Midland MX115

[mitzvah]

My wife had a cow when she saw me installing my Btech GMRS -50X1. The radio is just to big for inside front seat area. Maybe under the seat, but unit would not be able to say in car do

to high crime area. So I was thinking of a small Midland MX115. The pros would be that it is well vary small, I can use the cigar light plug for power and it would fit into the small glove

box. But at 15 watts and I guess a radio on a chip is it a toy or would it be of value until 50X1 can find a long term location (thinking truck).

Thank you.

[wayoverthere]

While it's a little limited feature wise (no split tones is the biggie), and a little low on power (trade for that small size), the Midlands are still decent little radios.

If size is an issue, the mxt275 may be another option, with the display in the mic while the main body can be tucked away.

[BoxCar]

You can also look at the BTECH 25X2.

[WyoJoe]

There's also the Anytone AT-779UV or its clone, the Retevis RA25. Both come in GMRS variants with up to 20W output.

They are small radios (a little less than 5x4x1.5"), possibly similar in size to the Midland MX-115, though probably a bit taller.

I don't know much about the programmability of them, but from the little I've found online, they may be limited to only 30 channels.

[mitzvah]

14 hours ago, BoxCar said:

You can also look at the BTECH 25X2.

   The Btech 25X2 is a Ham radio. The Anytone AT-779UV and the Retevis RA25 don't have repeater channels. I may go with the Midland MXT 275 with it's everything on the mic.

But thank you all for your help.

[n4gix]

Actually repeater's are supported.

Quote

3.AnyTone AT-779UV Dual Band Car Radio feature 8 Repeater/51CTCSS/1024DCS/VOX, DTMF, 2Tone, 5Tone setting for each single channel; 

 

[OffRoaderX]

Take a look at the Wouxun KG-1000G.  It's 50W and has a small, remote-mount faceplate, so you can toss the chassis under the seat, and put the small faceplate wherever it best suits the decor.. 

I LOVE this radio, mostly because of that..but it's also a good radio - far better than the 50X1 (of which I also have).

[mitzvah]

WyoJoe, n4gix: As a wise man once said 20 watts is better then 15 watts. So going to hit the BUY tap and get the Anytone AT779UV

Thank you for your help.

OffRoader: Yes have heard good things about the KG-1000G. But so far GMRS is turning out like CB (money pit). My only contacts on GMRS so far have been online (forums).

I am learning lot of 4 letter word, screaming and channel grabbers (Channel 22)

Thank you.

[mitzvah]

Ops I met I hear a lot of 4 letter words and folks screaming on channel 22 (So Cal area). And then the channel grabbers on a power trip...to funny.  

[gortex2]

MXT275 is the way to go. Throw the mic in the glove box or center console and no one knows its there. 

[WyoJoe]

23 hours ago, mitzvah said:

WyoJoe, n4gix: As a wise man once said 20 watts is better then 15 watts. So going to hit the BUY tap and get the Anytone AT779UV

Thank you for your help.

OffRoader: Yes have heard good things about the KG-1000G. But so far GMRS is turning out like CB (money pit). My only contacts on GMRS so far have been online (forums).

I am learning lot of 4 letter word, screaming and channel grabbers (Channel 22)

Thank you.

I am also going to give the AT779UV a try. If it works okay as a mobile unit, I'll buy a couple more for family members so we can use them around town, or when we are traveling together in a caravan, etc.

I also have a KG-1000G, and it is a great radio, but the price is a bit steep for something I would be giving to a family member just for occasional use.

[Extreme]

Trying to program a couple repeaters into a buddy's MXT 115 mobile.  Gave him the repeater codes (141.3) and walked him through inserting them into CH20 and CH21 (.625 and .675) after enabling  repeater (rp) on those two channels.  We couldn't communicate.  Is there something we're missing?

He has the hard copy manual and I was referring to it on .pdf I got online.

He's going to drive the 15 miles to my place tomorrow so we can try it in person.  FWIW his antenna is mounted on his JK spare tire mount and I'm pretty sure it's the one included in the 115 package.  Darn Jeeps and their fiberglass roofs..  Maybe we can rig up a better antenna mount for him but he's probably sensitive about drilling, etc.

Is there Midland software out there to program separate from the FP?  I'll go look.

Thanks.

