Jones

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........

73 is a Morse code leftover meaning "Best Regards".
 
It is made by tapping out the numbers 7 and 3 run together:
 
_ _ . . . . . . _ _
 
Dah Dah di di di di di di Dah Dah

73 is a Morse code leftover meaning "Best Regards".
 
It is made by tapping out the numbers 7 and 3 run together:
 
_ _ . . . . . . _ _
 
Dah Dah di di di di di di Dah Dah

WRFM92 is not a valid call sign.  Please check your license, and try again.

WRFM92 is not a valid call sign.  Please check your license, and try again.

The 7180, 7280, 8180, and 8280 use KPG-89D software.  The 780 and 880 use KPG-49D.  I'm not sure which software the 8160 uses.
 
The cable will be the same.

I appreciate the flowers... but there are two problems. 
 
1.)  I spent 3 years studying electronic technology and engineering.  I can describe electron flow to a 5 year old kid at a level they understand.  Right now I could start writing everything I know/think that could possibly help in any one given situation, and may finish in time to watch my 3 YO grandson graduate from high school.  And I'm not even close to the smartest guy on this forum.  There is WAY to much information in my head to share all of it, I don't want to write it all down, and I have no idea what is important to YOU until you ask.  
 
 
2.)  The issue isn't to know when to lead.  The issue is for the user to know what direction they want to be led. Then, I can help you 'if' I am qualified to do so.
 
 
Enter forums... a place were people can come with specific questions and experienced people will try to help. 
 
 
 
 
Yes...  ^^^  This. 
 
 
 
We are all here to help, learn and rag-chew about the tech.  However, goals, limiting factors and aptitude of the person needing help, makes possibilities endless.

Just an insert note here for those new-to-the-hobby folks who are totally confused by the last few posts... "UHF" connectors, as they have been called for decades, are not really good for use on what we now know as the UHF band.  Back in the old days, UHF was considered pretty much anything over 30MHz.
 
Now, what's all this talk about SO and PL connectors?  The military designation "SO-239" is the female UHF connector.  The "PL-259" is the male UHF plug. These are the antenna connectors that have been used on CB radios since the 1960s, and still are today. You will also see reference to "SO-238" or "PL-258", which is a double female "Barrel" connector for hooking two coax cable together if both have PL-259 plugs. Those should be avoided at all cost on GMRS. If you need a longer coax, buy a longer coax, don't try to extend one.
 
Although UHF connectors are fine for CB, they just aren't as good on GMRS.  Constant impedance, and weather protected type N connectors are much preferred.

The 7180, 7280, 8180, and 8280 use KPG-89D software.  The 780 and 880 use KPG-49D.  I'm not sure which software the 8160 uses.
 
The cable will be the same.

Just an insert note here for those new-to-the-hobby folks who are totally confused by the last few posts... "UHF" connectors, as they have been called for decades, are not really good for use on what we now know as the UHF band.  Back in the old days, UHF was considered pretty much anything over 30MHz.
 
Now, what's all this talk about SO and PL connectors?  The military designation "SO-239" is the female UHF connector.  The "PL-259" is the male UHF plug. These are the antenna connectors that have been used on CB radios since the 1960s, and still are today. You will also see reference to "SO-238" or "PL-258", which is a double female "Barrel" connector for hooking two coax cable together if both have PL-259 plugs. Those should be avoided at all cost on GMRS. If you need a longer coax, buy a longer coax, don't try to extend one.
 
Although UHF connectors are fine for CB, they just aren't as good on GMRS.  Constant impedance, and weather protected type N connectors are much preferred.

I would like to be one of the first in line for one of these. Especially if you are able to offer a "new product" or "mygmrs" discount!

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!

Yes, we're expanding our lineup to include the XT511, as well as some of the E+Ready products from Midland.
 
Hoping to expand the product offerings in the next week or so.

the 8160 uses KPG-99D

The 7180, 7280, 8180, and 8280 use KPG-89D software.  The 780 and 880 use KPG-49D.  I'm not sure which software the 8160 uses.
 
The cable will be the same.

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.

The more I learn about the FCC's General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), the more I am fascinated by RF in general. It touches everyone's lives every second of every day, yet few people pay much attention. How cool is it that after 42 years and 14 billion miles away, the 22-Watt radio on Voyager 1 is still sending data back to earth every day (how important is that antenna?). So why aren't more people interested in GMRS or RF in general? There's no test to get a license like amateur (ham) radio. It's $70 for a 10-year license, and is really easy to get started. So here are some theories.
 
People don't know:
GMRS exists  Why GMRS exists  Why they'd want to use GMRS  How to envision themselves participating in GMRS  What it takes to get started with GMRS  What it takes to continue and improve with GMRS Technical information they should know about GMRS Etiquette when transmitting (TX) on GMRS What a GMRS "Net" is and why Most people within the GMRS community are helpful once you're in, but the community is very inviting in a go-figure-it-out-yourself way, and no one has assembled everything you need to know about GMRS all in one place.
 
