Screech

In the FRS/GMRS side 9 would be a very poor choice due to 0.5w limits there. The kid in me says 6 would be the best alternate since you could monitor 6 on one service and 9, and who can't easily remember 6/9. But, as we know, while FRS radio would be limited to 2W an all the channels outside the 8-14 range, a GMRS radio can go to 50w on 15-22 and if you have an emergency you want to most reach you can get.

I got my updated MXT275 back Wednesday and got it set back up. I've been using it a few days on the local repeater now and so far, I've not heard any complaints about my audio being quiet anymore. I would say it works at this time.

I have a Jackery 1500 Explorer. Under no load (I've not measured under a load) I was seeing 13.3V output. For my higher power radio (KG-1000G) I just use the AC output to my SamlexPower SEC-1235 power supply that is stable at 13.8, even under the load on H power while transmitting. Also, note, the KG-1000G has 15A fuses, the DC output on the Jackery is rated at 10A, another reason I didn't direct DC connect this radio to the Jackery. With my smaller first radio (Midland MXT275) I regularly powered directly from the Jackery DC power with no issues while camping.

Or, use 19 in most of the US and in areas it is not allowed offset it 1 channel up to 20.

I see the set the HT to listen on the repeater input freq and tone, if you can, has already been suggested. That was going to be my first idea, see how far the HT can be and how good a signal you get from the base. If there is an antenna or coax issue, perhaps it can listen fine, but the output range is greatly impacted. Do you know what SWR you're getting while transmitting on 467.550? If I understood right, you said HTs are reaching in and hearing the output of the repeater fine. That being the case I wouldn't say the repeater is the problem.

I should have my MXT275 back on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to testing with it. I also received information on how to determine if your radio is using wide band on the repeater channels. When you do a factory reset on the MXT275 with USB-C, it will show the version of the mic (Ux) and the base (Rx). Base version R8 has narrow band and base version R9 has wide band, again only on the repeater channels. I also learned that the MXT115 with USB-C can support wide band on the repeater channels. This radio only shows a Ux number and U2 version does wide band.

Yeah, when I got my DM-1701 it took a while to get it programmed with CPS and I've been using Chirp for years on my analog dual band. I had to get the DMR though because more and more racetracks are going digital instead of analog and I don't like using their headsets, I have my own and my own radio that I'll use at tracks that the com manager will allow me to. I've had a couple say no to allowing me to use my radio and that is fine. I have been getting more headset adapters over the years though and that seems to work for using my headset with their radios.

That can vary from region to region. I've had my GMRS for almost 5 years, got it back when it was a 5 year for $70, and I just bought my first radio, Midland MXT275, in March while camping in Florida when I finally heard GMRS users on a local repeater through my part 90 radio I use at races that I was using as a scanner. Prior to that I was borrowing a radio while on trips to the mountains of NC (US-129) with a group of car enthusiast. I had some decent conversations with them while camping between races down there. After getting back to my home area I connected to the local repeater (Newport 575) and most I seem to get around here is a radio check confirmation.

@tweiss3 That may be the simplest option. My XLT doesn't have a speaker there, but I'd bet if I pull that trim piece up there is a mounting location, should just need to buy the Lariat trim speaker and cover. Time to start looking for that, maybe they are not on back order. I already ordered one dash trim panel I'm cutting up and test fitting the KG-1000G face plate on. Update: looks like about $130 for the grill, speaker and speaker plug from Ford. The path I was going was at about $160.

I mostly use the Android Auto for music and navigation, so that is a different audio input, uses either USB or BT for audio from phone to truck. Navigation though AA is better than the Sync3 navigation Ford ships with.

Thanks for the suggestion. Looking at that it looks like a mixer similar to what I linked already. Unless I'm misreading the details, it still requires mic/line level inputs, so I would still need the speaker to line level converters, and since it is single channel instead of dual channel output, I would need two of them. And then I'd still need the amp on the output to the speaker. If I'm tapping into the speakers on the truck I would rather do it in pairs just so that that pair of speakers should have a similar sound, without then needing to add an eq as well to "balance" the sound back out from variations in sound from the added amp on a single side. So at this moment if I had to choose between the quick pick I did verse this one I'll choose the quick pick, unless there is something about the one you linked that I misread. Also the 24V power requirement is a nonstart on that one.

