bobthetj03

Do you have any trees on your property, or a high rise apartment you can hang an antenna off the balcony? The BNC adapters are a great idea to convert your HT to using multiple antennas, and will reduce the stress to the SMA connectors if you decide to add coax to an external antenna. A roll up J-pole, or "slim jim antenna" is a great way to toss an antenna into a tree or hang off a ledge, or even put up on a telescoping pole for added range. https://n9taxlabs.com/shop/ols/products/dual-band-murs-gmrs-slim-jim-with-10-or-16-foot-cable/v/DUAL-MUGM-LONG-BNCM Or, go full redneck and toss a NMO style mag mount with a NMO antenna on a cookie sheet and toss it on your roof. It could double as your mobile antenna on the roof of your vehicle, provided your vehicle has a metal roof.

Another option, if they come back in stock again, https://www2.randl.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_320&products_id=74824 I looked for 6 months for this radio to come back in stock. When it finally did, I grabbed. It wasn't a week later and they were out of stock again. It was unlocked right out of the box. The cross band repeat feature was a nice bonus. It's now my base unit at home. I originally wanted it for my Wrangler, as I have similar space constraints, but I was impatient and got a Yaesu FTM-200D and was able to make room for a Wouxun KGXS-20G in the dash as it has a pretty small footprint.

Another vote for the KGXS-20G. I've had mine in my Wrangler for a couple years with no issues. I also have had a Btech 25X2. I lasted a year until the finals went out.

Leave 15-22 for the repeaters. Dump the wattage restrictions and make 1-14 5 watts. Now you have 14 channels to pick a national calling frequency for GMRS.

He'll have to steal from 70cm to keep it in the UHF band. 70cm has room, lol!

The KG935G is a great choice for a GMRS HT. It is a tank! It's not unreasonable to have 2 radios, one for GMRS, and one for Ham, so don't be scirr'd. Get your Ham ticket, then scour the Youtubes for research. Keep in mind, if you want one radio to do both, consider the possible damage that you could do to your radio by transmitting out of band and creating a poor SWR to your radio. You'll end up having to change antennas every time you switch from Ham bands to GMRS. Just get a radio that is type certified and enjoy the hobby. Don't worry, if you get your Ham ticket, you'll never have enough radios, lol!

Midland sure loves to fill a niche. There is a reason to spend more $$ for an antenna than the radio, but this isn't one of them.

The FT-65 will do this. Yeah, it doesn't dual watch, but how many stations are you scanning when on the trail? Set up a bank to scan the critical stations and it'll scan faster than you need.

Is it worth the cost to have 900 preprogrammed channels, of which you'd have to weed thru to find any of them that pertain to your area? IMO, a KG935G would get the job done.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IDTJ2KE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My Wouxun KGXS-20G mobile has a great receiver capable of listening to most 2M/70cm bands, along with EMS frequencies in the VHF/UHF spectrum, while still being part 95E compliant for GMRS as it is intended. If you don't have a Ham license yet, then having a radio that is unlocked to other bands is pointless, unless you are just waiting for a SHTF event to happen, then all bets are off. With that said, if you are looking for a mobile radio you can grow into, anticipating that you will be getting your Ham license, then I can see some utility in getting a "unlocked" radio. You still aren't playing within the FCC overlord's rules, but that's a personal decision you need to cross. This one will also do what you want with very little effort, https://baofengtech.com/product/uv-25x2/?gclid=CjwKCAiAp7GcBhA0EiwA9U0mtokfwjxBMudqpJc1PItRImISBUW5ghpxbOasOHYBSiCJ8AthqwMXohoCnIMQAvD_BwE If you want 50 watts, their 50 X 2 has a bit bigger chassis, but does the same things.

They need to take that menu option out, along with the shift direction. Since your HT is part 95E compliant, the GMRS 5.0000 offset is burned into the radio. You don't need to do anything with that. Those menu options are left overs from the Ham radio side.

And yes "Some People", I know, you lose the IP protection that this radio is rated for. I don't care. I won't play with it in the bathtub, k.

I convert all my HT's to use BNC connector style antennas. Makes swapping different antennas stupid easy. This isn't a KG935G, but you get the idea.

I'm not so much a Midland hater per say, but I'd say I was a little disappointed with my MXT-275 as well. I didn't have any real problems with it until I realized it was stuck in narrow band, and that it could not do split tones (I had the pre-c port version). One of our best repeaters in my area used DCS split tones, so that was a bummer. As I became more involved with GMRS, I quickly outgrew the radio and wanted more features, so I sold it to a fellow jeeper that just wanted a radio for simplex coms.