PS/Edit:  with the Midland going to only CH22 is it correct to just choose the channel corresponding with the repeater freq (462.675) to make it the repeater channel. I understand there is no split-tone capability on the Midlands but neither of the repeaters have ST and both run on 141.3. What about the 5k TX/RX offset?  Is that built into the Midland?  I didn't see any specifics on that in the manual.

[WyoJoe]

My first thought was ensuring you entered the repeater codes on the transmit side of the radio. If entered on the receive side, they will not open the squelch on the repeater.

On the Midland, I'm not sure what the menu settings are called, but it would be something along the lines of TXCTS vs. RXCTS.

That would be the first thing I would check.

The second thing that caught my attention is that you mention CH20 and CH21, which are sequential, and frequencies of .625 and .675, which are not.

.650 is between them, so are you sure you're using the correct channels?

[wayoverthere]

First, for repeater use, you want the channels with the RP suffix, on those the offset should be preset. If the channel is just XX, you're on the simplex channel. You do have to enable them in the menu, then the channels will count up to 22, then 15rp through 22rp.

Second, good catch WyoJoe....625 and .675 should be channels 18 and 20.

Third, it sounds like you got the codes set successfully before, it sets the tone for both tx and RX (as you mentioned, no separate setting means no split tones.), And you get the game of cross referencing the tone to midland's corresponding code. If .625 and .675 are the frequencies in use, set the tones on channels 18rp and 20rp and check again.

[Extreme]

4 hours ago, wayoverthere said:

First, for repeater use, you want the channels with the RP suffix, on those the offset should be preset. If the channel is just XX, you're on the simplex channel. You do have to enable them in the menu, then the channels will count up to 22, then 15rp through 22rp.

Second, good catch WyoJoe....625 and .675 should be channels 18 and 20.

Third, it sounds like you got the codes set successfully before, it sets the tone for both tx and RX (as you mentioned, no separate setting means no split tones.), And you get the game of cross referencing the tone to midland's corresponding code. If .625 and .675 are the frequencies in use, set the tones on channels 18rp and 20rp and check again.

All good stuff, especially the adjacent channel.. I know better.  Will be a lot easier with the vehicle here to play with instead of over the phone or DM, and with other radios available and the repeaters known to work from my place.

Thanks.

[WyoJoe]

3 hours ago, Extreme said:

All good stuff, especially the adjacent channel.. I know better.  Will be a lot easier with the vehicle here to play with instead of over the phone or DM, and with other radios available and the repeaters known to work from my place.

Thanks.

I agree. Having something right in front of you is a lot easier than trying to explain it to someone over the phone, etc. I'm sure you'll get it figured out pretty quickly once it's there in front of you.

[Extreme]

Done deal, works great, owner is thrilled.  Talked from his place in town, over the mountain where the repeater resides, to my place 20 miles away.  2 open local repeaters programmed in.  He can do more regional as he wishes; he now knows how.

Tiny little radio the 115 but 15w should do fine. Will compare distance to repeater against my 30w TK8180s.  He has the Midland supplied phantom antenna mounted between his spare tire and the tailgate of his JK.  Not ideal so he's looking for better options.  Not worthless either - he got what he'd hoped for.

Thanks folks.

[mitzvah]

? On the Anytone AT-779UV (USA version). That maybe the first question. Is my radio a Europe or USA version?

It has channels 1-7, 15-22 and repeater channels 15-22 (like on the Btech GMRS V1), so 30 channels over all. I think after regular channel 22 the next one is channel 15R. 

What is "VFO"?

In order to program the radio with the radios computer program solfware. Do I need a AC to 12 volt DC convertor or can I pull off the radios setting like you would with a scan disk or Seagate storage drive?

Sorry for so many question but the radios Instruction Manual, isn't not a instruction manual and I fine ZERO info on Anytone website or the web.

[wayoverthere]

20 minutes ago, mitzvah said:

What is "VFO"?

In order to program the radio with the radios computer program solfware. Do I need a AC to 12 volt DC convertor or can I pull off the radios setting like you would with a scan disk or Seagate storage drive?

Sorry for so many question but the radios Instruction Manual, isn't not a instruction manual and I fine ZERO info on Anytone website or the web.

it's a holdover term from the old radio days...Variable Frequency Oscillator, if i remember right.  what this means in reality is the ability to scan through the frequencies freely, rather than being tied to set channels.

not familiar with that Anytone specifically, but unless it has the ability to use some form of removable disk/memory card/flash drive, nearly all mobile radios need to be powered up while connected to the computer for programming via the software.  if you're working with a laptop you may be able to do it in vehicle, downloading the configuration from the radio to the computer, and then disconnect and work on it on the computer, and later power it up to load the new configuration from the computer to the radio.  a 120v to 12v power supply is one way to accomplish this indoors if you aren't able to program in place with a laptop, though batteries can work as well.  i've run my btech 50x1 off of two 6v lantern batteries in series for some limited testing, and have run a cb extensively off an old car battery connected to a trickle charger.

