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I decided to start this thread so as to not derail other threads. The MXT500 I recently bought only had 30 channel slots and not the 127 slots as others have mentioned. And we all know Midland's software is not the best. When you go to their website, there is two different software versions to download. There is version V1.04 and version V2.01. Version 1.04 only works with the MXT500 with 30 channel slots while version 2.01 only works with the MXT500 with 127 channel slots. When you download the firmware update tool there are two folders with the firmware update .spi files. One is V1_149_2021_5_11 and the other is V1_172_2023_03_23. If you are fine with only 30 channel slots then use the V1_149 .spi file to update your radio and then continue using the V1.04 programming software. If you want to have 127 channel slots then you must use the V1_172 .spi file. WARNING: if you use this file then V1.04 programming software will no longer work for your radio. You MUST use the V2.01 software to now access your radio and program it. Again if you update the firmware using the V1_149 .spi file then you must use V1.04 programming software. If you update using the V1_172 .spi file then you must use V2.01 programming software. Updating the firmware using the V1_172 file does give you all 127 channel slots and the V2.01 software must be used. Midland makes things difficult since the Readme file doesn't say anything about this. Hopefully this will help others that have the MXT500.

Why and for what possible good reason? Once again, it sounds like someone wanting to turn GMRS, with its very limited bandwidth, into "ham radio lite". Rather than additionally trashing our already scarce bandwidth, why not get a book, study it for a week or few, and get your Technician license? Then play with gizmo gadgetry where there is adequate bandwidth and existing infrastructure for it until you heart is content

Thanks Sshannon! I ordered the Wouxun KG-1000G Plus and a programming cable. I will also order 30A a power supply which should give me room to expand if needed.

Happy birthday, Barry!

If that is the one you want just order it now rather than waiting for it to come back in stock. You will be that much further ahead in line.

Event by Marc Spaziano and NOVA GMRS American Legion Riders Post 176 Springfield, VA Group · Members of NOVA GMRS Hey folks... a little last minute and long overdue, lets meet up for Brunch at the American Legion Post 176 in Springfield. They have a large lot and the cafeteria is open to the public. Our friend Walter is a member at another post and has invited us to join for a group get-together. I apologize for the last-minute invite. Hope you all can make it! American Legion Post 176 6520 Amherst Ave, Springfield, VA 22150 11:00 AM

I will second that welcome!

Start here: You just got your GMRS license, now you want your own repeater?

I’m sorry, but beginning with talking about RX only getting 5 watts (or saying that your RX will only be 25 watts) this is bad advice. If you poll the people on this site who actually maintain repeaters (I’m not one) you will find that almost all of them use a duplexer. 1. Although it is possible to construct a repeater with two antennas, the distance between the antennas must be fairly far to provide RF isolation, especially if you attempt to separate the antennas horizontally. If they are arrayed vertically the distance doesn’t have to be as far, depending on the type of antenna you choose. It helps to have a tall tower. 2. Yes, it’s true that power is lost in a duplexer. It’s not necessarily half though. High quality duplexers lose less power. Inexpensive duplexers can be very lossy. Power is also lost in coax, so if you choose to use two antennas be sure you use high quality coax because at GMRS frequencies it’s very easy to lose half (or more) of your power. 3. Power should not be the deciding factor. It’s common for the newly licensed to focus too much on power. I suspect that if you were to ask experienced radio engineers whether they would prefer a great receiver and midpower transmitter versus a high powered transmitter and just okay receiver they would choose the better receiver every time. Having more power doesn’t automatically mean greater range. Notarubicon (@OffRoaderX) has an informative series of videos where he first built a repeater using two kg1000 radios and two antennas and ended up going to a commercial quality repeater, duplexer, and single antenna. I encourage you to view them.

The KG-1000G is a 50W GMRS mobile radio that has a remote-mount face that can also be snapped-off for theft-prevention. It is a very good all-around GMRS radio.

Does your ham club have a repeater? Ask if a GMRS one be added to the site.

I need help building a repeater I have tk7360 and to 7160 radio I’m looking for someone to help me with the cables that hooks the two radio together

I did get everything working. See the link I posted above.

