TX problem with Midland MXT 575

[WSAA779]

I have a Midland MXT 575 that transmits and receives on simplex and receives on repeater channels but won't transmit. I have repeater enabled and have set the tone for the repeater. I had some one double check me to make sure I was not missing something. I called midland and sent them a video of settings and they had me send in the radio. I received the radio back with no information whether or not they fixed anything. I reinstalled and it is doing the same thing. Any help would be appreciated. I am fairly new to radio and do not yet have a SWR meter but plan on getting one to test antenna. 

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, WSAA779 said:

I have a Midland MXT 575 that transmits and receives on simplex and receives on repeater channels but won't transmit. I have repeater enabled and have set the tone for the repeater. I had some one double check me to make sure I was not missing something. I called midland and sent them a video of settings and they had me send in the radio. I received the radio back with no information whether or not they fixed anything. I reinstalled and it is doing the same thing. Any help would be appreciated. I am fairly new to radio and do not yet have a SWR meter but plan on getting one to test antenna. 

What makes you think it isn’t transmitting?

[WSAA779]

Have 2 handhelds that I can talk to people over the repeater from the same location. Also between handhelds. 

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, WSAA779 said:

Have 2 handhelds that I can talk to people over the repeater from the same location. Also between handhelds. 

And have you programmed one of the handhelds to receive on the repeater input frequency (467.xxx MHz) with no RX tone? Then listen to see if there’s any signal when you PTT the Midland MXT 575.

[WSAA779]

just went out and tried that. could hear my self on the HT

 

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WSAA779 said:

just went out and tried that. could hear my self on the HT

 

So it’s transmitting?  The next thing to look at is the tone. If you’re picking tones by number instead of frequency you’ll soon discover that the numbers don’t match with all manufacturers. Double check the tone (or DCS) you need to transmit to the repeater and then look in the 575 manual to see how to program it. But only program it into transmit on the 575. Leave the receive tone blank. See if you can hit the repeater that way. 

[nokones]

What antenna are you using and how is it mounted and what is it mounted on? Definitely need the VSWR readings with the forward and reflected readings. Pictures would help? Have you verified that the antenna mount has factory chassis ground continuity without the coax plugged into the radio?

Do you have the radio battery plus wire lead connected directly to the battery and the radio ground lead connected to a factory chassis grounding point?

[WSAA779]

23 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

So it’s transmitting?  The next thing to look at is the tone. If you’re picking tones by number instead of frequency you’ll soon discover that the numbers don’t match with all manufacturers. Double check the tone (or DCS) you need to transmit to the repeater and then look in the 575 manual to see how to program it. But only program it into transmit on the 575. Leave the receive tone blank. See if you can hit the repeater that way. 

It worked. Midland told me I had to have both TX and RX tone set. Thanks so much for the help. 

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, WSAA779 said:

It worked. Midland told me I had to have both TX and RX tone set. Thanks so much for the help. 

You bet. You certainly can set the RX tone also but if it doesn’t match the repeater output tone you never will hear the repeater. Often the repeater has two different tones. If you leave the RX tone empty then you hear everything on the channel. 

[WSAA779]

7 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

You bet. You certainly can set the RX tone also but if it doesn’t match the repeater output tone you never will hear the repeater. Often the repeater has two different tones. If you leave the RX tone empty then you hear everything on the channel. 

Repeater says the in and out tones are the same but did not want to work with tone set on RX. 

[WSAA779]

51 minutes ago, nokones said:

What antenna are you using and how is it mounted and what is it mounted on? Definitely need the VSWR readings with the forward and reflected readings. Pictures would help? Have you verified that the antenna mount has factory chassis ground continuity without the coax plugged into the radio?

Do you have the radio battery plus wire lead connected directly to the battery and the radio ground lead connected to a factory chassis grounding point?

I think I got it figured out with SteveShannon's help but running the magnet mount antenna that came with the radio. the positive is straight off the battery and so is the negative. Should probably move to chassis ground. I have not checked the antenna chassis ground continuity. I will do this also. Thanks. 

[nokones]

2 hours ago, WSAA779 said:

I think I got it figured out with SteveShannon's help but running the magnet mount antenna that came with the radio. the positive is straight off the battery and so is the negative. Should probably move to chassis ground. I have not checked the antenna chassis ground continuity. I will do this also. Thanks. 

If the magmount sticks to something metal you should be ok. But, you do need to check the antenna VSWRs along with the forward and reflected.

[Socalgmrs]

5 hours ago, WSAA779 said:

I think I got it figured out with SteveShannon's help but running the magnet mount antenna that came with the radio. the positive is straight off the battery and so is the negative. Should probably move to chassis ground. I have not checked the antenna chassis ground continuity. I will do this also. Thanks. 

That’s one of many reasons why I’ll never own a midland.  
 

Gmrs antennas do not need chassis ground.   All they need is a good ground plane.    Two totally different things.  A mag mount t of paint will never have a chassis ground just an fyi.