TDM827

Ok that brings a bit of clarity as my GXTs are pretty long in the tooth. Looking closer at the Midland website they definitely promote them as a GMRS radio these days.

Interesting. Kind of left scratching my head. Even the most up to date radio manual from Midland says you can use the GXP radio on channels 8-14. But goes on to say the radio will self regulate its power output on those channels to comply with FCC regulations, with no power adjustment possible. Which I believe would be 0.5W On the other hand the micro mobile does not even have these channels programmed in. So you truly cant utilize those channels.

WSHJ950, nice job. Most of us knew what you meant. Learning how to use repeaters with their radios is a stumbling block a lot of new users encounter. So I am glad things seem to be working out for you.

Midland heavily marketed the GPX1000 as GMRS / FRS radios. They have non-removable antennas and are not repeater capable. I suspect they want to attract customers who primarily are interested in using simplex GMRS, like on a family farm, with the ease, familiarity and ability to do FRS. They often sell these handhelds in combo packs with their micro-mobile units, which are fully repeater capable. Like I said, it must come down to marketing because they have been selling these combo packs for a long time and they seem to have attracted a large customer base. But hey what do I know, I am not a marketing pro.

Mostly hear kids talking back and forth. Also hear contractors / road crews. During the school year I pick up transportation coordinators at our local schools talking to bus drivers and staff. The school traffic is the most entertaining as the transportation coordinators often talk to the bus drivers like a general coordinating a battle plan. Who would have imagined getting kids on to school busses could be so intense.

So as OffRoadX mentions you need to get to repeater channel 2 and program the proper "Tone(s)" for that repeater into that channel you want to use. Those tones are the CTCSS or DCS tones the repeater uses to allow the repeater to open up or "hear" you. You may be able to hear repeater traffic all day long, but without the proper tones nobody on that repeated channel will ever hear you. Sometimes those tones are listed on the MyGMRS site if they are an open repeater. Other times you have to contact the repeater owner for the tones, other times you may need to join a group or "club" to have access to the tones. As I recommend to all new users, hit you tube and there are plenty of great GMRS tutorials to watch. You might get lucky and find a video on how to program your specific radio.

You got to the most important part right here. Also coming from a public safety and emergency management background I have seen plenty of people, or groups of people, plan to use land mobile radio in emergencies. Only to never learn to properly use, and equally important, regularly practice using radio. So if there is an emergency those folks are faced with having to "relearn" their plans during some really stressful times. Without doing some "practice" or "maintenance" comm sessions its even tougher for groups of people or families to stay committed to an emergency comms plan.

I agree that most GMRS radios are repeater capable and support codes. But, while pretty rare, some GMRS handhelds are not repeater capable. So those new the GMRS world should at least confirm your possible purchases are repeater capable. As an example, my Midland GXT1000s handhelds are technically GMRS radios, but they are not repeater capable. I never viewed this as a negative as my use case includes FRS as well as GMRS. And I was in the market for some more FRS radios. In other words I knew what I was getting into and understood their limitations when I purchased them. But if I was new to GMRS and was leaning exclusively toward GMRS, I would have been disappointed if I was expecting to hit repeaters with those units.

Are you using a programming cable or trying to program through the radio itself. For my Radioddity GS-5B both computer and blue tooth programing are pretty intuitive and easy to figure out. Not sure if the GM-30 is blue tooth capable, but they do offer programming cables. As OffRoaderX brought up. It sounds pretty basic, but is your repeater fairly close? Sometimes hitting a repeater from a handheld can be a challenge especially from inside your house.

WSHG974, If you already haven't figured it out OffroaderX,s youtube channel, "Not a Rubicon" is a good place to start learning if you are new to GMRS

I don't have a Baofeng, but there are tons of how to videos on YouTube on how to use them. I am sure you will get some great info here as well. Best of Luck.