What functionality of APRS are you wanting to have?

In the end most normally spend more in parts than grabbing a good used repeater. The last GR1225 I grabbed was $250 plus shipping.

This ^^^^ is what many dont understand about having a good coverage repeater. Some of us pay alot of $$$ out of our pockets to have this stuff on the air.

As @OffRoaderX pointed out alot of what works for someone may not work for you. I can at least give you some data from my time in the Concord area each year, specifically CMS. We had a 35; MH with a GMRS repeater in it. I ran a GR1225 on low power for multiple years. LMR400 (25') out of the duplexer to a Laird FG4503 Fiberglass antenna on my flagpole mount. From Turn 4 parking lot (640' ASL) I could get 3-4 miles to the North up 29. On a portable I had no issues talking to the repeater from the Walmart 2 Miles north. On the mobile it would drop out around parkway. To the south I could only get about 2 miles on mobile. We had one year where we were early and I setup on the South side of the track. It was around 725' there. I had no issues with a portable further south and still had perfect comms on my portable to the north to the Walmart. So height helped in that area. I will also say all comms were on my XTL2500 (at the time) and my APX portable or HT1250LS portable. Sadly since COVID we have not been setup in the camper at that track. We spent 3 weeks on the track for about 5 years and used the repeater a alot when on site. With all the other comms on site I was actually surprised at how well it did work. Im in your area quite a bit still but dont seem to hear alot on GMRS when I'm in the area. I have not had time to try the 675 repeater there. Maybe this weekend when I'm down. Could go for some nice Brickhouse Pizza and a cold frosty beverage right now...

How close you are to a repeater and how high the repeater's antennas are can cause issues. I will use my club's repeater as an example. The antennas are high up on a 900 foot tower and members that live within a mile or two sometimes have trouble accessing the repeater. This is simply due to the height of the repeater antennas and the fact that the signal is going right over the guys that are close. Granted this is with VHF in the 2m band.

Beware of the online "experts" trying to spend your money - Using this hardware combination in no way guarantees you will get 30 miles plus coverage.

Who are you talking to and what do they carry for a radio? I believe you said you've got relatives 15 miles away. If they carry portables - it is MUCH more important that your desired repeater can hear those 4 or 5 watt portables from 15 miles away than it is for your desired magic repeater to punch out 50 watts so you can reach them. Pay more attention to how well your repeater can receive - and you'll end up with a better system. Wouxun mobiles built into a repeater are twice as expensive and half as good as other solutions available. Search up the term desense, and you'll see what's going on.

I started another thread on updating the MXT500 firmware so that I don't derail this thread anymore than I all ready have. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/6363-midland-mxt500-firmware-updates/

Same features available for $100 instead of $400; except for 20 watts instead of 50 watts.

The Midland MXT500s are capable of being programmed with both narrow and wide band channels before and after the firmware update. The Midland MXT500 is a great radio for new GMRS user to learn how to set up the radio with both simplex and duplex channel operations. The performance of these radios are also very good and a great compact radios for vehicles with limited space for installation. The construction of these radios are very rugged for rough environments such as off-roading. For me, I need a Radio with more features such as "Talk-Around", a real monitor feature that disables the PL decoder when enabled and not just momentary, and not just blows squelch when the button is depressed. The channel capacity is also not enough for my needs and there is no programming ability to have channel banks (Zones), and a display with more prorammable characters. Also, I need to have the ability of selecting non-standard "PL" tones beyond the standard 38 tones, and the ability to program the non-GMRS freqs in the 450-470 MHz range outside of the 22 GMRS allocated channels. I am currently using a mobille radio that has almost 600 channels programmed in 25 Zones. Some Zones have 22-25 channels programmed in the same bank. It is a great radio for loaning to your friends for a quick install with a cigarette lighter connector and a mag-mount.

Welcome!

I will also recommend the KG-1000Gplus. It is likely the best mobile/base on the market as well. It is my base radio and I love it! https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-1000g-plus.html?___SID=U

Thanks for this suggestion. Was not aware of the stale or offline repeater option. I have reached out to the owner of the Huntersville 675 repeater and am trying to get permission, although it is just out of range unless I am in a certain area on my property.

