Brand New w/ no Equipment - Interested in family communication in emergencies etc

[Tiercel]

Greetings, and thanks to the hard workers who maintain this forum.  I have founded and administered forums and I know the work it takes to get and keep a good forum going.

I Just got my license, and I am studying for my Ham license Test in about 4 weeks), but GMRS will probably be my go-to since I don't need another intense hobby.

I think I will start with a mobile that I can lug to the house as a base if I want.  I also want a couple of handheld units. I probably won't get them all at once just because I am sure I will learn as I go. I am not an intense prepper but I do want some SHTF communication plan for my family.  I will also use them for outings, fishing, etc.

I might add that cost is not a huge issue as long as I am not extravagant.  I want good practical, functional, equipment.

Any words of wisdom?

[WRYZ926]

59 minutes ago, nokones said:

The Midland MXT500 radios are now 128 channels and if you have the 30 channel MXT500 radios you can upload a new firmware version to increase the channel capacity.

I will have to look into that. I just bought mine a few weeks ago.

[WRYZ926]

Well that didn't seem to work. I updated the firmware on my MXT500 and still only have 30 channel slots

[nokones]

12 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

Well that didn't seem to work. I updated the firmware on my MXT500 and still only have 30 channel slots

Which version did you use? I'll check mine let you know. I remember there was some confusion when I updated mine. Also, the instruction/procedure was kinda tricky.

[WRYZ926]

I used what ever the version is when clicking on the MXT500 Update firmware tool download button on Midland's website

The spi file is: MXT500 V1_149_2021_5_11.spi 

[WRYS709]

More negative chatter about Midlands. 

They seem to be helpful to the Jeep crowd, going off road and having friends buy last minute FRS radios at sporting goods stores and Walmart, to use as well (hence why the Midlands are narrow band).

[nokones]

13 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

More negative chatter about Midlands. 

They seem to be helpful to the Jeep crowd, going off road and having friends buy last minute FRS radios at sporting goods stores and Walmart, to use as well (hence why the Midlands are narrow band).

The Midland MXT500s are capable of being programmed with both narrow and wide band channels before and after the firmware update. The Midland MXT500 is a great radio for new GMRS user to learn how to set up the radio with both simplex and duplex channel operations.

The performance of these radios are also very good and a great compact radios for vehicles with limited space for installation. The construction of these radios are very rugged for rough environments such as off-roading.

For me, I need a Radio with more features such as "Talk-Around", a real monitor feature that disables the PL decoder when enabled and not just momentary, and not just blows squelch when the button is depressed. The channel capacity is also not enough for my needs and there is no programming ability to have channel banks (Zones), and a display with more prorammable characters.

Also, I need to have the ability of selecting non-standard "PL" tones beyond the standard 38 tones, and the ability to program the non-GMRS freqs in the 450-470 MHz range outside of the 22 GMRS allocated channels.

I am currently using a mobille radio that has almost 600 channels programmed in 25 Zones. Some Zones have 22-25 channels programmed in the same bank.

It is a great radio for loaning to your friends for a quick install with a cigarette lighter connector and a mag-mount. 

[WRYS709]

3 minutes ago, nokones said:

The Midland MXT500s are capable of...

It is a great radio for loaning to your friends for a quick install with a cigarette lighter connector and a mag-mount. 

Same features available for $100 instead of $400; except for 20 watts instead of 50 watts.

[nokones]

14 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

I used what ever the version is when clicking on the MXT500 Update firmware tool download button on Midland's website

The spi file is: MXT500 V1_149_2021_5_11.spi 

When I get home today, I'll check and see which version I used. At the time I upgraded there were two  update versions which one of them didn't increase the channel capacity. Also, did you read the Readme file on the procedure to follow?

[WRYZ926]

Yes I did read the Readme file. And there was two versions but the one will change the radio and say it is a different model.

[WRYS709]

1 minute ago, WRYZ926 said:

Yes I did read the Readme file. And there was two versions but the one will change the radio and say it is a different model.

For Midland, that is a feature and not a bug!

[WRYZ926]

I started another thread on updating the MXT500 firmware so that I don't derail this thread anymore than I all ready have.

https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/6363-midland-mxt500-firmware-updates/

[nokones]

20 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

I used what ever the version is when clicking on the MXT500 Update firmware tool download button on Midland's website

The spi file is: MXT500 V1_149_2021_5_11.spi 

I do have that file but now I'm not sure if that was the file I found that worked or this one MXT500 V1_172_2023_03_23 Firmware.  It won't upload correctly.

 

I attached the readme file butMXT500 Firmware Update Instructions.pdfMXT500 Firmware Update Instructions.pdf I think the reference file was not accurate and that may be the reason that I used the file mentioned above.

[WRYZ926]

24 minutes ago, nokones said:

I do have that file but now I'm not sure if that was the file I found that worked or this one MXT500 V1_172_2023_03_23 Firmware.  It won't upload correctly.

 

I attached the readme file butMXT500 Firmware Update Instructions.pdfMXT500 Firmware Update Instructions.pdf I think the reference file was not accurate and that may be the reason that I used the file mentioned above.

I did get everything working. See the link I posted above.