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I spent some time studying the manual for my HT last night and discovered that I wasn't enabling the repeater tone encoder for some of the saved frequencies. Remember, I'm brand spanking new at this. Today I found the sweet spot on the roof and made my first QSOs on three different 2m repeaters. They said I was a good 4 1/2 with just 7W and a (no need ground plane) mobile antenna. That was a total surprise! I'm pretty sure I could also nail some 70cm repeaters. There are a lot of them out there. Now, that do it all FT-991a ain't lookin' too bad.

Several members here have done so. Search the forums for reports. There seem to be three issues that are commonly reported and which may, or may not, be important to you. The Midland radios operate on narrow-band FM while most repeaters operate on wide-band FM. This tends to result in the Midland's broadcasts being heard at a lower volume by listeners. The Midland radios must use the same tone or digital squelch on transmit and receive. So, if you have a repeater that uses different schema on transmit and receive, you will not be able to easily use the repeater. The Midland is missing a small number of PL tones. If a repeater requires one of those tones, you will not be able to access it.Again, I suggest you search the forum for reports and to determine if these issues are significant for your planned usage. And, note also, the built-in search feature tends to miss things. I'd suggest doing a google search for something like: site:forums.mygmrs.com midland review repeater

Are you sure you weren't hitting the repeater? Hearing a short burst of static (called the squelch tail) after un-keying the transmitter is normal, and a sign you have keyed up the repeater. Unless you have a second radio, with a good (I.e. well designed) receiver, to use as a monitor, all you will get is the squelch tail, and maybe that awful roger beep. However, not all repeaters have squelch tails. So, in that case, you would have no indication as to whether or not you had keyed the repeater. Also, if the repeater has been quiet for over 15 minutes or so, and you key it up, it should ID itself. Though, again, while generaly required, it does not always happen.