I've recently got a KG-1000G for my truck, it's a basic 2021 Ranger XLT so the ACM directly powers the speakers. I'm planning on mounting the radio body in the back behind the rear seat and I'm looking for a clean install. With the radio behind the rear seat I'm not expecting much from the internal speakers and I'm not really expected the speaker on the handset to be that great. I'm sure the easiest way would be to put a dedicated external speaker or two on the 1000G and call it a day. But I don't want new visible speakers and I'm not sure the audio quality if I hide the speaker somewhere, maybe under the seats. So, perhaps feedback on hidden external speaker locations in the Ranger that have good clean audio. Foreword, linked products are just examples of the type of product, not necessarily the product I plan to buy as I have more research on those before I would commit to that. Right now, I'm thinking of getting a couple of speaker to line level converters, one for the radio's front channels and the other for the 1000G's A and B outputs. Running the outputs of those converters into a stereo mixer with at least 2 pairs of inputs and 1 output pair (L/R). Next would be a small amp to the front speakers. Have A on the left and B on the right. The amp would not need to be a big one either as the stock radio in this is not very powerful and I don't want the doors over powering everything else. Optionally if I wanted to upgrade the whole sound system I would go with a 4 channel amp and get another speaker to line level adapter on the radio's rear channels. Has anyone done this, or aware of a similar or preferred way of doing this? I will say I'm not looking for using an Aux/BT input into the truck's radio as I'm then forced to choose music or GMRS.

Cool. I just checked, and my radio has shipped, should have it by the weekend. Programming cable arrived last week with the antenna.

If you let Windows update this device driver it the new Prolific driver will not allow it to work reporting it as a fake prolific device. I'm not sure if it's real or not or what rules there are with the driver, I do know that I've had to download and force the driver to an older version from Prolific. The driver I currently have installed is 3.2.0.0.

I ran the software a little to see how the interface is while I'm waiting on my radio and if you put the AM channels in their own 100 channel block, I think you can set A to scan just that block.

Page 40 if it's the same version as the downloadable PDF from BTWR.

Are you in Area A or B? Only Area A supports all the receivable frequencies. Area B is limited to 136-174.995 MHz and 400-479.995 MHz.

Even if it had enough power, odds are there would be lots of noise on the power input.

@Ringo I see @Dave453 already corrected one part, but didn't really point it out. You indicated you set the freq to 467.625, it should be 462.625. When you are setting up the repeater channels in Chirp you setup the radio's receiving freq (the freq the repeater transmits) and then your offset indicates where you transmit relative to that receiving freq. Also, you noted DPL, were those frequencies or 3 digit codes? If there were 3 digit codes, you put that in the DTCS Code column, not ToneSql, and set the Tone Mode to DTCS.

OK, so I just emailed Midland about this. All of the older USB-A model MXT275 are narrow band only. The new USB-C model MXT275 up to until very recently have shipped as narrow band only. It sounds like they well start shipping from Midland with wide band on the repeater channels, but since not all of their inventory has the update, you need to state you want that firmware/config when ordering so they can update the firmware/config before shipping it. If you have already received a USB-C model or buy one from a retail store it will likely be narrow band only, but you can email Midland Support and then mail your radio in for firmware/config update that sets the repeater channels to wide band.

And, I have a reply. They state that I would have to ship the radio to them (Roger) with a note that states what I would like updated and a return address. So, if you have this MXT275 w/USB-C odds are unless you just got it directly from Midland you are still narrow band everywhere. But being able to ship the radio in for update is good. But I'll likely wait for a replacement to be on hand to do that.

If you are looking for being able to fine tune the volume, I would highly suggest getting [an] external speaker(s) with [its](their) own analog volume control(s). I've got this radio on order. Plan is most likely to put it in the truck with the base of the radio behind the rear seats and the fan set to hot or TX. I'm would really like an option to route the audio from the speaker output of the 1000G into the truck sound system, but not found a good option for that with the Ranger. I've considered the 3.5mm to FM devices (thinking of routing area A to left channel and area B to right channel), but not sure how good of an option that will be. In theory if I'm TXing I'm not listening, but not sure if it will push out the weak FM signal from the little device enough to get static on the radio or other noise while TXing. I may just have to test it.

I did reach out back in March right after I got this unit. And they told me this unit was narrow band only and I complained a little about the issue (others reporting that I'm quiet compared to everyone else) that was causing while using repeaters. Maybe they reviewed the config and decided on this update because I contacted them and complained a little. I don't know. I'll reach back out though and see if mine can be updated. Previous emails with support:

That is not how I read it, it reads like there are 2 firmware versions the USB-C model could ship with, otherwise there would be no need to them to updated it before shipping. I have the updated USB-C version and on the repeater I've been reported as quite by others.

That "MTX275 is wide band" should also note the rest of the info. That any currently on a retail shelf do not. It is not user configurable or programmable and only applies to repeater channels. Must be sent in for firmware update (if that is an option they will support, they just mentioned field updates are not possible) or order new and request the updated firmware. The worst part is I don't see where they have indicated a way to determine the current firmware on the radio so you even know if your repeater channels are wide/narrow.