Billoftt
Active member
How do you program those?
New GMRS Handheld Two-Way Radios Now Available
- Thread starter MidlandUSA
- Start date
WVI
Adventurer
I wonder as well. I only have a Chrome book so even setting up/loading a GPS is a no-go.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Isn't this the CPS?
http://m.zastone.com/download/showdownload.php?lang=en&id=301&pcok=pc
Looks like Chirp has a driver written in now as well.
https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home
dreadlocks
Well-known member
Chirp, I had to modify some code slightly to ignore the model lookup.. I sent my changes upstream, dunno if they made it into the latest.. its an easy one line change if it hasent
MidlandUSA
Supporting Sponsor
Hi Campndad, we dropped the ball on the product photos! Please send us an email to marketing@midlandradio.com with your full name and address and we will refund your money and you can keep the radios.
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MOguy
Explorer
I haven't had a computer in a decade, just tablets and phones. Chirp only works on computers. I had a friend program my radio. This is the downside to the little cheap Chinese radios and the upside to Midlands.
For me the real issue is the FCC rules. Why do we have to pay money to have the extra few watts. I would thing having the improved communications would be a good thing. Why does the man want to hold us down?
Campndad
Essayons!!
Reply sent and I certainly was not expecting this. I had them with me on the Huntsville Land Rover ride and they did great. As a mater of fact the two other brands I carried would not work at all and I trashed them after my return. Having these along with the mtx 275 in the cab and the mtx400 mounted into the base camp trailer makes for some great communication. Looking at getting another set of handhelds from a great manufacturer.
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MOguy
Explorer
I think next time I look at these radios I will start with Midland.
camp4x4
Adventurer
Think of it like grassroots funding for the spectrum space... everyone wants space on the spectrum, especially corporate interests who have big money to spend on it. The FCC isn't necessarily going to allocate even a few frequencies out of the goodness of their hearts (unless you have history and a lobbying group like ARRL on your side). For GMRS paying a small amount in license fees keeps the spectrum space for those who want a little less of a wild west than FRS and a little easier access than amateur bands available.
MOguy
Explorer
Why are some free? Some less expensive but require a test and some more $ but no test.
Not sure what you mean by FRS and wild west?
I pay for a fishing and hunting license, they go back into the system to fund the activity and that's fine. It just seems odd about the different licenses and a specially the antenna thing on the GMRS/FRS free to use radios.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
GMRS allows up to 50W, Detached Antennas, Mobile/Basestations, Family License Sharing, Mythical Repeaters, and was SUPPOSED to have dedicated chunk of Frequencies, they messed up that last part up which kinda screwed the pooch.. Free FRS jackholes took the GMRS Specific frequencies away because companies like Midland and the rest were allowed to sell FRS radios that could broadcast on GMRS and then buried the legal crap deep in a manual nobody read.
FRS is limited to 2W, basically handhelds.. no point in mobiles/base stations at that power.. the reason the antennas must be fixed is they are actually limited on Effective Radiated Power.. meaning the power coming out of the antenna not out of the antenna port, so if you take a free 2W FRS radio and slap a bigger gain antenna on it.. its broadcasting at an ERP higher than is permitted, since there is no reason to change the antenna since its already at its max allowed performance, and to prevent abuse.. the antennas are fixed.
You pay the GMRS license to keep the few remaining benefits open to the public, because the cell phone companies want em.
Tests are only required for HAM use, thats a MASSIVE chunk hat was carved out before anyone even wanted any frequencies and its existence has spawned generations of technology and industry.. I work for a CableCo, its all RF based, 50% of the technical engineers I work with are active HAM's and that hobby lead to a lucrative career and these guys are the reason you have broadband internet at home.. so for society its worth it to keep this amateur spectrum free for experimenting, learning and playing around in.. the test is just to enforce conduct and rules and a grasp of how this stuff works so the few dont ruin it for the many like we saw with FRS and CB
FRS is limited to 2W, basically handhelds.. no point in mobiles/base stations at that power.. the reason the antennas must be fixed is they are actually limited on Effective Radiated Power.. meaning the power coming out of the antenna not out of the antenna port, so if you take a free 2W FRS radio and slap a bigger gain antenna on it.. its broadcasting at an ERP higher than is permitted, since there is no reason to change the antenna since its already at its max allowed performance, and to prevent abuse.. the antennas are fixed.
You pay the GMRS license to keep the few remaining benefits open to the public, because the cell phone companies want em.
Tests are only required for HAM use, thats a MASSIVE chunk hat was carved out before anyone even wanted any frequencies and its existence has spawned generations of technology and industry.. I work for a CableCo, its all RF based, 50% of the technical engineers I work with are active HAM's and that hobby lead to a lucrative career and these guys are the reason you have broadband internet at home.. so for society its worth it to keep this amateur spectrum free for experimenting, learning and playing around in.. the test is just to enforce conduct and rules and a grasp of how this stuff works so the few dont ruin it for the many like we saw with FRS and CB
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camp4x4
Adventurer
/// Personal Opinion Disclaimer: these are my thoughts, not necessarily the official logic of the FCC ///
There's a myriad of reasons, but to some extent it kind of boils down to, "with more power comes more responsibility." Very simplistically, the more power you're dealing with the more "skin in the game" you should have, whether that's dollars or hours.
For FRS and MURS, where you can buy a radio, walk out the door and start using it, you have basically 0 skin in the game. There's no training or money related to the actual service involved, so there's basically nothing to make people feel somewhat responsible for the appropriate use of the system.
For GMRS, there's a little more power (this relates to antennas as well) and there's a little at stake, so the hope if you, as a user, feel a little more responsible to treat the system and it's user with respect.
For Amateur Radio there's even more involved: the time and effort to actually learn in depth how things work, both from a technical perspective and hopefully from an etiquette perspective. So maybe people who've put that effort in deserve access to more spectrum and are more likely to use more power appropriately.
I don't know, that's my take on it. Another explanation: different strokes for different folks. Some people don't wanna pay and some are willing to. Those who are willing to should get more than those who aren't. And in general the thing people want are spectrum and power... so... that's where they draw the dividing lines.
camp4x4
Adventurer
I mean, there's still the repeater channels that no FRS radios can get on... I'm conflicted about this... the overlap could make it easier to get a cheap GMRS-capable handheld... or it could mean that GMRS is really only useful on the GMRS dedicated channels... so, yeah, kind of BS on the sharing channels bit...
dreadlocks
Well-known member
yeah but the repeater inputs should be REPEATER inputs, Midland here shouldn't be allowed to these sell simplex radios, even if GMRS that broadcast on em.. if Midland wants to use those freqs, they should be forced duplex IMO.
which would mean these simplex radios, even GMRS would have all the same freqs as FRS, just a lil more power.. but I digress, FCC is full of numnuts.
which would mean these simplex radios, even GMRS would have all the same freqs as FRS, just a lil more power.. but I digress, FCC is full of numnuts.
camp4x4
Adventurer
Eh... I'm not with you on that one... Talk Around exists for a reason... you even alluded to it yourself "Mythical repeaters"... If the repeater channels are forced into repeater duplex operation only then they're effectively useless since repeaters mostly don't exist, and especially don't exist across all the available frequency pairs.