Suggest you type "Jeep" into the search bar. There has been lots of discussion about mounting antennas on Jeeps, perhaps there are antenna recommendations as well.

I really don't think about it much. Professionally, over the last few decades I used all kinds / combinations of PTT buttons you describe. I can't say I really strongly prefer one over the other or worry about how hard the button is to press, as long as the radio works. Force me to pick and I would go with a tactile click.

You hit on the head. I believe when it comes to large companies creating user manuals the legal department has as much influence on the content, if not more, than the engineers. So we get these often ambiguous and confusing user manuals.

When I got a couple Midland GXT1000s I wondered the same thing. The owners manual kind of addresses the matter when using a NiMH battery pack. The manual does not specifically say you cannot do this. It basically says... "For maximum battery life, we recommend charging the battery pack when the low battery icon comes on." And to "remove the radio from the charger when the charge time expires." Their recommend charge time is 12hrs with the radio "off." So while they do not directly address if this will harm the radio, they do say you may not have a fully charged radio if you have the unit on while it's in the charger. They also recommend removing them from the charger when fully charged, but stop short of saying it will damage the radios or the battery packs. Personally, I don't know if the Midlands are up to long term continual monitoring while the radio is in the charger. So I avoid doing it. I do leave them in the charger and simply unplug the charging cord at the base of the charging unit. I plug it in ever few days for a few hours to "top" them off. About once a month I fully drain the batteries and recharge them fully. Here is the link to Midland radio manuals: https://support.midlandusa.com/hc/en-us/articles/25312693396375-Midland-Walkie-Talkies-Owner-s-Manuals I would file this under "at your own risk."

I second TrikeRadio's advice and do some testing to see what simplex will do for your group before going too far down the repeater rabbit hole. Of course, as preached continuously on these forums, things like topography, antenna height and type of antenna will have a huge impact on effective range. As an upside you, already have a group if interested friends. So if you do need a repeater you can spread the cost over several users. If you need a repeater, don't forget to budget for back up power (battery back up) or your repeater will likely be of no use during power outages.

I am super grateful to the owners / operators of our local repeaters. They dedicate lots of time and money making these repeaters go, and in return they seem to put up with a lot of BS. Way more than I could LOL Who knows what can happen or how long a disaster will last. So for any emergency comms planning it's good to have one plan for repeaters being functional and another if you are limited to simplex.

I am super grateful to the owners / operators of our local repeaters. They dedicate lots of time and money making these repeaters go, and in return they seem to put up with a lot of BS. Way more than I could LOL Who knows what can happen or how long a disaster will last. So for any emergency comms planning it's good to have one plan for repeaters being functional and another if you are limited to simplex.

Only when I buy that junk in the large tins every Xmas, lol

Well, looks like we have been told!

If the roof is steel and you are not keen on drilling into your new Bronco go with a good quality mag mount in the center of your roof. I believe you can find ones under 20 inches tall. If that is still too tall I second the recommendation for a low profile Midland. I personally like the Midland MXTA26, but its pretty tall and looks kind of ridiculous on a compact car. Believe it or not I have had good results with the small mag-mount that came with the mid-land. Of course it's not dual band.

Got no Jeep now, back in the 80s and 90s when I was stationed in California had a Wrangler. Back then they were not nearly as popular as they are today.

Sitting here, eating pop-corn, reading this thread and listening to my Midland = Priceless!

Google search for clubs in your area, you can also check facebook. If I remember correctly I found and joined Midwest GMRS via facebook.

I think if you are off roading in remote areas you will be fine chatter wise. But, when you get back to civilization you may run into hobbyists and rag chewers on GMRS. Besides self regulating and being courteous enough to allow others to use the frequencies there is nothing to prevent this. Saturday afternoon took the radio off scan as 2 repeater channels we nearly non-stop chit chat about radios, antennas the weather and what ever else the users thought everyone needed to hear about. Sometimes it just is what it is, Welcome to GMRS.