We GMRS people are putting the onus on outsiders to sift through thousands of painfully esoteric webpages with a winnowing fork, separating useful info from useless, poorly written, or incomplete info.
 
When I first heard about GMRS on a 4x4 trip, I arrived home and Googled around and settled on a Midland MXT-275 because it seemed perfect for mounting on my truck dashboard. At the time, I had no idea that Midland doesn't manufacture a GMRS radio capable of operating on split-tone repeaters (Dear Midland, I know you're reading this: why do you squander so much potential?). Edit 6/28/2021: Midland heard our cry! They just updated the MXT-275 to include split-tone programming on repeater channels. So for example, now this radio is able to reach a repeater that receives (RX) incoming transmissions on 467.550 with a PL tone of 103.5 and repeats the transmission (TX) at 462.550 with a PL tone of 88.5.
I didn't even know what "split tone" was or even what "tone" meant, or carrier or squelch or hundreds of other little things you all take for granted. Since then, I realized that if the big, bad manufacturers like Midland, Kenwood, Motorola, and iCom can't even invite the public to learn more and provide useful content for each stage of the customer journey—Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, and Loyalty—the 2-way radio industry has much deeper problems and aren't there to help guys like me.
 
As we get involved deeper into GMRS, there's little-to-no hand-holding going on at each level of knowledge. I ending up relying on the Ham community here and there and a guy who is basically a saint at a little radio shop in Phoenix, Arizona (hope Tim over at Procomm and the others at the nonprofit AZGMRS.org don't mind me giving them a shout-out).
 
Edit 4/14/2020: By the way, AZGMRS made this awesome list of FCC-approved GMRS radios that they recommend. If you live anywhere near Arizona and are reading this, now would be a great time to become a member. Their repeater network covers some 100 miles around Phoenix with more and more repeaters joining the network (check out their sweet coverage map).
 
But it's still frustrating.
 
I wish a GMRS expert—presumably a manufacturer—would just come out and say exactly what a total newbie needs at each stage of their involvement or level of need. Two-way radio manufacturers should stop wasting time trying to sell, and start marketing and branding, which means educating the public about the 5 W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why [+how, +how much]) without trying to sell to them.
 
Most new users don't know what they need because they don't know what's possible. For example, I wish I knew that manufacturers don't typically include the best antenna on their radios right out of the box. It took me over a year to realize that the best bang for the buck for a portable base antenna to include in my go bag is N9TAX's Slimjim and that Smiley Antenna makes the best bang for the buck antennas for hand-held radios (which by the way, everyone just assumes newbies are supposed to know that hand-held walkie-talkie radios are called "HT" for "Handy-talkie" and what a "QSO" is).
 
How would a newbie know that the cheap Nagoya 771 "upgrade" antenna for Baofengs that everyone talks about actually isn't the best bang for the buck for the GMRS frequency band of 462–467? How would a newbie know that antennas work best when tuned exactly to what they call a "center" frequency that accommodates 5 Megahertz in each direction (+5 and -5 Megahertz) at the expense of hearing other frequencies?
 
I learned the hard way that in order to properly install an NMO antenna mount on the roof of my truck, I would need a drill bit specifically made for drilling NMO antenna mount holes, and that yes, it is worth the money to do it right the first time.
 
I'm still in the middle of learning how a "quarter-wave" or "5/8 wave" antenna works, the difference between dB gain vs. dBi gain, mic gain, antenna gain, because again, everyone seems to just assume I already know what all this means. I still don't understand what antenna "tuning" means and why you have to "cut" an antenna to "tune" it. Can I make my own antenna right now in a pinch with a copper wire in my garage? Ok, show me! How do I measure it or test it? What is SWR? Can I measure it myself? What do I need in order to measure it? Is one SWR meter better than another for my level as a newbie? Is there something I should learn to make it worth buying the better meter that opens up a whole new world of capability? Is it worth learning all that?
 
This graphic did a great job beginning to explain what dBd gain means for those of us who know next to nothing about it, but now I need to go find out on my own and sift through a thousand webpages to find out if dBd is something new I need to know. Speaking of dB, I know that "dB" is a decibel, but is it the same as my stereo volume? Why do I see manufacturers saying that the microphone and cable have a dB rating? What is going on here? This is madness! We can Google things all day, but which info is true and correct and the most helpful?
 
I think that the entire industry is sitting on a Gold Mine of consumers sitting at home for weeks on end who would love to buy GMRS equipment and communicate via GMRS to friends, family, neighbors, and other GMRS users. Whoever provides the most useful, relevant, and engaging content that stops making assumptions about what people know or don't know will win.
 
STOP ASSUMING. START EDUCATING.

