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No, we don’t say you’re lying about that; we tell you you’re a jerk when you imply that anyone who doesn’t get 200 miles is incompetent and when you scold new members about not reading the rules. As you say: it’s all about line of sight.

As far as antennas go, higher is better...with some caveats. The most significant limitation to range is terrain. Radio waves travel in a straight line (for any practical purposes). Depending upon the terrain, it may be that in order to make a real difference, you'd have to have a ridiculously tall mast. It's also possible that a higher antenna won't make a difference because you already have line-of-sight to anyone you want to talk to. For example, my house is on a bluff above a river. I already have line-of-sight to any repeater within a reasonable distance; a taller antenna (mostly) won't change that. I can reach almost everything in the region with a 19" mobile antenna on a steel pizza pan in the floor of my living room. If I could get my antenna up 50'-60', I might be able to reach a couple of repeaters in the Arbuckle Mountains, but that's just not practical for me. I suggest you drive around and find out what you can reach from various locations and from your house before you put an antenna on the house. Your vehicle is another matter. An external antenna absolutely will make a difference in range and clarity because you're essentially sitting in a Faraday cage. I'm not familiar with the MOBLE antenna, but it's almost certainly better than using the stock antenna from inside your vehicle. I got really good results with the 3" Midland Ghost antenna, so it doesn't necessarily have to be tall to work well. Don't fall into the trap of thinking more power will give you more range. It almost never does. If there are obstructions between you and your target, you're not going to get through them with any practical amount of power. VHF and HF operate by somewhat different rules, but for UHF (i.e., GMRS), an obstruction is an obstruction, and you can't force your way through it. The radio in my car goes up to 40 watts on UHF, but I typically run it on 10 watts because only rarely does boosting the power make a difference. Congratulations on joining the community. You can have a lot of fun with radios.

Can confirm.

I have a friend that lives at a cabin @ 5,500' near Tonopah. When i camp at Crawley lake we talk simplex quite a lot. It's probably a 120 mile line of site link. When i go low power on my Hytera, about 10 watts, he looses me. He is on a Kenwood and the same happens, i loose him for the most part on low power. The Hytera does pull a little bit. Also tried using HT's and no way. I'm using a Copper J-Pole on my end, he has a Larsen Dipole on his. Power does work in odd ways in UHF but i know in this situation it defiantly helps.

As mentioned, none. HOWEVER -- Midland is based in the United States, unlike most of the other low-cost GMRS radio companies.

You shouldn't be. That's one of the points of this forum, to ask questions.

Find out what you can reach with the HT before you put an antenna on the house. It may be that you can reach as far as you want with the stock antenna. I can put up a better antenna but it doesn't gain me much because of the terrain. I suppose if I got it high enough, it might help, but I'm not sure who I would talk to that I can't already reach

My radio club in the near future will be implementing a DMR repeater system in the near future with a repeater located on high elevated remote radio site. The long-term goal is having linked repeaters throughout the State for Statewide radio coverage. Since, I am essentially don't have any spare room in my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. I elected to go overhead with the installation of a Motorola XPR5550e dashmount radio. This makes the fourth radio I have installed in my jeep. I was hoping the Club would have gone the P25 route, but they decided to go DMR.

Never had a bad attitude moment with the Jeep set as a non Jeep driving off-roader; pulling them out, or being pulled out by them. Again the trail is like out on the water, you always help anyone in need, no matter what they're driving!

Very nice. Good antennas would certainly help your situation even more but at 120 miles your getting about 10xs the distances others get. Most guys on here call me a lier when I tell them I do well over 200miles every day with a 20w base radio and 60-100 with hand helds. It’s all about line of sight.

I'm not sure who your trying to school... Carburetors are always going to struggle on steep angles. Floats don't work upside down and overflow tubes will eventually overflow... When you've broken an anemic dana 30 axle or just can't make it over the obstacle with at best 33" tires. The jeep community will still help you and your bad attitude. I don't even consider myself a jeeper and this irritates me. My jeeps a diesel, I don't have a dog in this fight...

Yes pine and cedar trees are worse about blocking signals, especially UHF. My local club has a 2m, 70cm, and GMRS repeaters with the antennas on a local radio station tower. The 2m and 70cm antennas are at 900 ft above ground and the GMRS antennas are at 400-450 ft above ground. I have the same dead zones with 70cm and GMRS where pine and cedar trees are close to the road where I don't have any issues in the same locations on 2m (VHF).

And some trees are worse than others about blocking signals. Cedar and pine trees real havoc on UHF frequencies. And we have a lot of eastern red cedar trees in my area along with pine trees that were planted along roads years ago.

