WRYZ926

This hobby is like any other hobby and can get expensive if you don't watch it. I bought a Baofeng GT-5R first for 2m and 70cm to listen on while waiting for my technician license. I also bought two Baofeng UV-5R GMRS radios once I received my GMRS license. I Also bought the Explorer QRZ-1 radio through QRZ and Giga Parts for new technicians. I also have two TYT TH-7800 dual band mobile radios along with a Midland MXT500 and Wouxun KG-XS20G. I ordered a KG-1000G Plus and am waiting for it to ship. One of the TYT mobiles and the KG-1000G are going in my vehicle and the XS20G will go into my SxS. And I am looking at better hand held radios for both GMRS and dual band. I will echo what others have said. Get two separate HT's. For starters, separate radios will keep you compliant with regulations. I know some don't care about that but it is what it is. Also as others have mentioned, the SWR could be off for one or more bands unless you want to swap antennas constantly. I recommend getting the Explorer QRZ-1 kit through QRZ for new technicians. It is a better HT than Baofeng HT's.

CHIRP operates the same on Mac and Windows, the only difference is the layout. I have CHIPR installed on my 2018 Mac mini and a one year old Dell laptop with Windows 11.

I have downloaded from one radio and made changes and was able to upload to that radio and a second radio of the same make/model without any issues. Both radios have to be the same make and model to do that. So I am going to say that it is quite possible that @Tiercel did not have the programming cable installed correctly or the radio was not on. I have two Baofeng UV-5R GMRS radios and do this all the time with them. When working with two different makes and/o models then I download from both radios and copy/paste what I want to change.

Did you have the radio turned on? Was the programming cable plugged in all the way?

The amateur radio club I belong to is considering getting one of those to put up on the repeater tower. We already have a 2m and 70cm repeater on the tower and will be adding GMRS to it soon.

I did not have to install Python to get CHIRP Next to work on my 2018 Mac mini with the Intel chip. The Windows exec file definitely will NOT work on a Mac without running Windows in Parallels or on a virtual machine.

I will say one thing, you can tweak some settings with manufacturers' software that you can't do in CHIRP. But unless I absolutely have to use OEM software, then I will use CHIRP. I've not had any issues with drivers on my Mac.

I use CHIRP most of the time since most manufacturer's software won't run on Mac. I will use manufacturer specific programming software on my Windows 11 laptop only when I have to. Midland and the Wouxun KG-XS20G are not CHIRP compatible so I program them with my Windows laptop.

We are seeing this issue on a few different models now. As I stated in the thread about this issue on the UV-5R GMRS radios, mine work fine on all channels. I bought mine from the Amazon Baofeng store as a two pack on 9 Oct 2023. I guess I should go buy a few lottery tickets from reading all the threads on the different models not working on channel 15.

I bought the two pack of the UV-5R GMRS radios from the Baofeng Amazon store and both work just fine on all channels. I bought mine on 9 Oct 2023 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGHXV6Y4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 I tested both radios and they transmit and receive on all channels.

I pre ordered mine yesterday so we'll see when I get it.

Buy Two Way Radios has refurbished Wouxun KG 100G (Not plus model) in stock on their eBay store for $270 https://www.ebay.com/itm/394948647580

I am hoping that I am not waiting very long either. Needless to say I will not be buying anymore SOC mobile/base stations after some testing I did yesterday. I have a Comet CA-712EFC on top of my house for GMRS and I was hearing some guys on channel 18 on my Midland MXT500 so I thought I would swap it out with my Wouxun KG-XS20G. There was a very noticeable difference in the sound quality that I was receiving between the two radios. The Wouxun KG-XS20G was better.

The tech license test is pretty simple as long as you can remember the FCC regulations and you know Ohm's Law. I'm currently studying for the general test now.

I am going to use a seat bolt mount for the remote heads for both dual band and GMRS radios in my 2023 Ford Escape. I ordered the Wouxun KG1000G today from Buy Two Way Radios. They say it will start shipping tomorrow. 3 November.

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

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.

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/

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.

I definitely pay attention to the people that have done this already. Plus my local HAM club has lots of knowledge for if/when we setup a GMRS repeater.

Yes I did read the Readme file. And there was two versions but the one will change the radio and say it is a different model.

@Sshannon I did watch a lot of his videos. I will also agree that people do focus on power too much at times. But the little 10watt repeaters would not be my choice for a wide area repeater simply because low power radios don't have the range of higher powered radios. Yes a good antenna up high definitely helps.

I saw the yesterday and will be watching closely.

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.

I used what ever the version is when clicking on the MXT500 Update firmware tool download button on Midland's website The spi file is: MXT500 V1_149_2021_5_11.spi