GMRS Midland MXT115

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Picked up the Farm Bundle from Midland, which is the MTX115 mobile radio along with a pair of T70 series handheld radios. I got an additional pair of handheld too. I wanted something to take to the beach on vacation for the family. With all the chaos posted about the protesting and YouTube videos about violence at the resort areas, I wanted something to stay connected. Cell phones work, but I wanted the group to know what was going on as a whole. The plan was for the mobile unit to be mounted as a base station in the beach house and the handheld to be used by people when they go out. It worked out extremely well and the coverage of the handheld is so good, that the 15w mobile base was not really necessary for what we were doing. As an avid CBer, I felt that CB would be my first choice. But the compact units are just easier to deal with. The mobile mag mount that it comes with is about 6 inches long.

Applied for my license, no test unless you count the hoops to jump through for a federal number and the navigation of the FCC website. Haha! My call sign is WRHX773.

https://midlandusa.com/product/mxt115ag-micromobile-farm-radio-bundle/

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

The first thing I did when I opened up the package is what any normal radio enthusiast would do. I took the cover off! Would these be deviation and power? Frequency adjustment?

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Currently making a guest appearance in the main shack.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

The mic is real nice, has a good weight and feel with up down buttons on top. I wonder if it will work with the Anytone 5555? Haha

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

The handheld units are FRS so no license needed for them.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Yup FRS

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

I read somewhere that these handhelds will do 2w. No grey area here, no sir....

 

[cralt]

I read somewhere that these handhelds will do 2w. No grey area here, no sir....

View attachment 39335

I read somewhere that all these neat new Midland mobiles are narrow band only? If so thats kinda a bummer.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

I read somewhere that all these neat new Midland mobiles are narrow band only? If so thats kinda a bummer.

They appear to be 2.5khz deviation and I found the test report for fcc compliance. I haven't tried any of the adjustment pots yet, maybe it could be adjusted to 5khz? I don't know, still looking for information on that.
https://fccid.io/MMAMXT115/Test-Report/Test-Report-3211184.html

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Here is what I found on the midland website q+a

Brian P
· 9 months ago Why are the Micromobile radios only narrow band instead of wideband as allowed by the FCC for GMRS?1
answer
Midland Radio Corporation · 9 months ago
While it is true that GMRS radios are allowed up to 20 kHz occupied bandwidth and 5 kHz maximum deviation (wide band), the channels are also shared with FRS radios which are limited to 12.5 kHz occupied bandwidth and 2.5 kHz maximum deviation (narrow band). Plus the interstitial channels have been inserted between the main channels such that the channel spacing is 12.5 kHz. So while the FCC allows GMRS radios to occupy more bandwidth than the channel spacing would suggest is appropriate, as a manufacturer of both FRS and GMRS radios, a maximum 12.5 kHz maximum occupied bandwidth is more appropriate for channel sharing between GMRS and FRS radios.

 

[cralt]

All fine if your just talking simplex to like model radios that are all NB.
I could see it being annoying in a mixed fleet or if your trying to use repeaters.
The MicroMobile looks cool

It's just a bummer they would put out a gimped radio.

 

[edfiero]

I got this radio at Christmas and am a bit disappointed. I guess my expectations were too high. I hooked this to a 2m/70cm base antenna up about 20 feet to the tip. The range is pretty poor. I can receive the base station on my walkie talkie about 6 or 7 miles out on the 15 watt frequencies. With the base antenna coupled with 15 watts, I was hoping to get 20 miles out of this thing.

And I never hear anyone else on any channel either. On channel 16 I occasionally here what I guess is a repeater, firing off a burst of morse code, but no one ever talks. I listen at various times during weekdays as well as evenings.

Either the range is so poor that I'm not hearing anyone near by, or GRMS/FRS as a concept just hasn't caught on in my area.

 

[Wire Weasel]

These mobiles do look interesting but still don't see the point for a Base/Mobile when there are plenty of ham vhf/uhf mobiles that will easily mod to cover the freqs. and have much more power, other features, better quality etc ....

 

[w9cll]

These mobiles do look interesting but still don't see the point for a Base/Mobile when there are plenty of ham vhf/uhf mobiles that will easily mod to cover the freqs. and have much more power, other features, better quality etc .

The issue is it's not legal to do so, while I concede that the chances of being busted are extremely low it's not completely out of the picture. Getting caught means loss of equipment, loss of ham ticket, and 20k fine. Use at your own risk.

 

[CDX8412]

I am also very disappointed in the Midland MXT mobiles being narrowbanded. It would not be an issue if you are just using them to talk between other MXT radios, but I have a GMRS repeater and the narrowband audio from the MXT through a wideband repeater is considerably lower in volume.

I will not be purchasing any more of these MXT radios since the bandwidth is not switchable within the menu. Even a $25 Baofeng can be switched from wide to narrow. Midland screwed the licensed GMRS user on this one, but I don’t believe that is their intended market anyway.