[WyoJoe]

22 minutes ago, wayoverthere said:

not familiar with that Anytone specifically, but unless it has the ability to use some form of removable disk/memory card/flash drive, nearly all mobile radios need to be powered up while connected to the computer for programming via the software.  if you're working with a laptop you may be able to do it in vehicle, downloading the configuration from the radio to the computer, and then disconnect and work on it on the computer, and later power it up to load the new configuration from the computer to the radio.  a 120v to 12v power supply is one way to accomplish this indoors if you aren't able to program in place with a laptop, though batteries can work as well.  i've run my btech 50x1 off of two 6v lantern batteries in series for some limited testing, and have run a cb extensively off an old car battery connected to a trickle charger.

wayoverthere is correct. The radio needs to be powered up in order to program it. I use a 12V power supply on my desk to power up my radios. You could run it off a 12V battery pretty easily, or a "jump start" pack if you've got one. Because it comes pre-configured to work in a cigarette lighter plug, you can use any power source that provides it, or you can cut the plug off and hook it up to another 12V source.

Regarding whether the radio is EU or USA version, I believe that is based on the stock configuration of the radio. If it came configured for GMRS, it's the USA version. If it came configured for dual band 2m/70cm ham bands, then it would be the EU version. This can be changed via firmware, so I don't think there's any significant difference between the two.

On my radio, I left the firmware alone and only altered the programming for the memories, adding several sets of additional repeater channels to accommodate different PL (CTCSS/DCS) tones on each of the repeater frequencies. This can be simplified with the programming software by copying one row at a time.

If you click on the row number for the row you want to copy, then press CTRL-C (keyboard shortcut for Copy), then click on the row number for the destination and press CTRL-V (paste), you can copy one row to another row, then edit what you need to by clicking on the ">>" symbol in the "More" column for the row you wish to edit. I found that worked, even though it didn't give any indication that it would work until I just tried it. I could not use the right-click mouse function to enable me to copy a row, as it didn't give me that option, but the keyboard shortcuts did work.

[n4gix]

10 hours ago, wayoverthere said:

it's a holdover term from the old radio days...Variable Frequency Oscillator, if i remember right.  what this means in reality is the ability to scan through the frequencies freely, rather than being tied to set channels.

You got the acronym correct, but not the actual use. VFO mode allows one to set a frequency from the keyboard, and use the Menu function to set a PL tone, etc.

For a real example, last Saturday morning our District 1 ARES team was called upon to assist in locating a 12 year old autistic boy who'd wandered away from the hotel where he and his parents were staying while visiting relatives in the area.

Since the search area was so large, we chose to use an extremely wide-area 2m repeater, and I do mean WIDE area! It covers six counties in NW Indiana and a very large part of the Chicagoland area via two additional linked repeaters in Illinois.

As I did not have the N9IAA repeater programmed into my AT-D868UV portable, it took less than 2 minutes for me to tap in the frequency, and set the PL tone needed. After a quick radio check, I was prepared for the search. I was assigned to one of the 12 person teams to provide communications between the team leader and the incident command center.

Sadly, we did not manage to locate the boy, and they are continuing the search now along the Little Calumet River thinking he may have fallen in and drowned.

[wayoverthere]

2 hours ago, n4gix said:

You got the acronym correct, but not the actual use. VFO mode allows one to set a frequency from the keyboard, and use the Menu function to set a PL tone, etc.

Thanks for the clarification

[Ian]

I'd like to second the MXT 275.  Had nothing but good results with that radio in practice, except for the included magmount antenna.  Like most of them, they fail after a year in the Florida sun.

[Landshark]

On 5/8/2021 at 3:04 PM, mitzvah said:

Ops I met I hear a lot of 4 letter words and folks screaming on channel 22 (So Cal area). And then the channel grabbers on a power trip...to funny.  

Channel 22 has sadly become pretty obnoxious

[Z]

The MX115 firmware was recently updated to do split tones, and why the radio is currently on back order.

Midland relayed to me that a 50 watt version will be released in Sept. 2021.