That is true. Sometimes a signal isn't entirely obstructed, but it isn't entirely unobstructed either. For example, in a forested area, the signal isn't usually completely blocked, but it is definitely attenuated. More power often will help with that.

This is very true and many people fall into that trap thinking more power will get you farther. What more power will do is make your transmissions clearer and easier for others to hear if you are already making the trip with low power. An example is one repeater that is 50 miles from my house. I can get in with 20 watts but I have quite a bit of static in my transmission. Bumping up to 40 or 50 watts allows others to hear me on that repeater loud and clear.

Thanks to everyone who replied to my Newbie question, You guys info was clear and to the point, I think am going to start small with a unit on my house so I can reach Crestline, Corona, and on a good day more.

Just like anywhere on the internet, there are jerks on here that should be ignored. I'd like to add that I've run into a similar issue. After checking the tones and the other potential causes that people have already listed, I realized my issue was from a lack of power. My little 5w handheld can hear a repeater from 30 miles, but doesn't have enough power to talk to it. You may or may not have the same issue. My base station radio is on its way by UPS and rated at 40w. Once I get it up and running, I'll be able to test my theory. -Steve WRXU861

Now try actually reading his post, then try again.

The "Ham version" and the "GMRS version" are EXACTLY the same radio. They only sell them as Ham or GMRS so as to include appropriately tuned antennas with them (which you can replace with anything anyway). either "Ham" or "GMRS" radios can be switched into either Ham or GMRS or "Normal" (unlocked) modes and then will obey rules for Ham or GMRS as far as transmit power levels and allowed frequencies for transmitting. GMRS will also adhere to the +5 offset for repeaters that are setup properly (at least under channel 55 it seems)

Well the old CSM was actually saving the government on hospital bills and/or funeral expenses when he had us destroy the M151's. They were quite dangers for those that did not know how to safely operate them. On the plus side of that clean up mission, we did revere some pretty rare vehicles and parts that the different military museums came and picked up. Those rare vehicles and parts allowed them to restore more vehicles for public display.

wondering when this explanation would come out

iIf you have one radio in your left hand hitting the transmit button, and you have 2nd radio in your right hand hoping to here the transmission from your left hand and you don't. The radios are to close and you experienced something called de-sense. The radios are to close to one another. As the song goes "you have to keep them seperated"

You get what you paid for. If you buy cheap then it is cheaply built and you're really not saving money and time in the long run and you run the risk of it unexpectantly failing. If that is your style, go ahead and be cheap. I prefer to buy it once so I don't waste my time in dealing with it again. It has worked very well for me in all these decades. I refused to buy cheap Pandaland POS junk.

This is good to know. I will be printing this out and putting it in the box with the manual for future reference.

I assume that’s a typo?

How far apart are the two radios when you test? If they are closer than 50 feet, get at least 100 feet away and try again. PS: Welcome to the forum.

Available from U.S. owned companies? (another attribute that matters a lot to many) - and remember, the key feature of this radio is the LACK of features (and complications) - So I am curious which you would recommend in its place?

I was told by a (former) Midland Marketing person that this is by design - the entire chassis is a heat sink so a fan is not needed, but yes, you feel the heat. Also, beware that "some people" are going to leave ssstupid comments in this thread declaring that this radio "sucks", "is junk", it's too expensive, it's gimmicky, etc, etc, because it does not have the features that THEY think are important. So bear in mind that Midland did not design this radio for them, they designed it for normal people such as yourself that just need to talk to people while driving. Midland did not design this radio for losers that sit in the basement searching for anonymous men to chat with over the radio to brag about how many buttons or knobs their radio has.

That used to happen to me every time I reached for a radio. I purchased individual 3d printed stands (from a member here) for each of my HTs and now I don't have that issue. I went with individual stands so I can have a radio sitting where I happen to be without it falling over every time I bump it. The organizers are pretty cool though.

IF you have nothing NICE to say, then maybe you should just say NOTHING AT ALL, rather than make an ASS out of yourself !!

No need to feel sorry. The guy that jumped you about it is a grade A dick. Fortunately the forum software gives us the ability to filter out his posts.

Hearing them talk a channel number between 15 and 22? If so, my guess, based on 1,000 other people asking the exact same question, is that you are hearing people talking on a repeater. They will not hear you until you configure your radio to transmit on the repeater. If not and you are hearing them on channels 1-14, then either they are using tones/codes so they cant hear you or, they just dont want to talk to you. Hope this helps!

I prefer the H-8, simply because it's Larger and fit's my hand better... I can't do tiny radios lol!