Increase the font size just a bit on your information to fill more space. 
 
Get rid of the "www." in front of that QCWA web address.  Having WWW. in front of everything was cool in the 90's, but it isn't needed anymore, and all modern browsers will automatically add that if needed.  Radio and television don't even use that anymore.  They finally figured out that "double yoo double yoo double yoo dot" wastes 10 syllables and 2 seconds. That's almost 7 percent of the available time in a 30 second commercial.
 
The lower third of that card could be a photo of you and your station, or your family, whatever... cropped to a 1:4 aspect ratio. - ultra wide-screen.

The mismatch is not between the connectors. Always use type "N" connectors when possible, but if your antenna is type "N" and the radio is SO-239, then using a cable with type "N" on the antenna side, and a PL-259 on the radio side is the way to go. Try to never use adapters in any kind of permanent installation.
 
The impedance bump is on the PL-259, not on the "N" connector, which is an impedance balanced connector.  {By the way, there are 2 different types of "N" connectors out there, depending on whether you are using 50 Ohm or 75 Ohm transmission line (cable).}
 
To clarify your previous question, "...if the radio has an SO-239, should you also get an antenna with an SO-239 so they match?" ...the answer is NO. Always use "N" connectors for UHF when available, but if SO/PL is what the device has, use it.  Having different connectors on each end of the feedline is not the problem, and having a slight mismatch on one end is better than having a slight mismatch on both ends.

You likely would have done better using a N female to PL259, MPD digital cables basically have a lifetime guarantee, but if you cut them you lose that

LMR400 also crimps a bit differently. You need to have the proper connectors and tools to make sure the crimp is correct with as little loss as possible. My experience is that your better off with soldier/crimp combinations when it comes to LMR cables. You have to make sure the cable is cut cleanly (Using a pair of shears is not advised) and accurately (1/16" of an inch off with your shielding can cause a lot of issues with reflected power) A lot of people will claim the loss is from the PL259 connection added in, but personally I haven't seen much effect unless you have multiple PL259 connectors in a long run of coax, and even then, I think the length of coax has more to do with loss than the connectors do.

Lastly, its very difficult to get a perfect 1:1 in SWR and 0 reflected power. II tell people that if they are less than 1.3:1 SWR they shouldn't continue tweaking their system as its easy to lose ground just as you have.

The straight answer is: No, a longer antenna will NOT help. An antenna HIGHER UP IN THE AIR will help tremendously.
 
Those guys walking around with a 19-24 inch long rubber antenna flopping around from the top of their walkie-talkies are on VHF ham bands, not GMRS.   ...or else they are idiots.
 
BTECH will gladly recommend that you buy anything that they sell, if it makes you happy.

Jones has it right regarding the Community repeater falling under Part 90 - and requiring each individual (or group) using the repeater to be licensed. The Licensing for a Community repeater will show an FB4 designation.
 
That said, most Community repeaters have gone the way of Party Line telephones. The current method that most shops use is the FB6 "Private Carrier" - which means that the business who owns the repeater is the  Licensee, and then they rent out airtime to individuals or user groups.  The biggest advantage to the FB6 Private Carrier designation is that you don't need to go get each user a 10 year license, especially if the use would be short term, like an event rental.
 
Cost for a 10 year license in Part 90 is $170  - PLUS you need to pay a Frequency Coordination fee (As far as I know, you cannot self-coordinate any FB6 repeater pairs). Frequency Coordination is a 3rd party, and the fees they charge can vary - but figure on spending between $350 to $500 for an FB6 coordination on a single frequency pair at a single site. Multiple pairs or Multi site systems can run much higher.
 
Frequency Coordination is a one time fee - and once you're built out and on the air, your only ongoing License fee is the (current) $170 renewal fee to the FCC every 10 years. Truly pennies per day to operate, and Coordination means that you should not be stepping on someone else's toes every time you key up, but in crowded Metropolitan areas, you will most likely not have truly exclusive use of a channel.

What are you looking to extend? HT use?
 
Typically using a repeater that is open to the public doesn't require any special permission from the owner. Depending on your setup, they would have no way of knowing anyway.
 
That said, cross-band repeat into another repeater is a massive PITA. You have significant delay during the switching process and you can't talk until the repeater drops and your cross-band repeater drops out of transmit mode. You likely won't hear the first couple of words of others and if you start talking too soon, people may not hear your first few words.

He has tagged the article as BTECH V1.  I think he means see above tag. ...right at the top of the page, under the title.

The straight answer is: No, a longer antenna will NOT help. An antenna HIGHER UP IN THE AIR will help tremendously.
 
Those guys walking around with a 19-24 inch long rubber antenna flopping around from the top of their walkie-talkies are on VHF ham bands, not GMRS.   ...or else they are idiots.
 
BTECH will gladly recommend that you buy anything that they sell, if it makes you happy.