This vendor is shipping on 11/03: Wouxun KG-1000G Plus GMRS Base/Mobile Two Way Radio (buytwowayradios.com)

Yes, there is an issue. Either you have two defective radios or you are doing it wrong. and I doubt you have two defective radios. What steps, exactly, are you taking, and what, exactly, happens?

Thank you all for the help

The only 50 watt mobile GMRS radio with a removable face is the Wouxun KG-1000G. And the only 50 watt radio with all controls and screen in the mic is the Midland MXT575, all others are either 15 or 20 watts. The Wouxun KG-100G is currently out of stock.

In a nutshell, Standing Wave Meter, CQV SWR120 Digital Power Meter, 240x240 Full Color LCD Display, 1.8Mhz to 54Mhz, 0.5W to 120W. I just received this meter and plugged it into my radio. I was impressed with the easy to read screen even with its small size. QST has a review on the meter in the Nov. 2023 issue and they show it is quite accurate out of the box. Amazon lists it for $79.02 but a quick search got the price doen to $45.02. I paid slightly less from a Chinese store, just over $41.00. It sure beates my Surecom SW-102.

Location is what matters. Do you have a tower site ? Tall building ? A home repeater in that area will not cover 20-30 miles.

The Midland MXT500 radios are now 128 channels and if you have the 30 channel MXT500 radios you can upload a new firmware version to increase the channel capacity.

Something you may or may not have thought of take a look at the map and click on stale or offline repeaters (small gear upper left). This could avoid choosing a frequency that potentially might come back on line or be on line. I see this one that looks offline near you LAKE NORMAN CORNELIUS and of course this one is active HUNTERSVILLE BIRKDALE 675.

Use good antennas and get them as high as you can. Also remember that if you use a single antenna and a duplexer that your transmit power will be cut in half. Take the Retevis and Midland repeaters that are advertised at 10 watts. You are only getting 5 watts per RX and TX. Same goes with using two 50 watt radios with a duplexer and a single antenna, your RX and TX will only be 25 watts.

There really won't be much difference between 20 watts and 50 watts in flat/open terrain or if you are top of a hill. 50 watts can make a difference if you are in the woods or trying to picket fence off of obstacles. One thing I do not care about with the Midland radios is that you can't add a bunch of different repeater channels to them. You are limited to just a few where the FRS channels would normally be. The other thing is that Midland radios come from the factory set to narrow band and you have to go in and change each channel to wide band. It is hard to buy anything that is not made in or uses components that are made in Chine now days. That includes everyone's computers, tablets and cell phones no matter which brand they are. I will buy CCR's from US based companies knowing that I can get support from them and most of the money stays here.

Garmin Rhino radios are made in Taiwan (at least mine was). The Yaesu FT65 is a nice ham radio that can be opened up for GMRS (no, that’s not compliant). It is made in Japan, although the first generation were made in China. Yaesu is a Japanese brand.

That'd typically what I use mine for. They are available from Ham Radio Outlet, DX Engineering, and companies like them. Common brands are Yaesu, iCom, Anytone, etc.

I found out at the last club meeting that quite a few of the members do have their GMRS license so I think it will be an easy push to get a GMRS repeater up. Being in rural central Missouri, there are no GMRS repeaters up and running. Our proposal was met with enthusiasm. As @WRXB215 said, there is no reason to limit yourself on the available communication tools out there. My local club does participate in emergency communications and having GMRS and all the amateur bands available is a plus.

APRS is a way of communicating information using packets. The most common information transmitted using APRS is location, but it can also include weather or text messages. There is a whole unofficial network of radios called digipeaters (digital repeaters) that share all of that information so it can be seen using the website APRS.fi, but if you have an APRS capable radio you can receive the information locally as well. People flying large high power rockets or high altitude balloons use tiny little APRS transmitters tucked away in their payloads so they can get them back. When my ham radio club provides logistical support for a local fundraising bike ride, many of us use handheld radios that allow us to communicate by voice on one frequency while transmitting our location on the APRS frequency. That allows our “base” to see all the moving pieces on a map on a computer screen. If you search for AI7KS in APRS.fi you may see traces for AI7KS-7 or AI7KS-8, depending on which one of my APRS radios I am carrying (assuming I remember to turn on APRS.)

