Midland MXT275 QUESTIONS

[WRYB616]

I recently got my gmrs license and a midland mxt275. My use is mainly for road trips and desert rescues where i live, now comes the parts i dont understand. I know gmrs and frs channels overlap and can talk to one another. My underatanding of my 275 is that its a narrow band unit so it doesnt talk to hand held frs units. Is that correct? If it is correct, is there a known hand held frs that will work on the narrow band spectrum? If its not correct, what is a proven workhorse handheld frs you prefer? Radio theory and my brain struggle to work together a lot so if i am way out in left field please set me straight.

 

Note: if i put this in the wrong place, i apologize. Please point me in the right direction

 

Edit: thank you all very much for clarifying. I really appreciate it. 

[BoxCar]

FRS is narrowband while GMRS is wideband. The difference is the amount of the radio channel used. A channel is 25 kHz wide and wideband occupies 20 kHz and narrow 11.3 kHz.

[OffRoaderX]

To actually answer the question:

On all radios manufactured since 2017 all GMRS and FRS channels are the same and all GMRS radios can talk with FRS radios and visa-versa.  Most mobile GMRS radios may not have some of the channels (8-14) on them, but otherwise, if you put both radios on the same channel, you can talk. Narrowband and wideband radios can talk to each other - however you may notice some volume issues; many people do not notice at all.

TL;dr:  You can use your FRS radios and your MXT275 without any significant/real-world issues.

[SteveShannon]

5 minutes ago, WRYB616 said:

I recently got my gmrs license and a midland mxt275. My use is mainly for road trips and desert rescues where i live, now comes the parts i dont understand. I know gmrs and frs channels overlap and can talk to one another. My underatanding of my 275 is that its a narrow band unit so it doesnt talk to hand held frs units. Is that correct? If it is correct, is there a known hand held frs that will work on the narrow band spectrum? If its not correct, what is a proven workhorse handheld frs you prefer? Radio theory and my brain struggle to work together a lot so if i am way out in left field please set me straight.

 

Note: if i put this in the wrong place, i apologize. Please point me in the right direction

Narrow band transmissions received on a wideband radio might sound weak (I’ve read) but the units are still capable of talking to each other. 

[Over2U]

One limitation of the MXT275, applicable to all moble GMRS radios, is that transmission on channels 08-14 is not allowed.