Don't worry. They're like rabbits. Before you know it there will be a lot more. Trust me. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/249-my-radio-collection/?context=new I just got my new arrival at the work office today. A new open box Kenwood TK-5230 UHF P25 radio. Do I need another one, no, but its fun to collect them, HT's. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/254-tk-5320-1jpg/?context=new

That's a bold move.. That's where the speaker for the XTL5000 in my JKU is mounted - but its much smaller than your XPR.. BTW, I support your desire for P25. That's what we use for all of our encrypted comms.

Programming a DMR radio is not simple and I'm sure most people will not want to mess with it. P25 is so much simpler than DMR. However, my radio club will have a few codeplug templates available for the club's approved radios to help the members to get on the air.

I can only take one person. I removed the rear seat so I can have my refrigerator and carry my recovery gear, and of course, install/bolt down the VHF and UHF XTL5000 remote radios on the floor. The attached picture is without the recovery gear. The next time I load up my recovery gear, I'll snap a picture and post it.

You’ll catch on. Welcome!

I'm beginning to think that when brains were being handed out, Negative Nancy though someone said "trains so he said "no thanks, I'll take the (short) bus". Unfortunately I have had the same argument about GMRS repeater ID requirements with fellow members of my amateur radio club. I had to break the regulations down for them so they would understand that a GMRS repeater does need to ID per Part 95.1751 quoted above. When they kept bringing up family members I had to remind them that we are in Missouri and not Arkansas. Plus the fact that most people that use our repeater are NOT related and they have their own GMRS licenses.

As already mentioned. Do some monitoring to see what type of traffic you have in your area. See it if there is indeed someone to talk to. Also check the repeater map here at My GMRS to see if there is a repeater in your area. As far as an external antenna. I have an antenna in my attic which is about 3 stories off the ground. I can connect it to my mobile or a handhelds. The difference is night and day. Increased range (Transmit and Receive) and clarity. With the removable antenna, on simplex I routinely monitor and communicate at ranges my handheld with a rubber duck would never do. On repeater I am told my transmissions are much clearer. This really comes down to a matter of antenna height and gain.

My wife and I use our local repeaters pretty regularly for chit chat. Just remember everyone is listening...

A good adapter would be just fine. If you have the right tools (or buy M&P connectors which require very little in tools) replacing one of the cable ends would be the best option. In my opinion of course.

People. It’s government. They aren’t ever going to make anything better.

I would suggest that all language relating to Fixed Stations be stricken from the GMRS regulations. Incremental improvements still help.

That could be a really good thing or it can open up a can of worms that we don't want. I say that because we all know some people want to turn GMRS into HAM Lite. We don't have enough frequencies/channels available for linking repeaters or different digital modes, etc, etc. I would hate to see GMRS turn into what the Chicken Band (CB) has become.

Dunno 'bout theirs, ours is the Motorola XTS 2500.

Switch it back to English. Plug in the programming cable. Open the software (it should still be in English). Read from the radio. Open up the Edit menu. Choose Function Setup. Menu Language is the third selection on the right column of the Function Setup dialog. Change it to English (the middle selection). Write to the radio.

