Midland MXR10 repeater experiences.

[Guest WSBX980]

I was thinking about getting the Midland MXR10 repeater, but I was wanting to hear about user's experiences with it before I pull the trigger.

[OffRoaderX]

I had one and it worked fine.. but unless it has some feature that you need that the Retevis RT97 does not have, you should consider it also.

[Socalgmrs]

I’d never spend $10 on any midland product.   Yuck.   

[WRYZ926]

The Midland MXTR10 and the Retevis RT97 will work just fine. Compare the specifications on both and also the prices and go with which one suits your needs at the best price.

 

PS: Ignore Negative Nancy, he hardly ever has anything positive to say.

[WRTC928]

3 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

The Midland MXTR10 and the Retevis RT97 will work just fine. Compare the specifications on both and also the prices and go with which one suits your needs at the best price.

 

PS: Ignore Negative Nancy, he hardly ever has anything positive to say.

I read or heard somewhere that Retevis has a new version with more wattage coming out in April. Not sure if that's true, but if it is, I'd expect the price on the older ones to drop considerably. 

[WRUE951]

the range on them not really that great.  Not sure what your needs are but i would consider spending a tad more and go with a Wouxun setup or even build one with two radios.  If you need complete portability i guess they're o.k. but again, you can shove two decent radios in an Ammo can and get way better performance.    Just my two cents.  

[SteveShannon]

5 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

you can shove two decent radios in an Ammo can and get way better performance.    Just my two cents.  

Have you done that?

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, WRUE951 said:

you can shove two decent radios in an Ammo can and get way better performance.    Just my two cents.  

You will also need a good duplexer for it to work correctly. The transmit radio will desense the receive radio if you don't. There is more to it than connecting two radios to each other.

[WRUE951]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Have you done that?

of course..      

[OffRoaderX]

5 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

I read or heard somewhere that Retevis has a new version with more wattage coming out in April. Not sure if that's true

I can confirm that it is true.

[OffRoaderX]

4 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

you can shove two decent radios in an Ammo can and get way better performance.

Physics and me actually doing this both say that you are very, very wrong.

[CoffeeTime]

April 4 per this ad:

 

https://www.retevis.com/25w-rt97l-gmrs-long-range-waterproof-full-duplex-repeater-us

[WRUE951]

54 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Physics and me actually doing this both say that you are very, very wrong.

it does require a 'little' ingenuity. Sorry your not capable    

[PRadio]

On 3/17/2025 at 2:21 AM, Socalgmrs said:

I’d never spend $10 on any midland product.   Yuck.   

 

Thanks for letting us know. 

[TDM827]

All depends what you want to do with it. And only you can answer that. If you are looking for an occasional, highly portable repeater with limited coverage this might be fine. Need something with more capability and coverage it probably won't work fine and it's time to build.

These little units are sometimes looked down upon. But they have their place. I wish these things were available back in the day when my recreation meant outdoor activities based at a "camp" or farmhouse in the north woods. Deer camp communications would have been awesome.

This would have really solved most of the problems and frustrations when dealing with FRS, which in our circumstance was often next to useless.     

[WRTC928]

On 3/17/2025 at 1:47 PM, WRUE951 said:

you can shove two decent radios in an Ammo can and get way better performance.    Just my two cents.  

I've made an "ammo can" repeater, and it works...kinda. IME, you need about 30' of horizontal separation and 2' of vertical separation to get a result that's noticeably better than simplex. With a pair of UT-72 antennas I got pretty good results, but then it won't fit in an ammo can. They don't weigh much, so it's still packable, and if you're driving, it's no big deal at all. I've seen guys on YouTube claiming good results with antennas about 6" apart, but I haven't seen anyone actually demonstrating that. A pair of roll-up antennas should work, but you'd still need to carry a couple of 15' lengths of coax. The coax and roll-ups would fit in a large-ish ammo can with the other stuff, so it can be done, but it's not as easy, compact, or cheap as the YouTubers make it look.

On 3/17/2025 at 1:47 PM, WRUE951 said:

the range on them not really that great.

The range on the ammo can repeater didn't impress me either. Until now, the two common commercial ones were 10 watt units (actually probably ~5 out of the duplexer), which can still be useful if you position them advantageously, but vegetation definitely limits their range -- one of the few cases IMO in which adding more power is the solution. I've ordered one of the new 25 watt repeaters from Retevis and I'll be interested to see how it works. They claim 22 watts post-duplexer. We'll see. 