I never ceased to be amazed at the control freakism some repeater owners display. Thankfully, most areas have at least one like the guy you talked with who was the owner and from the sound of it, a really cool guy. I chuckle at the numerous repeaters listed on here with a 5 or so mile range and listed as "permission required". Seriously? Do you really expect such a glut of operators within that tiny footprint that you need to control access to it? I know, they are totally within their rights to require permission but it is interesting to do amateur psych evaluations on some of these guys based on their control levels on their repeaters. Then you have some who go into great detail as to what can or cannot be said, how to say it, and even want to know what type radios you are using before they deem you worthy to operate on their system. I can see a simple "ID and follow the FCC rules" or "keep it family friendly, no profanity", but some of these "thou shalt and thou shalt nots" are comical. Anyway, I am glad you and your son connected with a really great repeater owner.

PL means Private Line which is a Motorola term for CTCSS which stands for Continuous Tone Code Squelch System. It is a function tone to squelch your receiver or open up a receiver and is analog in Hertz, i.e. 141.3 Hz which is the GMRS travel tone. DPL is also a Motorola term for Digital Private Line also known as DCS Digital code system which is a digital coded squelch system that sends a digital coded bit stream to do the same thing as the analog tone system. The first DPL code on the list is 023 and the last is somewhere in the mid to high 700s. By the way, Private does not mean your radio communication is Private. It just a nuisance eliminator function so you don't hear other radio traffic if you don't want to. The cheap consumer radios don't use the actual tone frequencies or digital codes for the specific tones/codes. They use a programming number i.e. the programming number for the 67.0 Hz CTCSS is "1" and the programming number for the first DPL is also "1" for most of the cheap radios. Some cheap radios continue with the numbering scheme after the last analog tone.

Just my (conspiracy theorists) opinion, it's the same answer for radio, firearms, and everything else the government touches... it's not about safety or the people; it's about control.

There is a level of overthinking here I didn't think was actually possible. 1. First off, these are rules, not laws. Secondly (and legally - wife is a lawyer) hidden meaning can only be determined on a case by case basis. I could say "Be sure to deliver the package where it will be seen" and literally mean leave the damn box where the idiot recipient will see it this time. Or I could mean leave the explosives where they would have the most effect. Until something has happened and the audio (just example) is played in court, it's just words spoken OTA. Those rules and regs are specifically there and constructed the way they are so that Uncle Sam can haul your ass off to Gitmo if you decided to use GMRS for terrorist purposes. Again though, until said terrorists do something or are placed under investigation, it's just words OTA. 2. The FCC does not have a 10 codes list because they are regional in nature and are not even uniform across counties, let alone the USA as a whole. They mean if you're using your 10-codes list, then that's OK, it's allowed. 3. At any time, you are not assumed to be hiding anything unless there's proof beyond a reasonable doubt you are. See #1. You can use any 10 codes list you want, including your own, without publishing it anywhere. No one will assume you're hiding something. They will assume you're some type of weirdo nerd radio person though, so be prepared for that. In conclusion, this is just a whole other kind of over analysis. @OffRoaderX made an excellent point in one of his videos: The number of GMRS rule enforcement actions by the FCC is 0. "They don't care." This is something folks who have used 11m band know all too well. 4W main/12W SSB PEP is the legal limit for power there. I can point you to countless FB groups, forums, YT channels, etc. of folks who not only know this, but flaunt it. We're talking 10,000W+ amplifiers, both tube and pill. Giant 7+ element, high gain beam antennas making their ERP 30,000+ watts. Let's make up a number of 100 for example purposes here. Every year, of those 100 wattmongers, maybe 5 will get busted and even then most times it's a fine issued ($5k+ so it does sting). No equipment confiscation, just a fine and a "don't do that again, please". Most times these folks make amps for sale and a "nice" one (one that has a decent LPF) that's say, 2000W will run about $2500-$3000. You can now just imagine how much they care about a $5k fine. "They don't care."