Midland MXT575 not Transmitting

[WRUI421]

TL;DR Midland MXT575 not Transmitting on GMRS Channels. Need help fixing this issue.

I am brand new to GMRS radios. And for my vehicle I purchased the Midland MXT575, installed it with the supplied items. Power line directly to battery and ground. Use the magnetic mount with the MXTA26. I have gone over the manual, only made changes to turning rB(rogger beep) off and change the background color to orangeish. Everything else is set to default. Also obtained my GMRS license. I made my first transmission and thought no one heard me because I assumed I was stepping over other transmissions. Turns out my radio is receiving transmissions just fine. On Channels 1-7 I can transmit without issue. But on GMRS channels (15-22) the TX, Signal Strength, and Red light indicators come on but no one hears me. What did I do wrong in this setup? I have looked at the forms here but no luck. If I am missing any needed information please let me know.
I have a feeling I have wasted money into this setup.

[WRYZ926]

Check to see if you have your radio set to narrow band or wide band. Most Midland radios come from the factory set on narrow ban. You want to change all channels to wide band. I don't know if that is your exact problem but using wide band will help.

I have the MXT500 and a friend has the MXT575. I changed the settings on my radio to wide band but my friend did not. I could hardly hear him on any channel until he changed his radio to wide band. We were about 17 miles apart at the time.

[WRWE456]

How are you testing? Do you have a friend that has a radio at a known location/distance or are you reaching out to strangers? If you are hearing folks but they do not respond they may be using a repeater and if you are not set up for that they will not hear you. It may also be that they have no interest in talking to strangers. GMRS is intended primarily for friends and family to stay in touch and not really for making random contacts. However if you ask for a radio or signal check many people will come back. It is also possible they are using privacy tones between their own group and will not hear you. Or they could just be out of range. Quite often you will hear folks but not be able to reach them for various reasons.

The best thing to do for testing is to have a friend with another radio so you two can confirm that things are working and also to drive around your local area and map out where you can and cannot reach.

[jas]

The people that you might be hearing on 15-22 and trying to talk to are probably on repeaters - very common in my area.  The repeaters transmit in the open on channels 15-22 but you can't talk to them unless you're on the repeater channel. 

That's a whole other ball game.  You need to activate the repeater channels - they are inactive from the factory.  And then you would have to program the repeaters in your area - again, that's a different ballgame but the way to go eventually.

Also, you might have accidentally set the high power channels 15-22 to low power when setting up the radio.

Like was mentioned above, ask for a radio check those are always replied to if there is anyone listening on frequency.  PTT and say "Good morning/afternoon/etc. this is -license call sign- on -channel #/repeater name- requesting a radio check on a new radio"

When you get a reply then say "Thanks so much you are coming in loud and clear/a bit scratchy/broken/whichever" this could start a conversation about location, type of radio etc. then after you're done pause a bit and say: "Thanks again I'll be listening here from time to time -call sign- out or standing by"

Once you are past radio checks and want to jump in at another time out of the blue you can always say "Good morning/etc. -call sign- listening on -channel/repeater name-. that tells people you're available to chat. If people want to talk they will respond.

Polite is always the best intro and it works .

[gortex2]

Also they could be using simplex with a tone. I do that alot with friends. We dont use the repeater but use a PL or DPL. In that case we dont here you calling. 

 

[WRYS709]

21 hours ago, WRUI421 said:

TL;DR Midland MXT575 not Transmitting on GMRS Channels. Need help fixing this issue.

...

I have a feeling I have wasted money into this setup.

The more I read about problems with Midland radios, the more I am glad I have never purchased one!

Affiliate link NOT below!

[nokones]

Are you following these procedures to activate the repeater channels. Selecting the narrowband or wideband setting has nothing to do with if you can or cannot access a repeater channel. You have to set the radio to activate the repeater channels. The procedure are as follows:

The MXT575 can talk to GMRS repeaters, which can greatly increase radio range. You can enable and disable the repeater channels on the 
MXT575. There are 8 repeater channels. 
1. Press the MENU button to enter the menu. Use the VOLUME buttons to 
 navigate to menu setting “rP”.

2. To enable the repeater channels, press the LOCK button. Use the 
 VOLUME buttons to choose between “oF” and “oN”.
3. Press the LOCK button to confirm your selection. YOU MUST PRESS 
 THE LOCK BUTTON TO CONFIRM YOUR SELECTION OR THE 
 REPEATER CHANNEL SELECTION WILL NOT BE CHANGED.
 • When activated the repeater channels will be displayed as the channel 
 number (Ex. 15, 16, 17, etc.) and the RP icon
 • Repeater channels will appear immediately following the standard 
 GMRS channels (ex: 20, 21, 22, 15rP, 16rP, 17rP, etc.

I hope that this helps

[WRYZ926]

Yes repeater channels must be enabled in the menu. That being said, one radio set to narrow band will be hard to hear by others when farther away as my friend and I found out when he had his MXT575 set to narrow band, which is how all Midland radios come from the factory.

[WRUI421]

Thanks for all the tips and educational posts. I have learned a lot. So the radio is working just fine. It’s the user not understanding privacy codes that will communicate with repeater channels. Which I understand now and have requested to join a repeater. I purchased the Baofeng 2pk UV-9G and tested NON repeater channels 15-22, and works. Except the UV-9G channel is not transmitting. Working on getting a pc to install the software and see if there’s an update and if I need to “unlock” that channel. Again thank you everyone for responding and educating this ignorant user.

[Hoppyjr]

Depending on where you’re located you might find a local member to meet up with and assist too.

[WRUI421]

On 11/17/2023 at 2:23 PM, WRUZ229 said:

Depending on where you’re located you might find a local member to meet up with and assist too.

Oh that's cool. I'll have to find them.