[WRUE951]

24 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

I've made an "ammo can" repeater, and it works...kinda. IME, you need about 30' of horizontal separation and 2' of vertical separation to get a result that's noticeably better than simplex. With a pair of UT-72 antennas I got pretty good results, but then it won't fit in an ammo can. They don't weigh much, so it's still packable, and if you're driving, it's no big deal at all. I've seen guys on YouTube claiming good results with antennas about 6" apart, but I haven't seen anyone actually demonstrating that. A pair of roll-up antennas should work, but you'd still need to carry a couple of 15' lengths of coax. The coax and roll-ups would fit in a large-ish ammo can with the other stuff, so it can be done, but it's not as easy, compact, or cheap as the YouTubers make it look.

The range on the ammo can repeater didn't impress me either. Until now, the two common commercial ones were 10 watt units (actually probably ~5 out of the duplexer), which can still be useful if you position them advantageously, but vegetation definitely limits their range -- one of the few cases IMO in which adding more power is the solution. I've ordered one of the new 25 watt repeaters from Retevis and I'll be interested to see how it works. They claim 22 watts post-duplexer. We'll see. 

i used two Maxon 8402 radios that fit nicely in the can.  (FAT 50 Ammo Can).   The 8402's don't require a controller, it's built into the radio, just patch them together and do the progrming. .  I also placed a sheet metal shield between the radios and mounted a cheap duplexer (buytwowayradios) on the exterior back side of the can..  The FAT 50 can is more than enough space.   I picked these radios up on Ebay two years ago from someone that never used them.  Both radios $200 bucks..  Every once in awhile they pop up.  These radios have no problems working together in that can, as they are pretty decent commercial radios. 

[WRTC928]

8 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

i used two Maxon 8402 radios that fit nicely in the can.  (FAT 50 Ammo Can).   The 8402's don't require a controller, it's built into the radio, just patch them together and do the progrming. .  I also placed a sheet metal shield between the radios and mounted a cheap duplexer (buytwowayradios) on the exterior back side of the can..  The FAT 50 can is more than enough space.   I picked these radios up on Ebay two years ago from someone that never used them.  Both radios $200 bucks..  Every once in awhile they pop up.  These radios have no problems working together in that can, as they are pretty decent commercial radios. 

I can see that working okay, but it's certainly not cheap. For that price, you could come close to the new Retevis 25 watt repeater, which is almost certainly more rugged. It made sense when the only commercially available package options output 5 watts, but I'm not so sure it does now. Two radios designed for that purpose probably work pretty well, but the "two Baofengs in a can" stuff I've seen on YouTube is over-hyped. 

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, WRTC928 said:

I can see that working okay, but it's certainly not cheap. For that price, you could come close to the new Retevis 25 watt repeater, which is almost certainly more rugged. It made sense when the only commercially available package options output 5 watts, but I'm not so sure it does now. Two radios designed for that purpose probably work pretty well, but the "two Baofengs in a can" stuff I've seen on YouTube is over-hyped. 

I dont't know which Retivis repeater your referring too, the RT97 is near $500 bucks.    I paid 200 bucks for a 40 Watt repeater that works very well off my RV Solar Systems. If you're referring to using two HT's for a repeater..   good luck with that, it would really serve zero purpose other than to play with.  

[OffRoaderX]

6 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

I dont't know which Retivis repeater your referring too, the RT97 is near $500 bucks.    I paid 200 bucks for a 40 Watt repeater that works very well

He's referring to the RT97L, 50W GMRS repeater.
I'm curious - was your 40Watt repeater new, with a warranty, is it FCC Part 95 compliant, did it come pre-programmed with the GMRS repeater pairs, was the duplexer pre-tuned for GMRS, is it portable, and water proof, and does it automatically heat up to remove snow/ice when used outdoors in cold weather?

[WRUE951]

4 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

He's referring to the RT97L, 50W GMRS repeater.
I'm curious - was your 40Watt repeater new, with a warranty, is it FCC Part 95 compliant, did it come pre-programmed with the GMRS repeater pairs, was the duplexer pre-tuned for GMRS, is it portable, and water proof, and does it automatically heat up to remove snow/ice when used outdoors in cold weather?

the radios are part 95, at least thats what i see on Maxon's site. .  No warranty.   Never needed it.  i did buy the programing and the cable for another $50 bucks.  The Duplexer was given to me from a guy here in town that took down a CH 18 repeater.  However i did have BuyTwoWay re ture it.  He bought it from BuyTwoway.   I recently scored a 25W HR652 on Ebay for $700 bucks, it's pretty much like new and was used on a campus school building.   Will be soon be selling the Maxons to recoup some money.  No, the Maxons are not waterproof but the Hytera is IP67.  And snow, what is that, i never see it or play in it