WRXP381

That sucks. Hope it’s an easy fix and an isolated issue. Many of our club members run this and like them. . This is why I personally won’t run radios that cost more than about $200. If/when something starts to go wrong I just toss them and buy a new one. However I’ve never actually had that happen. All my “cheap”mobiles and base units are still running strong. Many of them for many years.

Wow might be something wrong with your set up. I get well over 200miles from my comet 712efc with a 20w base station on all frequencies with a low swr. Most of our radio club is running them as well. Many have switched over and love them.

gmrs only radios arnt 400-470 they are a set of specific frequencies or “channels” so this wouldn’t help anyway. If you wanted noaa you should have purchased a noaa capable radio. Many gmrs radios have noaa. All my radios I use for gmrs also have noaa.

You should be contacting Iceland for this. You don’t want to end up in an Iceland prison.

Hahaha that’s some funny stuff. Maybe at one time but no longer. Especially with GMRS.

Input tone.

Look online for gmrs or even ham clubs in your are. Have a young person help you get your gmrs license from the fcc web page. That things is a might mare. Then you can register here. I’d be glad to walk you through things after that. What are city state do you live in?

So some gmrs frequencies are also narrow band so there is that. Also narrow and wide can talk to each other just not with the best results. I can also set any of my radios and any frequency to narrow if I need to. I have easily talked to narrow band FRS bubble pack radios with all of my radios I use for gmrs with zero issues. some people just have no clue what they are doing.

All I can say is there are more uv5r radios in the world than all the others combined. Excel Motorola obviously Midland spends 10xs the money on advertising then RandD. That should also tell you something. They are geared towards people that don’t k ow any better. Any radio is as simple or hard to use as you make it. I’ve been in The off road world and made a good living from it for about 40 years. No one that ever gets serious about radios ever keeps the midland products. Or rugged junk for that matter. They either get sold or go in the trash for better less costly radios.

there are many many videos and what not about this type of thing. Getting a good enough antenna up high enough is always the problem with anything portable. Also the battery life is a problem. Adding a solar charger would help with that but adds bulk. A hand held and a good external antenna can easily do 30miles maybe more depending on many factors. The weight and size of a radio in a box with antenna and cable is not something you want to carry for long in an evac situation.

Swr may be fine but how does it transmit and receive? You have great line of site with tailgate view how far are you able to get out?

Depending on the radio yes you can listen on many uhf and vhf frequencies. https://www.radioreference.com/db/ is a good place to start

Midlands stink. And btw a bubble pack FRS radio will communicate with ANY other gmrs no problem. Midland are 2-4xs the price of a better radio.

Get 1 gmrs license from the fcc. Read everything you can. Think about your budget and when you get your license you can see more and talk more with people. What part of the country are you in?

This is a good fun tool kit to use. When I used one similar it was very accurate.

Wow. This is a load of info that most “normal people” dont care about. Hears how it works for most people. Find the highest point they can in the area they want to set up in, buy a 20-50w repeater system, coax, antenna, tower if need be, Install and use. These are usually the same people that tell me I can’t get over 200miles from California to Las Vegas for the twice weekly nets a check in on.

I know 90% of the time I’m able to talk clear as day out 200miles but some days it just doesn’t happen especially at night. Dew? Fog? LED lights? Some ones huge TV? That’s pretty strange. What IS between you and the repeater?

28miles is on the edge for a hand held Should be fine for a base station. What radio are you using? If it’s not a solar power issue then I’d agree it’s something sciency. If you’re using a hand held can you upgrade the antenna? Mount a bigger one out side and run a cable?

Yes on the proper channels as already stated and you’re not running an amp. Just 50w out of the radio to the antenna and you’re good. Heck you can even run a 5w radio with a 50w amp. Then the antenna can be what ever you want. I run a 20w base with a 9db antenna and get over 200miles. A friend runs a 50w radio and a 12db gain yagi directional antenna and does VERY well for distance but only in one direction.

Uummm no

50w at the radio. That is why it’s totally ok for guys to run 50w radios and 12db gain yaggis.

Didn’t even think of the factory charger. I’m so used to USB at this point.

Yes many. Anything that will charge a cell phone will charge a radio that has a usb charge port. I have seen them from $15- $100 or more. Just look for a cell phone Solar charger. Also some have solar and built in batterys for battery back up.

Joshua tree has a good repeater as well as yucca valley. They are both very large.