idiot runs under a roof/tree/overhead obstruction with less than 2" to spare above the roof line. I can tell you that one reason I'm a BIG fan of the basic 1/4 wave hatpin for roof mounted antennas is that the antenna will shear off in nearly every circumstance before the roof itself is damaged. I'd also tell you that a spring loaded antenna is MORE rigid at the base, and is more likely to suffer damage to the roof compared to the hatpin. Balance the cost of buying a few spare hatpin antenna whips (Current retail is around $8.75) versus a body shop repair of your roof. If you can't tell - I dislike mag mount antennas. Drill the hole. Use a 1/4 wave UHF hatpin, carry a spare.

Well, as is the answer to a lot of radio questions, it depends. If you are using a 1/4 wave dipole antenna, then you need a ground-plane. You should have 1/4 wave (~6.5") ground around your antenna. If there is less than 1/4 wave ground in one direction you will get some, relatively minor, directionality. If you still have problems after permanently mounting the antenna, you can, as I noted above, switch to a gain antenna. If you really do have ground-plane issues, the gain antenna will likely address that as well. Typical gain for UHF no-ground-plane antenna, without ground-plane, would probably give you ~3db of omni-directional gain - the equivalent of doubling your power. If you have a ground-plane, the gain would likely be higher. Here are a couple of sites listing UHF no-ground antennas... https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/antennas-191/mobile-antennas-192/380-512-mhz-uhf-196/no-ground-uhf-antennas-215/ https://www.arcantenna.com/shop-antenna-frequencies/400-490-mhz-uhf/no-ground-plane-ngp-uhf-antenna.html

Pre-programmed used commercial radios (plug'n play) are available for us run-of-the-mill folks. I got mine from used-radios.com and I'll bet some ebay sellers will program as well. UR gave me excellent customer service, programmed the radios to my specs (GMRS repeater tones and button assignments included), and provide a 90 day warranty, which they honored when programming wasn't perfect, with a 5 day turnaround. Yes, I paid more than most ebay radios.

The inability to use different tones on the same channel is a BIG mistake by Midland. The first thing I noticed is that I couldn't use the only linked repeater in my area because of this. With the research I (should have done in the first place but oh well) did I discovered the wonderful world of used commercial grade radios on Ebay. For what I paid (And got refunded) for the MXT400 I purchased 3 TK-8180 radios for my house and 2 vehicles. And yes, I know there was also the cost of the coax and antennas but whatever. What this radio is capable of is outstanding compared to what Midland offers. But yes, I understand what Midland is probably marketing to. I have family in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. I have already researched and placed the repeaters in their respective state/travel groups on the radios so when I hit the road (I HATE flying but I digress) I have another potential way of maintaining communication between my point of departure as well as my destination along the way. Midland would have to include some extensive features to their future line up and even then, the cost difference will most likely keep me shopping in the used market for the foreseeable future.

You want to look at something like the following: https://transition.fcc.gov/bureaus/oet/info/documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65b.pdf https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/radiofrequencyradiation/evaluation.html

I like the idea of being able to download a database right into the radio. ...great idea for the (near) future. I just don't know if we will get much cooperation from Midland, as they seem to be more concerned with selling radios to consumers who don't know how to operate radios. There will be problems with some consumers who want "simply the best", who buy the most expensive radio, even though they do not need it... then complain and write poor reviews over how difficult it is to operate, and they can't get it to talk with their other walkies talkies as promised. I have some midland micromobiles, and they are good for what they are... that is, simple to use. Midland is not really trying to market toward the likes of mygmrs forum users; they are marketing to the lowest common denominator of radio consumer. Any idiot can take one of these Midlands out of the wrapper, and make it talk. Add too many Pro-level features, and there will be problems. There will be a company who makes just this kind of feature-rich radio, and there already is... unfortunately, it is Baofeng. Now, if only there were some company making feature-rich radios with High-Quality and FCC type acceptance as well........

LoL yea, looks that way. With what I do for a living, I actually type truncated a lot (talking about log files, databases, etc.). My phone constantly changes correctly spelled words to other words it thinks I mean. I dont proofread enough and I keep sending messages I don't mean. An example.. a friend asked me if I wanted to buy a bicycle he was selling. I replied that I was to fat to ride a bike, but my phone changed it to I was to gay to ride a bike. Needless to say, my friend was very confused.

Happy camper now. Got my vanity approval at 2:49 A.M. via e-mail. Odd time in my opinion but end result makes me happy!

I strongly disagree with this sentiment. Ham radio is much more than talking over radios. It is about experimentation, design, building, fixing, operating radios and related equipment. It is about casual conversations, emergency communications, rag-chews, community and support. It is about voice, data, telemetry, video, mesh-networking and satellite and moon bounce communications. And more. Part of what makes ham radio different from CB, MURS, GMRS, and FRS is the barrier to entry. If that barrier were to be removed, ham radio would quickly devolve into a cesspool. And keep in mind, electric theory is just part of what is tested. There is also wave propagation, proper equipment operation and practices, safety, rules and regulations, and more. I have no objection to remote testing per-se, as long as the same standard of honesty and avoidance of cheating can be preserved. But, for those who see remote testing as a way to avoid a little work and study that is, in my opinion, an extremely poor idea. And honestly, if someone is a complete null, they can just memorize the answers to all 424 questions in the pool - and you only are tested on 35 of those questions and you only need to get 26 (75%) right.

Sorry Logan5, but your case is not typical. You either live in a very flat place, at the top of a hill, or atop a mount, or even atop a mountain, b/c using 5W UHF where I live (near Madison WI), with my antenna placed atop a 40 feet mast, using Heliax 1/2" feedline doesn't reach reliably more than 5 miles out to HT, and that is spotty at best... even when pushing 50W GMRS out using Vertex Standard EVX-5400 mobile, through the same 40 feet antenna, it barely reaches 10 miles to another EVX-5400 mobile using a vehicle mounted NMO antenna (no magmount crap)... but to HT?... Sorry, but not typical to get 10 miles out of 5W. Using BTECH crap, TYT crap, or in general anything CCR crap, or anything that isn't commercial grade gear will result in disappointment. I've alredy been through the CCR road, and while they do have their uses, reliable comms at long range isn't one of them, and I am talking about all these cheapies with flashy screens and 10 million channels with fancy colored buttons and slick shapes... etc. In the end, my Vertex Standard EVX-5300 G7, with a single digit 8 segment LCD display and a total of 8 channels draws rings around all of these cheapies in terms of what matters: radio reception performance. G.