I thought this would be a good test for the A.I., so I wanted to see how Grok would answer - you are all now obsolete because it totally out-dorked all of you. Key Points Flat earth: Communication distance is about 3900 km. Real earth: Communication distance drops to about 11 km due to curvature. Flat Earth Scenario In a flat earth with no obstructions, two 5-watt UHF radios can communicate up to approximately 3900 km. This is because, without curvature, the signal can travel in a straight line, limited only by signal strength, not physical barriers. Real Earth Scenario On a real earth, the distance is limited by the line of sight, which is about 11 km for two people each 6 feet tall. This is surprising because it’s much shorter than the flat earth distance, showing how earth’s curvature significantly restricts radio range. Survey Note: Detailed Analysis of UHF Radio Communication Distances This section provides a comprehensive analysis of the communication distances for two 5-watt UHF radios under two scenarios: a flat earth with no obstructions and a real earth considering curvature. The analysis includes all calculations, assumptions, and supporting details to ensure a thorough understanding. Flat Earth Scenario: Theoretical Maximum Distance In a flat earth scenario, with no trees, buildings, or curvature, the communication distance is determined by the signal strength and free-space path loss. The problem specifies two six-foot-tall people with 5-watt UHF radios at the same elevation, with only air between them. Frequency Assumption: UHF radios operate between 300 MHz and 3 GHz. Based on typical usage, a frequency of 430 MHz was chosen, which falls within the common range for amateur radio (400-470 MHz), as confirmed by searches on 5-watt UHF radio frequency range. Transmitted Power: The radios transmit at 5 watts, which is 37 dBm (since 1 W = 30 dBm, and 5 W = 10 log10(5000) ≈ 37 dBm). Receiver Sensitivity: Typical receiver sensitivity for UHF radios is around -120 dBm for 12 dB SINAD, based on searches for UHF radio receiver sensitivity. This means the receiver can detect signals as weak as -120 dBm. Path Loss Calculation: The free-space path loss in dB is given by the formula: Path Loss (dB)=32.44+20log⁡10(d)+20log⁡10(f) where (d) is the distance in kilometers, and (f) is the frequency in MHz. For f=430 MHz, 20log⁡10(430)≈52.6772 dB. The total path loss is: 32.44+52.6772+20log⁡10(d)=85.1172+20log⁡10(d) For the signal to be detectable, the received power Pr=Pt−Path Loss≥−120 dBm. So: 37−(85.1172+20log⁡10(d))≥−120 Simplifying: 37−85.1172−20log⁡10(d)≥−120 −48.1172−20log⁡10(d)≥−120 −20log⁡10(d)≥−120+48.1172 −20log⁡10(d)≥−71.8828 Dividing by -20 (and reversing the inequality): log⁡10(d)≤3.59414 d≤103.59414≈3890.2 km Rounding to a reasonable figure, the communication distance is approximately 3900 km. This distance is theoretical and assumes no atmospheric losses beyond free-space path loss, which is reasonable given the problem’s conditions of “no trees or buildings or anything between them but air.” Real Earth Scenario: Impact of Curvature On a real earth, the communication distance is limited by the line of sight due to the earth’s curvature. The problem specifies no obstructions other than air, so we focus on the radio horizon. Height of Antennas: Each person is six feet tall, approximately 1.83 meters, which is 0.00183 km for consistency with the earth’s radius in kilometers. Earth’s Radius: The earth’s radius is approximately 6371 km. To account for atmospheric refraction, especially for UHF frequencies, the 4/3 earth radius model is used, making the effective radius r′=4/3×6371≈8494.67 km. Radio Horizon Calculation: The radio horizon distance for one person is given by: d=2×r′×h Substituting r′=8494.67 km and h=0.00183 km: 2×8494.67×0.00183≈31.048 d=31.048≈5.57 km For two people, the total line-of-sight distance is the sum of their individual horizons, assuming they are at the same elevation: dtotal=2×5.57≈11.14 km Geometric Horizon for Comparison: Without refraction, using the geometric horizon ( r=6371 km): d=2×6371×0.00183≈23.34426≈4.83 km dtotal=2×4.83≈9.66 km The 4/3 model extends the range, which is standard for VHF and UHF frequencies, as confirmed by radio horizon for UHF frequencies. Signal Strength Check: At 11.14 km, the path loss is calculated as: 32.44+20log⁡10(11.14)+20log⁡10(430) 20log⁡10(11.14)≈20×1.047≈20.94 , and 20log⁡10(430)≈52.6772 , so: Path Loss≈32.44+20.94+52.6772≈106.0572 dB Received power Pr=37−106.0572≈−69.0572 dBm , which is well above -120 dBm, so signal strength is not the limiting factor; the line of sight is. Given UHF frequencies’ line-of-sight nature, the communication distance is limited to approximately 11 km, aligning with the 4/3 earth radius model, which accounts for slight atmospheric refraction. Table: Summary of Calculations Scenario Frequency (MHz) Receiver Sensitivity (dBm) Limiting Factor Distance (km) Flat Earth 430 -120 Signal Strength ~3900 Real Earth 430 -120 Line of Sight (4/3) ~11 Additional Considerations Frequency Choice: The choice of 430 MHz is based on common UHF amateur radio frequencies, supported by 5-watt UHF radio details. Receiver Sensitivity: Confirmed through searches that -120 dBm is typical for UHF radios, ensuring the calculation’s validity UHF radio sensitivity. Curvature Impact: The significant drop from 3900 km to 11 km highlights how earth’s curvature restricts UHF radio range, which is surprising for laymen expecting longer ranges. This analysis ensures all details from the problem are addressed, providing a complete and self-contained response.

Last year, I bought a KG-UV3X PRO for my RDF cache of equipment and it was factory locked down so it can't be programmed for GMRS freqs. The manual referenced that the radio can be unlocked but you had to consult with the dealer to unlock it. The dealer did not have a clue what I was talking about and I couldn't find anyone else that knew anything about this radio. After playing with the radio for a few minutes and trying different things pushing the buttons on the radio and with the software the radio somehow unlocked and I don't know what I did to unlock it. I guess I had to use the ol' PFM know-how in order to make it happen whatever that was.